Taiwan Overview
Taiwan is a small island country located east of China. It is also commonly known as the Republic of China, Taiwan is best known for overthrowing communist Chinese rule and becoming an independent, democratic country. While many Americans do not possess much knowledge about his island, its history and other facts can be truly interesting.
The modern history of Taiwan begins in the last decade of the 16th century when a Portuguese ship passed the island and the crew dubbed the island "Ilha Formosa" which translates into "beautiful island". The Dutch ended up with control over the island until 1662 when a Chinese pirate defeated them. Unfortunately, the Chinese did not wish to rule the island. For the next two hundred years, rule over Taiwan fluctuated between the Manchu empire of China and the indigenous people of Taiwan. Finally, in 1887, the Manchu authorities declared Taiwan a "province" of China. This was done to attempt to out maneuver Japan who was collecting territory in south Asia. Unfortunately, this did not work as Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War and Taiwan was ceded to Japanese rule. The Chinese regained control of Taiwan during World War II in 1943 when the Allied Powers decided to allow Taiwan to be returned to Chinese rule. In the early 1950s, the United Nations' Charter backed up a provision in the San Francisco Peace Treaty that ended World War II that Taiwanese citizens would determine the status of their island and who ran it. To this day, China and Taiwan have argued about which country to be in control of the island (Milestones in Taiwan's History, 2006).
Taiwan is a relatively small island situated in East Asia. It is the largest body of land between the Philippines and Ja ...