Taiwan History

Taiwan was historically called Formosa until recent times.

The island of Taiwan (formerly known as "Formosa") was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines until the Dutch and Spanish settlement during the Age of Discovery in the 17th century, when Han Chinese began immigrating to the island.

The Qing dynasty of China later defeated all the local kingdoms and annexed Taiwan. By the time Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, the majority of Taiwan's inhabitants were Han Chinese either by ancestry or by assimilation.

After Japan's surrender in 1945, the Republic of China (ROC) assumed its control of Taiwan.

Following the defeat of the nationalists on the mainland, the ROC relocated its government to Taiwan, and its jurisdiction became limited to Taiwan and its surrounding islands.