History of Taiwan
Over two centuries of Qing rule, Taiwan's population increased by over two million and became majority Han Chinese due to illegal cross-strait migrations from mainland China and encroachment on Taiwanese indigenous territory.
In 1945, following the end of hostilities in World War II, the nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang (KMT), took control of Taiwan.
[4][5] In 1949, after losing control of mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, the ROC government under the KMT withdrew to Taiwan where Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law.
In the Late Pleistocene, sea levels were about 140 metres (460 ft) lower than at present, exposing the floor of the shallow Taiwan Strait as a land bridge.
[7] The oldest evidence of modern human presence on Taiwan consists of fragments and a tooth found at Chouqu and Gangzilin, in Zuojhen District, estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000 years old.
[29] Initially Chinese merchants arrived in northern Taiwan and sold iron and textiles to the aboriginal peoples in return for coal, sulfur, gold, and venison.
[35] When a Portuguese ship sailed past southwestern Taiwan in 1596, several of its crew members who had been shipwrecked there in 1582 noticed that the land had become cultivated, presumably by settlers from Fujian.
[40] In 1626, the Spanish Empire, viewing the Dutch presence on Taiwan as a threat to their colony in the Philippines, established a settlement at Santísima Trinidad on the northeast coast (modern Keelung), building Fort San Salvador.
[46] In August 1641, the Dutch and their native allies tried to take the Spanish fortresses manned by a small Spanish-Kampanpagan-Cagayano force but abandoned the attempt when the commander realised they had insufficient cannon to mount a successful siege.
[66] The Dutch originally sought to use their castle Zeelandia at Tayowan as a trading base between Japan and China, but soon realized the potential of the huge deer populations that roamed Taiwan's western regions.
[159] The imperial commissioner for Taiwan, Shen Baozhen, recommended subjugating the aborigines and populating their territory with Chinese settlers to prevent Japanese encroachment.
[162] Electric lighting, modern weaponry, a railway, cable and telegraph lines, a local steamship service, and industrial machinery were introduced to Taiwan.
The telegraph line only functioned in bursts of a week due to a difficult overland connection and the railway required an overhaul, serviced small rolling stock, and carried little freight.
[165][147] However, by the last years of Qing rule, most of the plains aborigines had been acculturated to Han culture, around 20–30% could speak their mother tongues, and they gradually lost their land ownership and rent collection rights.
William Huttman wrote to Lord Palmerston pointing out "China's benign rule over Taiwan and the strategic and commercial importance of the island.
In October 1841, HMS Nimrod sailed to Keelung to search for the Nerbudda survivors, but after Captain Joseph Pearse found out that they were sent south for imprisonment, he ordered the bombardment of the harbour and destroyed 27 sets of cannon before returning to Hong Kong.
The aboriginal chief, Tanketok (Toketok), explained that a long time ago the white men came and almost exterminated the Koaluts tribe and their ancestors passed down their desire for revenge.
[193] As part of the settlement for losing the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing empire ceded the islands of Taiwan and Penghu to Japan on April 17, 1895, according to the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
Conceptually this colonial ideal conveyed the idea that metropolitan Japanese (naichijin) imparted their superior culture to the subordinate islanders (hontōjin), who would share the common benefits.
[202][208] Major armed resistance was largely crushed by 1902 but minor rebellions started occurring again in 1907, such as the Beipu uprising by Hakka and Saisiyat people in 1907, Luo Fuxing in 1913 and the Tapani Incident of 1915.
[223] After full-scale war with China in 1937, the "kōminka" imperial Japanization project was implemented to ensure the Taiwanese would remain subjects of the Japanese Emperor rather than support a Chinese victory.
[256] Under the colonial government, Taiwan was introduced to a unified system of weights and measures, a centralized bank, education facilities to increase skilled labor, farmers' associations, and other institutions.
[257] The Taiwan rail system connecting the south and the north and the Kīrun and Takao ports were completed to facilitate transport and shipping of raw material and agricultural products.
[276][277] In accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the Japanese formally renounced the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan and Penghu islands.
[272] The Republic of China and Japan signed the Treaty of Taipei on April 28, 1952, which some consider to be legal support for the ROC's claim to Taiwan as "de jure" territory.
[296] During the immediate postwar period, the Kuomintang (KMT) administration on Taiwan was repressive and corrupt compared to the preceding Japanese rule, leading to local discontent.
When the Communists gained complete control of mainland China in 1949, two million refugees, predominantly from the Nationalist government, military, and business community, fled to Taiwan.
was founded in mainland China by the victorious communists; several months earlier, Chiang Kai-shek had established a provisional ROC capital in Taipei and moved his Nanjing-based government there after fleeing Chengdu.
The PRC Foreign Minister emphasised that the Anti-Secession Law was not a piece of unenforceable legislation, while the US Department of State spokesman Sean McCormack described Chen's policy as "unhelpful".
[313] Later in 2008, members of his administration, including Chiou I-jen, a former National Security Council secretary-general, and Yeh Sheng-mao, former director-general of the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau, were arrested on corruption charges.
