Taiwan history

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About Taiwan History

Taiwan (Traditional Chinese: 台灣) is an island located on the Pacific Ocean, a country with a complex history. It is a rich mosaic shaped by its indigenous roots, successive waves of colonization, and a modern transformation into a thriving democracy and global technological powerhouse. Learning the Taiwan history can help you understand more about the Taiwanese culture. This book will introduce all of the Taiwanese history, from the Prehistorical Era to the Modern day Taiwan. Have fun learning!

Note: Not to be confused with History of Republic of China, which is the modern government in Taiwan, started in 1912 in mainland China, and retreated to Taiwan in 1949. This book will be focusing on the island of Taiwan's history.

Prehistorical and the indigenous culture

Prehistorical Culture

In the Stone Age, the people on the island used stone tools to meet their daily needs, including hunting animals, crafting implements, and processing food. Taiwan's prehistorical archaeological site are the key information to understand the prehistorical culture. Such as the Beigang Site and multiple sites in Keelung etc.

Lianhuachi Culture

Lianhuachi Culture is an important representative of Taiwan's prehistoric culture.Lianhuachi Culture got its name from the southern Taiwan's Lianhuachi site.This culture emerged between approximately 4,000 and 3,000 years ago and relied primarily on agriculture for its livelihood. They improved the technology of producing pottery and the develop of plant cultivation.

Kenting Culture

Kenting Culture is an important representative of Taiwan's late prehistoric culture.This culture emerged between approximately 3,000 and 1,000 years ago and mainly discovered at southern Taiwan.They improved the technology of producing and decorating pottery, alongside the development of more complex social organization and religious beliefs.

Indigenous people

Indigenous people are the earliest inhabitants of Taiwan, who have over a thousand years of history. They are a part of Taiwan's diverse culture, with special culture.

Diversity: There are officially 16 groups of Indigenous group recognized by the Taiwan (ROC) government.
Lifestyle: In the past, they used to hunt, fish and farm to live. They have special culture of living, clothing, eating and religion. Many of these traditional cultural elements are still preserved today.
Language:Their language is usually a part of Austronesian languages, which is a group of language that cross the Pacific and the Indian ocean.There is a theory that the origin of the language comes from Taiwan.

Indigenous people's culture (gallery)

The Dutch and Spanish rule

With the Age of Discovery, European countries flocked to East Asia to trade and establish colonies. In the 17th century, various colonial powers vied for colonies in the Far East, and Taiwan became a target of their competition. During this period, the Netherlands and Spain respectively colonized Taiwan, marking the beginning of Taiwan's recorded history.

Discovery

The first European country to discover Taiwan is Portugal. In 1543, when a Portuguese ships passed through the Taiwan Strait, the crew accidentally spotted the island and exclaimed "Ilha Formosa!" (Portuguese for "Beautiful Island"), thus giving Taiwan its name "Formosa". Although the Portuguese were the first to arrive in Taiwan, they only engaged in small-scale trade with the indigenous people and had no intention of colonizing it.

Dutch and Spanish rule

The Dutch were the first country to colonize Taiwan. The Dutch ruled parts of southern Taiwan. They built a fort, called "Fort Zeelandia" in Taioan (now Tainan) in the year 1624. The Spanish also colonized northern Taiwan in 1626 , including parts of Taipei and Yilan. However, they were conquered by the Dutch in 1642, so they no longer ruled the island.

Regimes

Dutch Formosa (1624-1662)
Spanish Formosa (1626-1642)

Kingdom of Tungning

While the Dutch successfully colonized Taiwan, across the Taiwan strait, China (Ming dynasty) is loosing battles to the Manchu in the north. The last Ming government was moved to the south. One Ming general, Koxinga (also known as "Zeng Chenggong") , effectively resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century. In 1661, Koxinga invaded Taiwan, ended the Era of Dutch rule.

Culture

Koxinga introduced Chinese culture and religion to Taiwan. During the Tungning kingdom era, Koxinga built schools in Taiwan.

Fall of Tungning

A Qing general, Shi Lang, conquered Taiwan and ended the Tungning Kingdom in 1683.

Han Chinese migration to Taiwan

In modern Taiwan, the Han Chinese have become the largest ethnic group. However, the Han Chinese were not the first people on the island. So, how did they come to the island and become the largest ethnic group? Let's find out.

Han Chinese in Penghu

During the Tang Dynasty, some of the Han Chinese migrated to Penghu. Afterwards, during the Song dynasty, the government began ruling the Penghu islands.

Taiwan

Late Ming

During the late Ming, pirates began using Taiwan as a stronghold, so many Chinese migrated to the island. The pirate Yan Siqi led thousands of people from the Fujian region across to Taiwan, where they established a stronghold and cultivated the land; he is also known as the "King Who Opened Up Taiwan.(開台王)" Subsequently, Fujian officials and figures such as Zheng Zhilong recruited large numbers of residents from Fujian and Guangdong to develop Taiwan, cultivate the land, and expand maritime trade.

Qing period

During this period, dense populations on the mainland and limited farmland drove waves of illegal, cross-strait migration. Han settlers continually expanded into western plains, which gradually displaced or assimilated the lowland Indigenous populations.

After WW2

After WW2, large amount of Mainlanders fled to Taiwan due to Republic of China retreat to Taiwan. These people are typically called 外省人 waishengren.

Period of Passive Rule over Taiwan

Keep or Abandon?

Most Qing officials, including Emperor Kangxi initially, viewed Taiwan as a worthless, disease-ridden island. However, general Shi Lang, the commander who conquered Taiwan, strongly opposed abandonment. He presented a memorial to the throne arguing that if the Qing abandoned Taiwan, Dutch colonists or maritime pirates would immediately reoccupy it. This would recreate a permanent naval threat right on China's doorstep. In the end, Qing annexed Taiwan, making it a part of the empire.

Strict Immigration Bans

To prevent the Taiwan to become another pirate stronghold, there were strict immigration bans across the Taiwan strait. Despite of the ban, limited land in the mainland drove waves of illegal, cross-strait migration.

Closing Off the Mountains

Following a massive Han uprising (the Zhu Yigui Incident in 1721), the Qing government implemented a policy to restrict Han migration to the mountains. The Qing established boundary lines along the western plains. They left the mountainous and eastern regions completely outside state control, viewing indigenous populations as being beyond the reach of Qing governance. However, the Han Chinese migrants continuously crossed the borders to cultivate land.

Rebellion

Due to the corruption of the government, there were a lot of rebellion under Qing rule.

The Three Major Popular Uprisings in Taiwan

Zhu Yigui Incident (1721)
Lin Shuangwen Incident (1786)
Dai Chaochun Incident (1862)

There is a phrase "三年一小反，五年一大亂 (Three years there's a small rebellion, Five years there's a major uprising)" was used to describe the situation in Taiwan.

Others

w:Mudan incident

The Period of Transformation and the Opening of the Port

Taiwan’s historical transformation into a global trade hub began in the 1860s when international treaties (1860 Treaty of Tientsin) forced the opening of the island's ports, including Port of Keelung, Port of Kaohsiung, and Tamsui. This shift integrated Taiwan into the global market through lucrative commodity exports like oolong tea, camphor, and sugar.

Economy

With the rise of export industries such as tea and camphor, the economic center of gravity gradually shifted from the early triad of Tainan, Lukang and Bangka (Wanhua) to Dadaocheng and Keelung in the north.

Taiwan Tea Exporting

1865, a Scottish merchant named John Dodd arrived in Taiwan and recognized the immense global potential of local semi-processed oolong tea. He established Dodd & Co. in Dadaocheng (Taipei) to centralize production. Four years later, Dodd famously leased two large clipper ships and exported roughly 128 metric tons of premium Taiwanese oolong directly to New York. Sold under the brand name "Formosa Oolong," the tea became an instant luxury sensation in Western markets.

Culture

Some western missionaries such as James Laidlaw Maxwell in the south and George Leslie Mackay in the north built hospital and introduce modern healthcare to Taiwan.

James Laidlaw Maxwell

A Scottish physician representing the English Presbyterian Mission, Maxwell arrived in southern Taiwan in 1865. He established Taiwan's first Western-style clinic/hospital in Tainan, which eventually became known as the Sin-lâu Hospital.

George Leslie Mackay

A pioneering Canadian Presbyterian missionary, Mackay arrived in Tamsui in 1872. In 1880, funded by a donation from an American captain's widow, he opened the Hobe MacKay Clinic, northern Taiwan's first Western medical facility. This institution was later relocated to Taipei and renamed MacKay Memorial Hospital.

The period of active province-building in Taiwan

After the Mudan Incident and the Sino French war happened in 1874 and 1884, the Qing government realized the importance of Taiwan's coastal defense. This also result the establishment of Taiwan Province happened in 1885.

Liu Mingchuan's Contributions to Taiwan

Liu Mingchuan is Taiwan’s first governor after the establishment of Taiwan province.

Railway construction

Liu Mingchuan spearheaded the first self-managed railway, successfully completing the Taipei-Keelung line in 1891 and extending it to Hsinchu by 1893.

Military Defense

During the Sino-French War (1884–1885), Liu successfully organized local militias and heavily fortified the island, famously defending northern Taiwan and Keelung from French naval forces.

Republic of Formosa

After China (Qing) lost the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Chinese government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, forcing them to give up the territory of Taiwan and other parts of China.

The establishment of Republic of Formosa

Because the imperial Qing court could not openly violate the peace treaty, local gentry and Qing officials on the island devised a plan. By declaring an independent republic, they hoped to attract Western military intervention and build a proxy state that would eventually return to Chinese rule. The reign name of the republic, "Yongqing"(永清) means "forever Qing".

The fall of Republic of Formosa

The republic was proclaimed on May 23, 1895, and collapsed on October 21, 1895, that existed for exactly 151 days in 1895. It collapsed when Japanese forces captured its final stronghold in Tainan.

Learn more

A Wikipedia article about the Republic of Formosa

Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan

After the fall of Republic of Formosa in the year 1895, Japan begins its colonial rule in Taiwan.

Period of military rule

Following the initial military invasion, the Office of the Governor-General crushed armed insurgencies and implemented a strict police state. Civilian Administrator Goto Shinpei laid the groundwork for modernization by standardizing currency, conducting land surveys, and eliminating epidemics.

Rebellion

After the fall of Republic of Formosa, there were new rebellion started, such as the Musha Incident and the Tapani incident.

Taipani Incident (1915)

Led by Yu Ching-fang and others, insurgents utilized religious and millenarian beliefs to rally Han and Aboriginal fighters, attacking multiple Japanese police stations in the Tainan region.

Musha Incident (1930)

The Musha Incident is the final major uprising during the Japanese rule in Taiwan. Pushed to the brink by years of forced labor and cultural suppression, Seediq indigenous warriors led by Chief Mona Rudao attacked a school during sports day in Wushe (Musha), killing over 130 Japanese. Japan responded with devastating counter-attacks using poison gas, resulting in heavy indigenous casualties.

Modernized infrastructure in Taiwan

Japan's influence on Taiwan's infrastructure stems from its 1895–1945 colonial rule, which laid the foundational framework for the island's modernization, including railways, ports, and urban planning.During its 50-year rule, imperial Japan sought to transform Taiwan into a "model colony" to support its own economy.

Railway

The Japanese colonial government completed the North-South Trunk Line in 1908, connecting Keelung to Kaohsiung. This drastically cut travel times and remains the backbone of the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA).

Ports

The Japanese colonial government built major port such as the Keelung port and Kaohsiung port.

Architecture

Prominent structures like the Presidential Office Building (formerly the Governor-General’s Office) and the National Taiwan University Hospital showcase this lasting European-Japanese architectural footprint.

The Political Movements of Chiang Wei-shui and Lin Hsien-tang

Chiang Wei-shui and Lin Hsien-tang were the foremost pioneers of Taiwan’s non-violent political and cultural movements during the Japanese colonial era. Together, they founded the Taiwanese Cultural Association in 1921 to awaken Taiwanese national consciousness, subsequently championing separate political, economic, and democratic reforms.

Taiwanese Parliament Petition Movement

Lin led a decade-long, organized effort beginning in 1921 to petition the Imperial Diet in Tokyo for the establishment of a popularly elected, self-governing assembly in Taiwan.

Taiwanese Cultural Association

Co-founded with Lin in 1921, Chiang used it to combat what he termed "cultural malnutrition" through public lectures, night schools, and film screenings.

Taiwan in World War II

After Japan started invading China, Southeast Asia and the America, Taiwan, as a colony of Japan, automatically entered the war.

Affect

Military

More than 200,000 Taiwanese men served in the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Around 2,000 Taiwanese women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military system. Taiwan's strategic location along the resource logistics route to Southeast Asia and the Japanese home islands made it a key operational hub. Japan used Taiwanese airfields to launch strikes on the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Starting in late 1943, American began bombing Taiwan until the end of the war.

Culture

The Japanese colonial government banned Chinese-language sections in newspapers and prohibited the use of local dialects. Most of the political movement was forced to end.Japan pressured Taiwanese families to abandon their Chinese surnames and adopt Japanese ones.Literature, theater, and music were strictly censored and repurposed to serve the war effort. Pop music and traditional opera were replaced by patriotic military marches.

Post-war takeover

After the Axis power, including Japan, lost the second world war, Japan returned the Taiwan colony back to China (Republic of China), officially ending the 50-year Japanese rule in Taiwan. At the time, most of the Taiwanese are excited for the takeover, however due to many conflicts, it dissapointed them.

Conflicts

Due to heavy corruption, inflation and the language/culture barrier between the Chinese mainland's army and Taiwanese citizens, these resulted the February 28 incident happened in the year 1947.

February 28 incident

The local population initially welcomed the ROC forces as liberators, but public sentiment quickly soured due to hyperinflation, high unemployment, systemic corruption, and the seizure of local industries through state-run monopolies. In the end, an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that began on February 28, 1947, and was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang (KMT)-led Nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC).

Key events

On February 27, 1947, Taipei, agents from the state Tobacco Monopoly Bureau violently assaulted Lin Jiang-mai, a widowed Taiwanese mother selling contraband cigarettes, and shot a protesting bystander dead. One day after, angry crowds marched on the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and the Taiwan Provincial Executive Office to demand justice. Security forces opened fire with machine guns on the unarmed protestors, killing several dozen people. The incident triggered a spontaneous, island-wide revolt. Local citizens seized control of municipal administrations and radio stations, forming the February 28 Incident Settlement Committee to demand democratic reforms and autonomy from provincial governor Chen Yi. On March 8, 1947, heavily armed ROC troops arrived at ports in Keelung and Kaohsiung. They executed a ruthless, island-wide sweeping operation, systematically targeting and executing lawyers, doctors, professors, students, and journalists to wipe out the local leadership class. The massacre served as the gateway to the official declaration of Martial Law in 1949, initiating the White Terror period that lasted until 1987, during which political dissent was entirely silenced.

Transitional Justice

In 1996, President Lee Teng-hui issued the first official government apology to the families of the victims. February 28 is now observed as a national holiday (228 Peace Memorial Day) dedicated to remembrance, healing, and national reconciliation.

ROC retreats to Taiwan

The Republic of China (ROC) government retreated to Taiwan in December 1949 after losing the Chinese Civil War to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This massive movement involved about 2 million soldiers, officials, and refugees fleeing to the island. Chiang Kai-shek led the Kuomintang (KMT) party and military during the retreat. Taipei was named the temporary capital of the ROC.

Results

The KMT set up single-party rule and kept martial law in place on the island for 38 years. The government carried out land reforms and grew the economy, turning Taiwan into a major industrial power.
A massive treasury of imperial artifacts and national cultural treasures was evacuated to Taiwan.

The land reform

Taiwan's 1950s land reform was a peaceful, three-stage government program that capped farm rents at 37.5%, sold public lands to farmers, and enacted the "Land to the Tiller" act in 1953. It boosted rural incomes, reduced tenancy, and helped shift landlord capital toward national industrial growth.

37.5% Rent Reduction (1949)

Capped annual farm rental payments at 37.5% of the total main crop yield, down from 50% or higher. It also required written contracts to protect tenants from arbitrary eviction.

Land-to-the-Tiller Act (1953)

Forced large private landowners to sell excess holdings to the state, which then resold them directly to the farmers who worked them.

Historical Maps of Taiwan

This page presents maps related to the history of Taiwan for the reader's reference.

Prehistorical Era

Prehistorical cultures in Taiwan

Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific

Early Taiwan

Dutch and Spanish Taiwan

Dutch Taiwan

1626, a Spanish in the Philipines, Pedro de Vera, drew the "Description of the Harbour of the Dutch on the Island of Formosa" based on <The Salvador Díaz Report>.

"Penghu Island and Formosa Islands" by Dutch painter Johann Finpoun, painted around 1640.