Taiwan
The island of Taiwan lies in a complex tectonic area between the Yangtze Plate to the west and north, the Okinawa Plate on the north-east, and the Philippine Mobile Belt on the east and south. The upper part of the crust on the island is primarily made up of a series of terranes, mostly old island arcs which have been forced together by the collision of the forerunners of the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate. These have been further uplifted as a result of the detachment of a portion of the Eurasian Plate as it was subducted beneath remnants of the Philippine Sea Plate, a process which left the crust under Taiwan more buoyant. The major seismic faults in Taiwan correspond to the various suture zones between the various terranes. These have produced major quakes. On the 21st of September 1999, a 7.3 quake known as the 921 earthquake killed more than 2,400 people. The seismic hazard map for Taiwan by the USGS shows 9/10 of the island at the most hazardous rating.
Human remains and Paleolithic artifacts dated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago have been found on the island. Study of the human remains suggested they were Australo-Papuan people similar to Negrito populations in the Philippines. Slash-and-burn agriculture practices started at least 11,000 years ago. Stone tools of the Changbin culture have been found in Taitung and Eluanbi. Archaeological remains suggest they were initially hunter-gatherers that slowly shifted to intensive fishing. The distinct Wangxing culture, found in Miaoli County, were initially gatherers who shifted to hunting. Around 6,000 years ago, Taiwan was settled by farmers of the Dapenkeng culture, most likely from what is now southeast China. These cultures are the ancestors of modern Taiwanese Indigenous peoples and the originators of the Austronesian language family. Trade with the Philippines persisted from the early 2nd millennium BCE, including the use of Taiwanese jade in the Philippine jade culture.
In 1624, the Dutch East India Company established Fort Zeelandia on the coastal islet of Tayouan in modern Tainan. The lowland areas were occupied by 11 Indigenous chiefdoms, some of which fell under Dutch control, including the Kingdom of Middag. When the Dutch arrived, southwestern Taiwan was already frequented by a mostly transient Chinese population numbering close to 1,500. The VOC encouraged Chinese farmers to immigrate and work the lands under Dutch control and by the 1660s, some 30,000 to 50,000 Chinese were living on the island. In 1683, following the defeat of Koxinga's grandson by an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang, the Qing dynasty formally annexed Taiwan in May 1684. The Qing government generally tried to restrict migration to Taiwan throughout the duration of its administration because it believed that Taiwan could not sustain too large a population without leading to conflict. After the defeat of the Kingdom of Tungning, most of its population in Taiwan was sent back to the mainland, leaving the official population count at only 50,000, including 10,000 troops.
Following the Qing defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan, its associated islands, and the Penghu archipelago were ceded to Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. On the 25th of May 1895, a group of pro-Qing high officials proclaimed the Republic of Formosa to resist impending Japanese rule. Japanese forces entered the capital at Tainan and quelled this resistance on the 21st of October 1895. About 6,000 inhabitants died in the initial fighting and some 14,000 died in the first year of Japanese rule. Another 12,000 bandit-rebels were killed from 1898 to 1902. Subsequent rebellions against the Japanese, such as the Beipu uprising of 1907, the Tapani incident of 1915, and the Musha incident of 1930, were unsuccessful but demonstrated opposition to Japanese rule. The colonial period was instrumental to the industrialization of the island, with its expansion of railways and other transport networks, the building of an extensive sanitation system, the establishment of a formal education system, and an end to the practice of headhunting.
Martial law, declared on Taiwan in May 1949, continued to be in effect until 1987, and was used to suppress political opposition. During the White Terror, as the period is known, 140,000 people were imprisoned or executed for being perceived as anti-KMT or pro-Communist. Many citizens were arrested, tortured, imprisoned or executed for their real or perceived link to the Chinese Communist Party. Since these people were mainly from the intellectual and social elite, an entire generation of political and social leaders was destroyed. Following the eruption of the Korean War, US President Harry S. Truman dispatched the United States Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent hostilities between the ROC and the PRC. The KMT government instituted many laws and land reforms that it had never effectively enacted on mainland China. Economic development was encouraged by American aid and programs such as the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, which turned the agricultural sector into the basis for later growth.
On the 15th of July 1987, Chiang lifted martial law on the main island of Taiwan. After Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 1988, Lee Teng-hui became the first president of the ROC born in Taiwan and was the first to be directly elected in 1996. Lee's administration oversaw a period of democratization in which the Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion were abolished and the Additional Articles of the Constitution were introduced. Congressional representation was allocated to only the Taiwan Area, and Taiwan underwent a process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted over a pan-China viewpoint while assimilationist policies were replaced with support for multiculturalism. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian of the DPP was elected as the first non-KMT president. However, Chen lacked legislative majority. The opposition KMT developed the Pan-Blue Coalition with other parties, mustering a slim majority over the DPP-led Pan-Green Coalition. Polarized politics emerged in Taiwan with the Pan-Blue preference for eventual Chinese unification, while the Pan-Green prefers Taiwanese independence.
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Common questions
What tectonic plates surround the island of Taiwan?
The island of Taiwan lies between the Yangtze Plate to the west and north, the Okinawa Plate on the north-east, and the Philippine Mobile Belt on the east and south. Collision of these forerunners created terranes that were uplifted when a portion of the Eurasian Plate detached beneath remnants of the Philippine Sea Plate.
When did the 921 earthquake occur in Taiwan and how many people died?
A 7.3 magnitude quake known as the 921 earthquake occurred on the 21st of September 1999 and killed more than 2,400 people. The seismic hazard map by the USGS rates nine-tenths of the island at the most hazardous rating due to major faults corresponding to suture zones.
Who were the first human inhabitants found on the island of Taiwan?
Human remains dated 20,000 to 30,000 years ago suggest early populations were Australo-Papuan people similar to Negrito groups in the Philippines. These groups transitioned from hunter-gatherers to intensive fishing before farmers of the Dapenkeng culture settled around 6,000 years ago.
How many Chinese lived on Taiwan under Dutch control by the 1660s?
By the 1660s, some 30,000 to 50,000 Chinese were living on the island after the Dutch East India Company encouraged immigration to work lands under their control. This population grew significantly from an initial transient group numbering close to 1,500 when the Dutch arrived in 1624.
When did martial law end in Taiwan and who became president in 1987?
Martial law was lifted on the main island of Taiwan on the 15th of July 1987 following its declaration in May 1949. Lee Teng-hui later became the first president born in Taiwan and the first directly elected in 1996 after Chiang Ching-kuo died in 1988.