The history of the island of Taiwan dates back tens of thousands of years to the earliest known evidence of human habitation. The sudden appearance of a culture based on agriculture around 3000 BC is believed to … See more

Early Chinese histories refer to visits to eastern islands that some historians identify with Taiwan. Troops of the Three Kingdoms See more

Conquest
Koxinga renamed Zeelandia to Anping and Provintia to Chikan. On 29 May 1662, Chikan was renamed to "Ming Eastern Capital" (Dongdu … See more

The acquisition of Taiwan by Japan was the result of Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi's "southern strategy" adopted during the First Sino-Japanese … See more

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. A concentration of See more

Contact and establishment
The name Formosa (福爾摩沙) dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors noted it on their maps as Ilha Formosa (Portuguese for "beautiful island"). In 1582, the survivors of a Portuguese shipwreck spent 45 days battling See more

Annexation
Shi Lang remained in Taiwan for 98 days before returning to Fujian on 29 December 1683. In Fujian, … See more