History of Taiwai

The island was made a prefecture(country) of the coastal mainland province of Fukien in 1684, and in 1885, during the Ching or Manchu dynasty (China's last reigning house), Taiwan was proclaimed a separate province of China.Taiwan has been familiar to the West as Formosa, a name derived from the 16th century Portuguese mariners who, on sighting the island from a galleon, named it "Ilha Formosa!" (Beautiful Island!). The official Chinese name for the Pescadores (Fishermen's Isles), a name also given by Portuguese mariners, is Penghu. The archipelago is located in the Taiwan Strait, and forms one of the 16 counties of Taiwan province.

The Dutch invaded Taiwan in 1624,for 37 years as a colonists. The Spanish invaded and occupied northernmost Taiwan in 1626, but were driven out by the Dutch 16 years later in 1642. The Dutch were finally dislodged in 1661 by invading forces from the mainland led by the Ming dynasty loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung, whose latinized name, Koxinga, derives from his ennoblement by the Ming court as Kuo Hsing Yeh, or lord of the Imperial Surname. Koxinga hoped to use Taiwan as his base in the fight to overthrow the Ching dynasty and restore the Ming dynasty.

The French occupied northernmost Taiwan in 1884, following a dispute with China over, the Yunnan-Indochina border. In March 1885 they also occupied the Pescadores, but withdrew from both the Pescadores and Taiwan three months later under the terms of a treaty with China.The principal city of Taiwan is Taipei, which since December 7,1949, has been the provisional capital of the Republic of China.

www.gergo.com