Taiwan | History, Flag, Map, Capital, Population, & Facts

Taiwan, Chinese (Wade-Giles romanization) T'ai-wan or (Pinyin) Taiwan, Portuguese Formosa, island in the western Pacific Ocean that lies ... Taiwan TableofContents Taiwan Introduction&QuickFactsLandReliefDrainageandsoilsClimatePlantandanimallifeThepeopleEthnicgroupsLanguagesReligionsSettlementpatternsDemographyEconomyAgriculture,forestry,andfishingResourcesandpowerManufacturingFinanceTradeServicesLabourandtaxationTransportationandtelecommunicationsGovernmentandsocietyConstitutionalframeworkLocalgovernmentJusticePoliticalprocessSecurityHealthandwelfareHousingEducationCulturallifeCulturalmilieuFamilystructureDailylifeandsocialcustomsTheartsSportsandrecreationMediaandpublishingHistoryEarlyhistoryTaiwanaspartoftheJapaneseempireEarlyNationalistruleSuccessorstoChiangKai-shekTaiwansince2000TheChenShui-bianpresidencyTheMaYing-jeoupresidencyTheTsaiIng-wenpresidency FastFacts 2-MinSummary Facts&Stats Quizzes Media Videos Images More MoreArticlesOnThisTopic AdditionalReading Contributors ArticleHistory Home Geography&Travel CountriesoftheWorld Taiwan self-governingisland,Asia Actions Cite verifiedCite Whileeveryefforthasbeenmadetofollowcitationstylerules,theremaybesomediscrepancies. 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Taiwan-Children'sEncyclopedia(Ages8-11) Taiwan-StudentEncyclopedia(Ages11andup) Alternatetitles:Chung-huaMin-kuo,Formosa,RepublicofChina,T’ai-wan By JohnC.Copper • LastUpdated: Aug21,2022 • EditHistory TableofContents flagofTaiwan Seeallmedia HeadOfGovernment: Premier:SuTseng-chang ...(Showmore) Population: (2022est.)23,196,000 ...(Showmore) CurrencyExchangeRate: 1USDequals30.146Taiwannewdollar ...(Showmore) SeatOfGovernment: Taipei ...(Showmore) HeadOfState: President:TsaiIng-wen ...(Showmore) Seeallfacts&stats→ Summary Readabriefsummaryofthistopic T'ao-yüanMnbTaiwan,Chinese(Wade-Gilesromanization)T’ai-wanor(Pinyin)Taiwan,PortugueseFormosa,islandinthewesternPacificOceanthatliesroughly100miles(160km)offthecoastofsoutheasternChina.Itisapproximately245miles(395km)long(north-south)and90miles(145km)acrossatitswidestpoint.Taipei,inthenorth,istheseatofgovernmentoftheRepublicofChina(ROC;NationalistChina).Inadditiontothemainisland,theROCgovernmenthasjurisdictionover22islandsintheTaiwangroupand64islandstothewestintheP’eng-hu(Pescadores)archipelago.TwoislandgroupscontrolledbytheROCgovernment,MatsuandQuemoy,liejustoffthecoastofChina’sFujian(Fukien)province.IntheEastChinaSea,theROCclaimsthegroupofislandsitcallsDiaoyutai,whichalsoareclaimedbyJapanasSenkakuandbythePeople’sRepublicofChinaasDiaoyu.Moreover,intheSouthChinaSea,theROC’sclaimtotheParacelsisdisputedwiththePeople’sRepublicofChinaandVietnam,whereasalargergroupofcountries—thePeople’sRepublicofChina,Vietnam,Malaysia,andthePhilippines,inadditiontotheROC—allclaimtheSpratlyIslands.TaiwanEncyclopædiaBritannica,Inc.Priortothe1600s,Taiwanwasself-governing,althoughtherewasnocentralrulingauthority.ItwasacolonyoftheNetherlandsforabout40yearsintheearlytomid-17thcenturyandwassubsequentlyindependentagainforabouttwodecades.Chinagainedcontrolthereinthelate17thcenturyandruledTaiwanforsometwocenturies.JapanacquiredTaiwanin1895followingthefirstSino-JapaneseWar,anditbecameacolony.TaiwanwasreturnedtoNationalistChinesecontrolin1945followingJapan’sdefeatinWorldWarII.However,in1949ChinesecommunistarmiesdefeatedNationalistforcesonthemainlandandestablishedthePeople’sRepublicofChinathere.TheNationalistgovernmentandarmiesfledtoTaiwan,againresultingintheseparationofTaiwanfromChina.IntheensuingyearstheROCclaimedjurisdictionovertheChinesemainlandaswellasTaiwan,althoughintheearly1990sTaiwan’sgovernmentdroppedthisclaimtoChina.TheChinesegovernmentinBeijinghasmaintainedthatithasjurisdictionoverTaiwanandhascontinuedtopropoundaone-Chinapolicy—apositionthatfewcountriesintheworlddispute.Therehasbeennoagreement,however,onhoworwhen,ifever,thetwoentitieswillbereunified.LandPhysicalfeaturesofTaiwanEncyclopædiaBritannica,Inc.Shih-t'i-p'ing,TaiwanFredHsuTaiwan,roughlyovalinshape,isapproximateinareatotheNetherlandsortotheU.S.statesofMassachusetts,RhodeIsland,andConnecticutcombined.ItispartofastringofislandsoffthecoastofEastandSoutheastAsiaextendingfromJapansouththroughthePhilippinestoIndonesia.TaiwanisboundedtothenorthandnortheastbytheEastChinaSea,withtheRyukyuIslands(thesouthernmostpartofJapan)tothenortheast.TotheeastisfoundthegreatexpanseofthePacificOcean,andtothesouthistheBashiChannel,whichseparatesTaiwanfromthePhilippines.TothewestistheTaiwan(Formosa)Strait,whichseparatesTaiwanfromtheChinesemainland. BritannicaQuiz CountriesoftheWorld Whichcountryclaims"WaltzingMatilda"astheirunofficialanthem?WhatcountryhasthelargestMuslimpopulation?Sortouttherandominterestingfactsaboutcountriesaroundtheworld. ReliefChung-yangRangeFredHsuTaiwan’svolcanicsoilandthefrequencyofearthquakesontheislandindicateacommonoriginwiththeothernearbyarchipelagoes.However,theconfigurationofitscoastlinesandtheageandformationsofrocksonTaiwan’swestcoastsuggesttosomegeologiststhatTaiwanwasoncepartoftheAsianmainland.Ingeneral,thereliefoftheislandconsistsofanupliftedcrustalblockthattrendsnorth-northeasttosouth-southwest.TheinterioroftheislandismountainousandslopessharplydownwardontheeastsidetothePacificandmoregentlyinthewesttotheTaiwanStrait.Mountainscoverapproximatelytwo-thirdsofthesurfaceoftheisland.ThehighestareintheChung-yang(Zhongyang,orCentral)Rangeintheeast,whichextendsalongtheisland’snorth-southaxisandinmanyplacesdescendstotheshoreline.Severaldozenpeaksintherangetowernearorabove10,000feet(3,000metres),thehighestbeingYu(Jade)Mountain,whichrisesto13,113feet(3,997metres).Thewesternpartoftheisland,consistingofterracedtablelandsandalluvialplains,hasmostofTaiwan’sflatlandand,consequently,thebulkofitsfarmlandandmostofitspopulation.Bycontrast,theeastcoast—asidefromonemajorriftvalley—provideslittleroomforhumansettlement. GetaBritannicaPremiumsubscriptionandgainaccesstoexclusivecontent. SubscribeNow An-p'ingKoikaManyofTaiwan’sbestharboursarelocatedalongthewesterncoastline—e.g.,Kao-hsiung(Gaoxiong)andAn-p’ing(Anping)districtofT’ai-nan(Tainan)specialmunicipalityinthesouthwest—withtheexceptionsbeingSuaoBayonthenortheastcoastandChi-lung(Jilong,orKeelung)onthenortherntipoftheisland.Mostofthefarmlandandconsequentlymostofthepopulationaretobefoundonthewesternpartoftheisland.DrainageandsoilsTan-shuiRiver,TaiwanLatinboyTaiwanhasarelativelylargenumberofriversforitssize,buttheyaremostlyshortandsmallandarenotnavigable—theexceptiontothelatterdescriptionbeingtheTan-shui(Danshui,orTamsui)River,whichflowsnorthwardfromthemountainsandpassesnearTaipeibeforeemptyingintotheTaiwanStrait.MostofTaiwan’sriversoriginateontheslopesoftheChung-yangRange,andthosethatfloweastaresteeperandhavefasterflowingcurrentsthanthosethatflowwest.Riverbedsofthewest-flowingstreams,afterleavingthemountains,tendtobewideandshallowandthat,togetherwiththefactthatthoseriverscarryconsiderablesilt,makesmanagingwaterresourcesdifficult.TheCho-shui(Zhuoshui)RiverincentralTaiwanistheisland’slongest,at116miles(186km),andtheKao-p’ing(Gaoping)Riverinthesouthhasthelargestdrainagebasin.IrrigationanddrainagechannelslinkmanyofTaiwan’srivers. NewfromBritannica Centuriesago,peopleinSoutheastAsiadevelopedafermentedfishsaucecalledke-tchup.BritishtradersbroughtthesaucetoEngland,wherevariationsweremadeusingingredientslikemushroomsandwalnuts,untiltomatoprevailedinthe19thcentury. SeeAllGoodFacts ThesoilsofTaiwanvaryconsiderablyinfertility.Becausetheislandisofvolcanicorigin,ithasrichsoils.However,thosesoilshavelargelybeenleechedoftheirnutrientsbyheavyrainsandlong-termirrigation.Inthenorthernpartoftheisland,thesoilsinarableareasareprimarilyacidalluvialsandlatosols;inthesouth,areasofarablelandhaveneutraltoweak-alkalineandplanosol-likealluvialsoils.MuchofTaiwan’ssoilisdeficientinphosphorousandpotash,andfertilizersareneededtoproducegoodharvests,especiallywherethelandisdoublecropped.