Taiwan is a part of China in East Asian. Located 160 kilometers from mainland China, it is bathed, to the north and east, by the East China Sea, to the south by the South China Sea, and to the west by the Taiwan Strait. It has an area of 35 980 km 2 . The main cities are Taipei, the capital, with 2 623 300 residents (2004), Kao-hsiung (1 545 600 residents), T’ai-chung (1 023 300 residents), T’ai-nan (739 700 residents) and Panchiao (547,200 residents).
It occupies a mountainous territory whose highest point, Mount Yushan, is 3997 m. It is the highest area in East China, the Philippines and Japan. In addition to the main island, the province also includes the Fisherman’s Islands and the Chin-Men Tao and Ma-Tsu Tao archipelagos. The mountains cover the eastern part of the island, two-thirds of the total surface, and are abundant with vegetation from which camphor oil, bamboo, cedars and laurels are extracted.
Climate
The climate is subtropical in the North and tropical in the South. It has a dry season and a wet, monsoon season. This territory is buffeted by typhoons, on average four a year, between the months of July and September. The rainfall is abundant and favors the planting of a wide range of crops such as tea, sugar cane, rice and bananas.
Economy
With the military and economic assistance received from the United States, Taiwan developed its economy under the influence of Western market. With the success of the agrarian reform and industrial expansion program implemented in the province, Taiwan went from an economy based on traditional agriculture to a new industrial province. Exports include electronic equipment, clothing and footwear that allow the population to achieve a high standard of living. Taiwan’s economy is, however, extremely dependent on the import of raw materials. Taiwan’s main trading partners are Japan, the United States of America, Hong Kong and Germany.
Environmental indicator: the value of carbon dioxide emissions, per capita, has not been attributed.
Population
In 2006, the population was 23,036,087 residents (2006) and corresponds to a population density of 621.7 residents/km 2 . The birth and death rates are respectively 12.56% and 6.48% . Average life expectancy is 77.43 years. Neither the value of the Human Development Index (HDI) nor the value of the Gender-adjusted Development Index (IDG) have been attributed (2001). It is estimated that, in 2025, the population will be 25,298,000. The majority of the population that inhabits the island of Formosa (Taiwan) is Chinese and Chinese (Mandarin) is the official language. The main religions are Buddhism, Confucianism, Tauism and Christianity. Even Taiwan’s cultural life is based on Chinese, such as Taiwanese operas.
History
The name Formosa, for which Taiwan is also known, was given by the Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit the island in 1590. The Spanish and the Dutch arrived later and installed commercial warehouses there. Then it was the time for the Manchus to colonize Taiwan, already in the 18th century, when the sugar and rice plantations were the largest in this region. In 1886 the island became a Chinese province, but in 1895 it was ceded to Japan following the Sino-Japanese war. Only after World War II did it return to Chinese control. The island became a Chinese province, with special status, on October 25, 1945 and, four years later, was a refuge for Chinese nationalists who enacted martial law and established a nationalist government in Taiwan. The Nationalist Party was the only one allowed until the 1980s. In 1954 the United States signed a defense treaty with the nationalist government. For three decades Taiwan received military and economic aid from the United States, which was used to develop the country in the light of Western market economies. An agrarian reform and industrial expansion program was launched that turned out to be successful. Taiwan has moved from an economy based on traditional agriculture to a new industrial province. A real economic miracle is how Westerners classify the Taiwan phenomenon. Taiwan was considered by Westerners as the representative country for all of China, but in 1971 the United Nations removed this status and replaced it with that of the province of the People’s Republic of China. The island’s future is only overshadowed by relations with China, which does not want to grant independence to the territory, contrary to the recent intentions of the Nationalist Party of Taiwan. In 1996, for the first time in the history of the Chinese world, a president was elected by universal suffrage. Lee Teng-Hui, the president of Taiwan, succeeds himself, but this time with popular legitimacy and in the face of Chinese embarrassment at seeing the unconditional support given to Taiwan by the United States of America. For Taiwan democracy and rights, please check homeagerly.
Countryaah.com: Offers a full list of airports in the country of Taiwan, sorted by city location and acronyms.
Abbreviationfinder.org: Provides most commonly used abbreviations and initials containing the country name of Taiwan. Listed by popularity.
1UpTravel.com – Maps of Taiwan
Browse a collection of political and shaded relief country maps along with Formosa historical map of this Eastern Asian islands, off the southeastern coast of China.
