Taiwan

An island that is a functioning democracy of twenty-three million people and, formally, still the government of all China. Austronesian peoples settled Taiwan thousands of years ago and it is now thought to be the origin point of the Austronesian expansion across the Pacific and to Madagascar. The Dutch and Spanish held ports in the seventeenth century, Ming loyalists took it, the Qing annexed it in 1683, and Japan ruled it from 1895 to 1945, building railways, schools and industry. The Republic of China took control in 1945; its forces suppressed local protest in the February 28 incident of 1947, killing thousands, and after losing the civil war the Nationalists retreated to the island in 1949 with the treasury, the museum collections and around two million people. Martial law lasted until 1987, the longest imposed anywhere at the time. Democratisation followed and Taiwan now holds free elections that the mainland regards as illegitimate. Most countries recognise Beijing rather than Taipei, and Taiwan lost its UN seat in 1971. TSMC makes the great majority of the world's most advanced semiconductors, which has made the island's status a global economic question. The island has about twenty-three million people in thirty-six thousand square kilometres. Mandarin is official, with Taiwanese Hokkien and Hakka widely spoken and sixteen recognised indigenous peoples. It was the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, in 2019. Taipei 101 was the world's tallest building when completed. Night markets are a defining social institution. The island sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and the 1999 earthquake killed over two thousand people.

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