Taiwan

Indigenous Taiwan — the Austronesian homeland

Taiwan's indigenous peoples (c. 5000 BCE – present) are the ancestral population of all Austronesian peoples — the linguistic and genetic evidence shows that the Polynesian, Micronesian, Melanesian, Malay, Filipino, Indonesian, and Malagasy populations that span half the globe descended from peoples who left Taiwan roughly 5,000 years ago in one of history's greatest maritime migrations.

Dutch Formosa and Koxinga — competing claims to the island

The Dutch East India Company occupied Taiwan (1624–1662 CE) as a trading base, developed sugar plantations using Chinese immigrant labour, and was expelled by Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) — a Ming loyalist who used Taiwan as his base against the new Qing dynasty, establishing the pattern of China-Taiwan contestation that persists today.

Japanese Taiwan — colonial modernisation and its legacies

Japanese colonisation of Taiwan (1895–1945 CE) — Taiwan was ceded after Japan defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War — pursued aggressive modernisation: railways, roads, public health systems, and rice and sugar agriculture that made Taiwan one of Asia's most developed colonies, while suppressing Taiwanese culture and identity through assimilation campaigns.

Chiang Kai-shek and the Republic of China in Taiwan

The Nationalist government's retreat to Taiwan (1949 CE) after losing China's civil war to Mao Zedong established the Republic of China on Taiwan — Chiang Kai-shek's authoritarian one-party state maintained for 38 years the world's longest martial law (1949–1987) while transforming Taiwan's economy from poverty to prosperity through land reform and export-led industrialisation.

The Taiwan Miracle — from poverty to semiconductor superpower

Taiwan's economic transformation (1960–2000 CE) from a poor agricultural island to an industrial powerhouse was one of the Four Asian Tigers' most remarkable performances — and its specialisation in semiconductor manufacturing, culminating in TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), made it the single most strategically critical manufacturing node in the global economy.

Taiwan's democracy and the cross-strait question

Taiwan's democratisation (1987–1996 CE) — from martial law to Asia's most vibrant democracy — coincided with rising tensions with China over Taiwan's political status, creating the world's most dangerous potential flashpoint: China claims Taiwan as a breakaway province; Taiwan's 23 million people have developed a distinct democratic identity that polling shows increasingly favours indefinite autonomy.