List of rulers of Taiwan

Dutch Empire (1624-1661)

The Dutch Empire, during the period of the Dutch United Provinces and under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), attempted to conquer Macau in 1622. Later they colonized the Pescadores Islands, where they built a fort in Makung. In 1624, the Chinese attacked, and the Dutch were driven to Taiwan (then called Formosa, meaning "beautiful island"). That year they established Fort Zeelandia on Taiwan's southwest coast. In 1637, the Dutch conqurered Favorolang (present day Huwei). The names listed here are the Dutch governors:

Republic of Formosa

Following its defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), China ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores to the Empire of Japan in perpetuity, with a grace period for inhabitants wishing to remain Chinese (Qing Dynasty) subjects to sell their property and return to the mainland. The date set for the handover was June 2, 1895.

However, the Republic of Formosa was formed on May 25 by a group of Qing officials and local gentry with its capital at Tainan to resist impending Japanese rule. The republic lasted for less than six months; on October 21, Imperial Japanese Army forces entered the capital and quelled the resistance. The Republic of Taiwan had two presidents:

Japanese Empire (1895-1945)

After establishing control over the island, the Japanese used the French Empire model of an occupying force and were instrumental in the industrialization of the island; they built railroads, a sanitation system and a public school system, among other things. Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the empire.

In 1941, war broke out when the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval port of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. By 1945, desperate plans were in place to incorporate popular representation of Taiwan into the Imperial Diet to end colonial rule of the island and transfer occupying troops to the front lines to fight the Allies.

Following the end of World War II in 1945, under the terms of the Instrument of Surrender of Japan, Japan provisionally accepted the Potsdam Declaration (which referenced the never-signed Cairo Declaration), under which the island was to be transferred to the Republic of China. ROC troops were authorized to come to Taiwan to accept the surrender of Japanese military forces in General Order No. 1, issued by Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, on September 2, 1945. ROC troops were later transported to Keelung by the U.S. Navy.

Republic of China

ee also

*Timeline of Taiwanese history
*History of Taiwan
*History of the Republic of China

External links

* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Taiwan.html WorldStatesmen.org listing]
* [http://www.hostkingdom.net/china.html#Taiwan Regnal Chronologies listing]