Taiwan Historical accounts report that Taiwan was first settled by wandering peoples of Malay-Polynesian descent. They built simple housing along the low-lying coastal plains, and named their new found home, Pakan. Taiwan's modern history began in the late 16th century when the first European explorers entered the area. Jan Huygen van Linschoten, a Dutch navigator on a Portuguese ship, named the island (Ilha Formosa) meaning (beautiful island), and the Formosa name stuck for the next four centuries. Long controlled by China, it was a military defeat in 1895 that forced China to cede (give) Taiwan to Japan. 50 years later, after the end of World War II, Taiwan reverted to Chinese control. On China's mainland the Communist Revolution took hold in the mid-1940s, and after the Communist victory in 1949 over General Chiang Kai-shek and his forces, the losers sought refuge on Taiwan, and quickly established their strict military control. Over the next few years an additional two million Chinese Nationalists fled to Taiwan, but they remained in the minority as they collectively made up only 15% of the overall population. Over the next five decades, the Taiwanese majority gradually democratized by installing much-needed economic and social reforms; policies that subsequently changed the island forever. During this period of change Taiwan prospered, and transformed itself into one of Asia's modern economic powerhouses, along with South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. Today, Taiwan is the 17th largest economy in the world, and its immediate and long term futures are certainly bright. The major front-burner issue for all Taiwanese is their relationship with China, and specifically the possibility of eventual unification; it's a complicated, controversial and contentious question. Note: Many countries around the world recognize, and maintain formal diplomatic relations with the ROC, Republic of China (Taiwan)   Simple Facts Name Taiwan Population 22,900,000 Capital City Taipei (2.8 mil) metro (8 mil) Currency New Taiwan Dollar (TWD) Languages Mandarin Chinese (official), Taiwanese Religions Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist (93%) others           Source: World Atlas