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History

Taiwan was first inhabited by Austronesian people. It was colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century, followed by an inflow of Han Chinese including Hakka settlers from areas of Fujian and Guangdong provinces of China. The Spanish also settled for a while in the north, but were kicked out by the Dutch in 1642.

In 1662, Koxinga, a Ming Dynasty loyalist, defeated the Dutch and established a base of operations on the island. His forces were then defeated by the Qing Dynasty in 1683. Taiwan fell into the hands of Japan in 1895 following the First Sino-Japanese War. The island served as a base for the Japanese colonial expansion into Southeast Asia and the Pacific during World War II.

Following World War II, the Republic of China, under the Kuomintang (KMT) became the governing polity of Taiwan. In 1949, after losing control of mainland China following the Chinese civil war, the ROC government under the KMT withdrew to Taiwan and Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law.

Japan formally renounced all territorial rights on Taiwan in 1952 in the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Then, the KMT ruled Taiwan as a single-party state for forty years, until there were democratic reforms during the final year of the rule. The reforms were announced officially by Chiang's successor, Lee Teng-hui. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian was elected the president, becoming the first non-KMT president of Taiwan. During the 2008 election, Ma Ying-jeou was elected president and that marked the second peaceful transition of power, this time back to the KMT.