Island In the Stream Chronology

Chronology

  • 1492 Columbus comes to the Americas seeking a westward way to India.
  • 1497 Vasco da Gama sails around the Cape of Storms renaming it Cape of Good Hope. An eastern sea route is now opened to India and beyond. He reaches Macau, which will be colonized by the Portuguese.
  • 1500 The aborigines make up approximately 98% of the population of Taiwan.
  • 1521 Ferdinand Magellan in an attempt to circumnavigate the globe dies in the Philippines. One of his five ships will complete this journey. The Spanish will return to colonize the Philippines.
  • 1557 The Portuguese formally colonize Macau.
  • 1593 Japanese king, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, sends an ambassador to the "High Mountain People" on Taiwan.
  • 1619 The Dutch found Batavia (Jakarta) and solidify their control of Indonesia.
  • 1624 The Ming and the Dutch fight over Penghu (the Pescadores); the Dutch occupy southwest Taiwan.
  • 1625 Japanese traders protest Dutch taxes in Taiwan.
  • 1626 The Spanish stake a claim in northwest Taiwan where they will build Fort Santo Domingo. They will be driven out in 1643.
  • 1635 The Japanese begin their period of isolationism and abandon any influence in Taiwan. They will not return until after Perry "opens up" Japan in 1853.
  • 1644 The Manchus take over China.
  • 1662 Cheng Ch'eng Kung (Koxinga) and the Ming loyalists retreat and drive the Dutch from Taiwan.
  • 1683 The Manchus take Taiwan. They maintain a passive rule over the island. Uprisings and revolts occur every three to five years.
  • 1854 Admiral Perry visits Taiwan and suggests the United States appropriate the island. His recommendation is ignored.
  • 1858 The Tientsin Treaty opens four ports on Taiwan to western trade and interest.
  • 1871 The "Peony Tribe Incident" reinvolves the Japanese with Taiwan.
  • 1884 The French briefly occupy northern Taiwan.
  • 1885 Taiwan becomes a Province of China.
  • 1895 Taiwan is ceded to Japan in the treaty of Shimonoseki. It will be their colony until 1945.
  • 1921 The Taiwanese begin the first of many petitions for representation in the Japanese Imperial Diet.
  • 1945 Taiwan receives representation in the Japanese Diet as World War II ends. Taiwan is placed under the of the Republic of China with its status to be determined.
  • 1947 Taiwanese anger over ROC misgovernment explodes in the 2-28 incident.
  • 1949 Martial law is imposed in Taiwan as the ROC army retreats from the mainland.
  • 1950 The Korean War breaks out. Taiwan becomes part of the Western Bloc.
  • 1971 The ROC loses its seat in the United Nations.
  • 1979 The United States transfers its embassy from the ROC to the PRC.
  • 1987 Martial law is lifted in Taiwan.
  • 1996 In the first democratic presidential election with direct vote in Taiwan, Lee Teng-hui is re-elected president of the ROC by the people.
  • 2000 In the second democratic presidential election Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party becomes the first non-KMT president in a peaceful transference of power. Aborigines make up less than 2% of Taiwan's population.