Taiwan (Napoleon's World)

Taiwan, historically known by its Western name Formosa, is an island in Japan, located 110 miles off the southeastern coast of China. Taiwan was previously a colony of Japan but since 1962 has enjoyed the same rights and privileges as any of the other provinces, regions and prefectures of the Home Islands, of which it is now considered a part. Historically ethnic Chinese, today about 40% of Taiwain's 18 million people are of Han Chinese descent, almost all of whom are fluent in Japanese. Many of Taiwan's Chinese-speaking population emigrated during the 1930s and 1940s, during a period of war and tension between Japan and China, with many settling in the East Indies, Oceania, China itself, or even the West, particularly in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The largest city of Taiwain is Taihoku, with a population of about 1.5 million people, the seventh largest city in Japan.