Taiwan History and Politics

Early and Colonial History

25 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 25 questions

  1. What does the name Formosa, used by early European sailors for the island, mean in Portuguese?
  2. Which group of peoples lived on Taiwan long before large-scale Han Chinese settlement?
  3. Which European trading company built Fort Zeelandia near Tainan in 1624?
  4. Who led the forces that drove the Dutch from Taiwan in 1662?
  5. Which dynasty brought Taiwan under its administration in 1683?
  6. What was the name of the state that the Zheng family ruled on Taiwan from 1661 to 1683?
  7. Which treaty of 1895 passed Taiwan to Japan after the first Sino-Japanese war?
  8. For about how many years did Japan govern Taiwan, from 1895 to 1945?
  9. Which European power built forts at Keelung and Tamsui in northern Taiwan in the 1620s?
  10. In which year did the Qing court make Taiwan a separate province?
  11. Which governor of the 1880s built Taiwan's first railway, between Keelung and Taipei?
  12. Which Canadian missionary, active at Tamsui from 1872, founded a school and a hospital in northern Taiwan?
  13. In which city does the site of Fort Zeelandia stand today?
  14. From which two provinces of the mainland did most Han settlers of Qing Taiwan come?
  15. In which year did Japanese rule in Taiwan end?
  16. Which incident of 1947 began with a dispute in Taipei and led to a harsh crackdown across the island?
  17. For how many years did martial law remain in force in Taiwan, from 1949 until 1987?
  18. Between which years did the Dutch hold their colony on Taiwan?
  19. Which temple in Taipei's Wanhua district, first built in 1738, is a major centre of folk religion?
  20. Which 1874 expedition did Japan send to southern Taiwan after sailors were killed there?
  21. Which list gives the order of the main rulers of Taiwan from 1624 to 1945?
  22. Fort Zeelandia was built in 1624 and the Dutch left in 1662. For how long had the fort been in Dutch hands?
  23. Taiwan became a province in 1885 and was ceded to Japan in 1895. How long was it a Qing province?
  24. Which Japanese engineer designed the Wushantou Reservoir and the Chianan irrigation system, finished in 1930?
  25. Which statement about the Spanish and Dutch in 17th-century Taiwan is correct?

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