US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan

Indigenous populations in Taiwan trace their history on the island back around 10,000 years, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

However, since the 17th century, the island has been colonized by a series of powers — including the Dutch and Japanese — and indigenous groups now account for only about 2% of the population.

Dutch traders maintained a colony on the island for a few decades, using it as a base for trade with both China and Japan, but were driven out in the 17th century when Taiwan became part of the Chinese empire. Imperial China then ceded the island to Japan in 1895 after losing the First Sino-Japanese War.

The island remained a Japanese colony for half a century until the end of World War II, when it was returned to Chinese hands following the allied defeat of Japan. However, by this time Imperial China had long since fallen and the Chinese mainland was being ruled by a Nationalist government, led by the Kuomintang, or KMT, under the banner of the Republic of China.

The Chinese civil war: Not long after, the Nationalists came under renewed attack from an insurgent Chinese Communist Party.

The two sides entered into a bloody civil war that resulted in the eventual defeat of the Nationalists, who fled to Taiwan, moving the seat of the Nationalist government from Nanjing to Taipei.

On the Chinese mainland, the Communist Party took power and established the People’s Republic of China.

Both the Nationalists and the Communists then proclaimed themselves to be the sole rightful government of the entire Chinese territory, covering both the mainland and Taiwan.

In Taipei, the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek dreamed of one day retaking the mainland; In Beijing, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong deemed Taiwan the last piece to a united “new China.”

Taiwan today: In recent years, Taiwan has downplayed its territorial claims over mainland China, and is today a vibrant democracy, with its own military, currency, constitution and elected government.

But few governments in the world recognize it as an independent country and Taipei has become increasingly isolated diplomatically.

Over the years, an increasing number of governments have switched their diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, leaving Taiwan with only 15 diplomatic allies at the end of 2021.