Republic of Formosa

Republic of Formosa
臺灣民主國
Unrecognized state
1895
Flag Seal of the Republic
The island of Taiwan, on which the Republic of Formosa established in 1895.
Capital		Taipei (May–June 1895) Tainan (June–October 1895)
Languages		Taiwanese, Hakka, Formosan languages
Government		Republic
President
•	May 1895 – June 1895	T'ang Ching-sung
•	June 1895 – Oct. 1895	Liu Yongfu (de facto)
Historical era		New Imperialism
•	Declared	23 May 1895
•	Conquered	21 October 1895
Currency		Qing Tael
Preceded by Succeeded by Taiwan under Qing Dynasty rule Taiwan under Japanese rule

The Republic of Formosa (literally Democratic State of Taiwan, also known informally in English as the Republic of Taiwan) was a short-lived republic that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and its taking over by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic in Borneo, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo in Japan, established in 1869.

In 1894, China and Japan went to war. In a few short months the Japanese defeated China's Beiyang fleet, routed the Chinese armies in Manchuria, and captured Port Arthur and Weihaiwei. Although nearly all the fighting took place in northern China, Japan had important territorial ambitions in southern China. As the war approached its end, the Japanese took steps to ensure that Taiwan would be ceded to Japan under the eventual peace treaty and that they were well placed militarily to occupy the island. In March 1895 peace negotiations between Japan and China opened in the Japanese city of Shimonoseki. Although hostilities in northern China were suspended during these negotiations, Taiwan and the Pescadores were specifically excluded from the scope of the armistice. This exclusion allowed the Japanese to mount a military operation against the Pescadores Islands in March 1895 without imperilling the negotiations. The Pescadores, lying midway between mainland China and Taiwan, were the key to a successful occupation of Taiwan. In a swift campaign in the last week of March the Japanese captured the islands, preventing further Chinese reinforcements from being sent across the Taiwan Strait to Taiwan. This brisk fait accompli influenced the peace negotiations, and the ensuing Treaty of Shimonoseki, concluded on 17 April 1895, duly provided for the cession by China of Taiwan to Japan. On 10 May, Admiral Kabayama Sukenori was appointed the first Japanese governor-general of Taiwan.