This is a list of the highest-ranked rulers based on the

island of Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territori ...

Dutch and Spanish Formosa (1624–1662)

Dutch Formosa (1624–1662)

The Dutch Empire, during the period of the

Dutch United Provinces The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

and under the auspices of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(VOC), attempted to conquer

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

in 1622. Later they colonized the Pescadores Islands, where they built a fort in Makung. In 1624, the Chinese attacked, and the Dutch were driven to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

(then called Formosa, meaning "beautiful island"). That year they established Fort Zeelandia on Taiwan's southwest coast. In 1637, the Dutch conquered Favorolang (also Favorlang; present day

Huwei, Yunlin Huwei Township () is an urban township in Yunlin County, Taiwan. It has a population of about 70,269. Name In the 17th century, during the Dutch era, '' Favorolang'' was one of the largest and most powerful aboriginal villages in Taiwan. Th ...

). The names listed here are the Dutch governors:

Spanish Formosa (1626–1642)

In response to the Dutch settlements, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

settled at Keelung on the northeast coast of the island in 1626 and built Fort San Salvador. Later they built another outpost, Fort San Domingo, at

Tamsui Tamsui District (Hokkien POJ: ''Tām-chúi''; Hokkien Tâi-lô: ''Tām-tsuí''; Mandarin Pinyin: ''Dànshuǐ'') is a seaside district in New Taipei, Taiwan. It is named after the Tamsui River; the name means "fresh water". The town is popul ...

in the northwest. In 1629 these forts had a combined total of about 200

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

and 400

Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...

. By 1635, the Tamsui settlement was abandoned; however, the Keelung settlement remained in Spanish hands until 1642, when a Dutch force of 11 ships and 1,000 men attacked the fort of 446 people. The Spanish surrendered.

Kingdom of Tungning (1662–1683)

The

Southern Ming The Southern Ming (), also known as the Later Ming (), officially the Great Ming (), was an imperial dynasty of China and a series of rump states of the Ming dynasty that came into existence following the Jiashen Incident of 1644. Shun force ...

(

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

loyalists) came to Taiwan under

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...

, expelling the Dutch and capturing Fort Zeelandia. They established the

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning (), also known as Tywan by the British at the time, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly Han Chinese state in ...

. *

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

Feng Xifan Feng Xifan ( 17th century), pseudonym Xifan (), was an official and general of the Kingdom of Tungning on the island of Taiwan in the late 17th century. He was from Longxi County, which is around present-day Qiling Village, Longwen District, ...

from 1682 to 1683.

Taiwan under Qing rule (1683–1895)

Taiwan-Amoy Circuit (1683–1721)

The

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

invaded Taiwan; the Ming rulers surrendered and were expelled. ;Taiwan-Xiamen Circuit Commissioner (福建分巡台灣廈門道, 1687—1727)

Taiwan Circuit (1721–1885)

Qing rule was reestablished after a month-long revolt. The Taiwan Circuit was established in 1727 with its seat in Taiwan-fu, unlike its predecessor, the Taiwan-Amoy Circuit, which was based in

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an ...

. The Taiwan Circuit Commissioner had its powers checked by the Taiwan Circuit

Investigating censor Investigation or Investigations may refer to: Law enforcement * Investigation, the work of a detective * Investigation, the work of a private investigator * Criminal investigation, the study of facts, used to identify, locate and prove the guilt ...

s. ;Taiwan Circuit Commissioner (福建分巡台灣道) ;Taiwan Circuit Investigating Censor (巡視台灣監察御史) ;Taiwan Military Circuit Commissioner (福建分巡臺灣兵備道, 1767-1791) ;Provincial Censor-ranked Taiwan Military Circuit Commissioner (按察使銜分巡台灣兵備道, 1791-1895)

Governor of Fukien-Taiwan Province (1885–1895)

Republic of Formosa (1895)

The Republic of Formosa was a short-lived republic that existed on the

in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the

of China to the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

by the

Treaty of Shimonoseki The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China and in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was a treaty signed at the , Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the Firs ...

and its being taken over by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...

was taken over by the Japanese.

Taiwan under Japanese rule (1895–1945)

After establishing control over the island, the Japanese used the French Empire model of an occupying force and were instrumental in the industrialization of the island; they built

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

, a

sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation syste ...

system and a public school system, among other things. Around 1935, the Japanese began an island-wide assimilation project to bind the island more firmly to the empire. In 1941, war broke out when the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval port of

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. By 1945, desperate plans were in place to incorporate popular representation of Taiwan into the Imperial Diet to end colonial rule of the island and transfer occupying troops to the front lines to fight the Allies. The names listed here are the Japanese governor-generals:

Taiwan after World War II (from 1945)

Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1945, under the terms of the Instrument of Surrender of Japan, the control of Taiwan was to be transferred to the Republic of China (ROC). ROC troops were authorized to come to Taiwan to accept the surrender of Japanese military forces and occupy Taiwan HC Deb 04 February 1955 vol 53
c159W
"In September, 1945, the administration of Formosa was taken over from the Japanese by Chinese forces at the direction of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers; but this was not a cession, nor did it in itself involve any change of sovereignty. The arrangements made with Chiang Kai-shek put him there on a basis of military occupation pending further arrangements, and did not of themselves constitute the territory Chinese." on behalf of the Allied Powers in

General Order No. 1 General Order No. 1 ( Japanese:一般命令第一号) for the surrender of Japan was prepared by the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and approved by President Harry Truman on August 17, 1945. It was issued by General Douglas MacArthur to the ...

, issued by Douglas MacArthur, the

Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) to the Japanese government, aiming to suppress its "milit ...

, on 2 September 1945. ROC troops were later transported to Keelung by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, and Japanese handed the control of Taiwan to the ROC on 25 October 1945. Following its defeat in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

in 1949, Premier

Yan Xishan Yan Xishan (; 8 October 1883 – 22 July 1960, ) was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. He effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in ...

proclaimed the ROC

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

's relocation to Taiwan (where it exists until today), thus replacing the Provincial Chairperson as the highest-ranked executive official on Taiwan. This lasted until March 1950, when Chiang Kai-shek resumed his duties as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

in Taipei.

Governor of Taiwan Province (1945–1949)

Presidents of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (1949–1950)

President of the Republic of China (from 1 March 1950)

References

{{reflist History of Taiwan

Lists of Taiwanese politicians