Taiwan's indigenous peoples arrived between 6,000 and 15,000 years ago, establishing Austronesian-speaking cultures across the island. Today 16 officially recognized indigenous groups comprise approximately 580,000 people, or 2.5 percent of the population. The Amis constitute the largest group with roughly 215,000 members, followed by the Paiwan, Atayal, and Bunun. The Tao people inhabit Orchid Island exclusively, maintaining ocean-oriented traditions distinct from mountain groups. Genetic and linguistic research conducted by Marie Lin at Mackay Memorial Hospital and published in PLOS ONE in 2014 confirmed Taiwan as the likely origin point for Austronesian expansion across the Pacific and into Southeast Asia. The Seediq, recognized as a separate group from the Atayal in 2008, number approximately 10,000. The Kavalan received official recognition in 2002, the Truku in 2004, the Sakizaya in 2007, and the Hla'alua and Kanakanavu in 2014. Indigenous languages face endangerment—the Thao people of Sun Moon Lake number fewer than 300 speakers. The Council of Indigenous Peoples, established in 1996 as a cabinet-level agency, administers policies affecting these communities.
Chinese settlement began with small-scale migration from Fujian province during the Ming dynasty, intensifying after 1624 when the Dutch East India Company established Fort Zeelandia on the southwestern coast near present-day Tainan. The Dutch imported laborers from Fujian and developed sugar cultivation, administering the southwest until 1662. The Spanish simultaneously controlled northern harbors from 1626 to 1642, building Fort San Domingo in Tamsui and establishing a presence in Keelung before Dutch forces expelled them. Zheng Chenggong, a Ming loyalist known to Europeans as Koxinga, besieged Fort Zeelandia for nine months before Dutch governor Frederik Coyett surrendered on February 1, 1662. The Zheng family ruled Taiwan as the Kingdom of Tungning until 1683, using the island as a base to resist Qing conquest of mainland China. Approximately 100,000 Chinese settlers arrived during Zheng rule, primarily Hoklo speakers from southern Fujian.
The Qing dynasty incorporated Taiwan as a prefecture of Fujian province in 1683 following Admiral Shi Lang's naval victory over Zheng forces. Imperial policy initially restricted settlement and prohibited family migration to prevent permanent colonization, but these controls eroded as migration accelerated throughout the 18th century. By 1811, the Qing census recorded approximately 2 million Han settlers, though this figure excluded indigenous peoples and undocumented migrants. Hoklo speakers from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou prefectures comprised the majority, followed by Hakka migrants who settled inland valleys and southern regions. Lin Shuangwen's rebellion from 1787 to 1788 mobilized 300,000 participants before Qing forces suppressed it. The Qing administration established prefectures at Taiwan-fu (Tainan), Zhuluo (Chiayi), and Fengshan, adding Taipei prefecture in 1875. Governor Liu Mingchuan, serving from 1884 to 1891, constructed Taiwan's first railway from Taipei to Hsinchu, established the Keelung coal mines, and installed telegraph lines. The Qing elevated Taiwan to provincial status in 1887 with Taipei as capital.
Japan acquired Taiwan through the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed April 17, 1895, concluding the First Sino-Japanese War. Qing diplomat Li Hongzhang ceded Taiwan and the Penghu Islands in perpetuity. Taiwanese resistance forces proclaimed the Republic of Formosa on May 23, 1895, with President Tang Jingsong, but Japanese forces captured Taipei on June 7 and Tainan by October 21. Guerrilla resistance continued until 1902, with Japanese records documenting 32,000 Taiwanese deaths during pacification campaigns. The colonial government conducted land surveys from 1898 to 1904, imposed monopolies on opium, salt, tobacco, and camphor, and developed infrastructure including the north-south railway completed in 1908. Governor-General Kodama Gentarō and civilian administrator Gotō Shinpei implemented assimilation policies starting in 1898. Sugar production increased from 50,000 metric tons in 1905 to 1.4 million metric tons in 1938, with Taiwan supplying 70 percent of Japan's sugar imports by 1935. The 1930 Wushe Incident began October 27 when Seediq leader Mona Rudao led attacks killing 134 Japanese civilians at an athletic meet, prompting Japanese reprisals that killed approximately 644 Seediq people including deaths from poisonous gas. Japan implemented kōminka policies from 1937, requiring Japanese language use, Shinto shrine worship, and adoption of Japanese names. By 1943, 430,000 Taiwanese served in Japanese military or labor units.
The Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government assumed administration of Taiwan on October 25, 1945, following Japan's surrender. General Chen Yi arrived as administrator with mainland troops and officials who spoke Mandarin rather than the Hoklo and Hakka languages of most Taiwanese. Tensions escalated over economic mismanagement, corruption, and armed suppression of dissent. On February 27, 1947, Monopoly Bureau agents in Taipei beat a widow selling untaxed cigarettes, then fired into crowds protesting the incident, killing one bystander. Island-wide protests erupted February 28. Taiwanese leaders formed settlement committees and presented reform demands to Chen Yi, who appeared conciliatory while requesting military reinforcements. Nationalist troops arriving from Fujian on March 8 began systematic killings targeting educated Taiwanese, local leaders, and suspected dissidents. The Ketanaglan Boulevard area, now site of the Presidential Office Building, saw public executions. Government estimates later acknowledged 18,000 to 28,000 deaths, though victim family organizations cite figures between 18,000 and 30,000. Chen Yi's administration arrested and executed suspected participants through May 1947. The Legislative Yuan passed the 228 Incident Memorial and Compensation Act in 1995, establishing the 228 Memorial Foundation. President Lee Teng-hui issued a formal apology in 1995, and the government designated February 28 as Peace Memorial Day in 1997.
The Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan in December 1949 after Communist victory on the mainland, with approximately 1.2 million military personnel, officials, and civilians arriving by year's end. Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law on May 19, 1949, which remained in effect for 38 years. The Nationalists claimed to represent all of China from their Taipei seat, maintaining the position that the Republic of China constituted China's legitimate government. Mainlander refugees, called waishengren, comprised approximately 13 percent of Taiwan's 1950 population of 7.5 million. The government implemented Mandarin as the exclusive language of education and public administration, penalizing use of Hoklo, Hakka, and indigenous languages in schools. Land reform between 1949 and 1953 redistributed agricultural land, limiting individual holdings to 3 hectares of mid-grade paddy and requiring landlords to sell excess holdings to the government, which resold to tenant farmers through 10-year payment plans. Approximately 140,000 farm families purchased land, reducing tenancy from 44 percent in 1948 to 15 percent by 1959.