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Prepare yourself for the holiday of your dreams as Taiwan
has it all: good food, a beautiful ocean, stupendous
mountains and lots of sunshine
If this is your first visit to Taiwan, you will most
certainly be amazed at the diversity of things this
beautiful island has to offer, as a rich historical
background has provided Taiwan with a multifaceted culture.
People from many different places and backgrounds, such as
Taiwan's indigenous people, the southern Fujianese from
early China, Hakka immigrants, the Dutch, Spanish, and
Japanese, and the recent immigrants from mainland China.
have all played a role in Taiwan's development. While
gradually developing a new culture indigenous to Taiwan,
they also held on to their respective customs and
traditions; as a result, you will be able to sample
indigenous, Taiwanese, and Chinese cultures and even find
traces left by the Dutch and the Japanese when traveling in
Taiwan.
Formosa (beautiful island) is what the Portuguese called
Taiwan when they came here in the 16th century and saw the
island's verdant beauty.
Located along the southeast coast of the Asian Continent at
the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, between Japan and the
Philippines and right in the center of the East-Asian island
arc, Taiwan forms a vital line of communication in the
Asia-Pacific region. It covers an area of approximately
36,000 square kilometers (14,400 square miles) and is longer
than it is wide. Two-thirds of the total area is covered by
forested mountains and the remaining area consists of hilly
country, platforms and highlands, coastal plains and basins.
The Central Mountain Range stretches along the entire island
from north to south, thus forming a natural line of
demarcation for rivers on the eastern and western sides of
the island. On the west side lies the Yushan Mountain Range
with its main peak reaching 3,952 meters, the highest
mountain peak in Northeast Asia.
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