Ilha Formosa Trivia Quiz

Answer: China

Officially known as the Republic of China, Taiwan lies about 180 km off the south-east coast of mainland China. The Philippines lies more than 250 km to the south across the Luzon Strait. Tokyo, Japan is roughly 2,100 km to the north-east and Vietnam is a bit closer at about 1,700 km to the south-west.

Answer: Yushan

About five million years ago, this area was underwater. Tectonic plate movement since then has seen the island being formed as well as the creation of 165 mountains on the island over 3,000 metres in height.

An American sailing captain noticed the mountain in 1857 and the mountain bore his name for a while - Mount Morrison. Alternatively it may have been named after the 19th century missionary Robert Morrison.

During the Japanese period, the name was changed by the first known ascensionists in 1900 to Niitakayama. This name was part of the code phrase launching the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, bringing the Americans into the Second World War.

Answer: Austronesian

Population pressure is said to have led to migrations by sea initially down through the Philippines from perhaps as early as 5,000 BC.

Over thousands of years these seafarers reached as far as Madagascar, New Zealand and Easter Island. The arrival of the sweet potato in South America suggests that they may even have reached there. There are perhaps 400 million people with an Austronesian heritage.

Answer: It is salt water

There are only three salt water hot springs known in the world. Apart from this one, there is one on Kyushu Island, Japan and one on Sicily, Italy. Its relative remoteness from the main island meant that Green Island was a favoured spot to send political prisoners during the second half of the 20th century.

Answer: Humid sub-tropical/Tropical monsoon

Taiwan is affected by the East Asian monsoon and experiences two monsoon seasons. The north and centre of the island has a sub-tropical climate while the south has fewer temperature fluctuations and is considered tropical. The mountains are more temperate.

Answer: Earthquakes

Taiwan is potentially affected by all of these at different times of the year, however it is only earthquakes which occur throughout the year. Some sources indicate that there are up to 800 earthquakes felt annually.

The typhoon season occurs over the summer months into October, frequently accompanied by flooding. Tsunamis are usually the products of earthquakes or volcanic activity, however there can be years between occurrences.

Answer: West side

The island's formation at the boundaries of tectonic plates has resulted in a wedge-shaped land form. Two-thirds of the island is taken up with mountain chains with the coastal plains to the west. Already with a quite high population relative to total land area, most of the 23 million are crammed into cities on the western plains.

Answer: Nuclear waste disposal

Despite being in an active earthquake zone, Taiwan has several nuclear power plants. The solution to the nuclear waste problem has been to store about 100,000 barrels of it on Orchid Island. The local population had no say in the decision.

Protests over the years have sought the removal of the barrels. No alternative solution has been forthcoming. In the meantime the power company has promised to repackage the waste due to the corrosion of the existing steel barrels caused by the island's salty air.

Answer: Damming the outlets

The island at one time helped to create the shapes of the sun and crescent moon in the lake, giving rise to the lake's name. It was a sacred place for the Thao aborigine tribe. When the lake was dammed for a hydro-electric scheme in 1934 by the Japanese, much of the island was submerged. It shrank further as a result of the 921 earthquake in 1999.

Answer: Portugal

The Portuguese are first recorded giving it the name 'Ilha Formosa' (or 'beautiful isle') in 1544. It was however the Dutch who were the first Western country to colonise it, followed briefly by the Spanish, then the Chinese, and the Japanese.

The island has been inhabited for thousands of years, perhaps as much as 30,000 years. It was also connected to mainland China by a land bridge during one of the glacial periods. The Taiwanese aboriginals probably date to 6,000 BC and now represent less than three per cent of the population with Han Chinese being the dominant race.