Major Chinese settlement of Taiwan did not begin until the 1600s. The Portuguese first visited the island in 1590, naming it Ilha Formosa, or beautiful island. In 1683 the Manchus (Ch'ing dynasty) took control of Taiwan, attaching it to Fukien (Fujian) province. Numerous revolts occurred under Manchu rule, but all were suppressed. Taiwan was part of the Chinese Empire until the Treaty of Shimonoseki handed Taiwan over to Japan on May 8, 1895. Taiwan was returned to the Republic of China on October 25, 1945. Taiwan became the seat of government for the defeated Nationalist Chinese forces on December 8, 1949.
For the most part, Chinese coins were imported into Taiwan until the 1800s. In the 1840s, China issued a silver dollar for military pay. Chinese Taels (CNT) were used in Taiwan while it was part of the Chinese Empire. The Japanese issued Yen banknotes (TWY) at par with the Japanese Yen when they took over the island. The Yen was divisible into 100 Sen. After the Japanese were defeated, the Taiwan Nationalist Yuan (TWN) became the unit of account, and was an independent currency from the Chinese Nationalist Yuan. Although the Nationalist Bank of Taiwan was controlled by the Nationalist Central Bank of Taiwan, but the Taiwanese Dollar acted as a separate currency from the Nationalist Yuan since the Taiwanese Dollar, which had been tied to the yen, had depreciated at a slower rate than the Nationalist Yuan. After the Nationalist forces occupied Taiwan, a new Taiwan Dollar (TWD) was introduced on June 15, 1949 at the rate of 1 New Dollar equal to 10,000 old Dollars.
The Chinese Nationalist government did not move to Taiwan until December 1949, so the issuance of the New Taiwan Dollar was a separate event from the removal of the Nationlist government to Taiwan. The Taiwan Dollar is divisible into 100 Cents. The Bank of Taiwan has been the sole note-issuing authority under Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese administrations. Although technically the entities were different banks, each used the name Bank of Taiwan. The Japanese Bank of Taiwan also issued some notes in mainland China, prior to 1920, where it operated as a foreign (Japanese) bank.
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