Formosa contra Taiwan

[Thomas Lammers]

At 06:56 AM 5/13/01 -0600, Robin Leech wrote:

>Taiwan is Chinese; Formosa is Japanese.  These names reflect who "owned"
>them at different times in history.

"Formosa" is not Japanese; it is Portugese, meaning "beautiful".  The
island's first European visitors were Portugese explorers.  Japan
controlled the island only 1895-1945 and I'm not sure if it had a distinct
name in Japanese.  Not sure why anyone would use BOTH names.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
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