Shape:  Like a tobacco leaf

Main island area:  32,260 sq km / 12,399 sq mi

Longest point:   394 km / 244 mi

Widest point:  144 km / 89 mi

*Total area:  35,961 sq km / 13,824 sq mi   (*includes 85 offshore islands)

Coordinates:  23 30 N, 121 00 E

*Coastline:  1,566.34 km / 965 mi   (*includes 85 offshore islands)

Distance S. of Japan:  595 km / 370 mi

Distance N. of Philippines:  355 km / 220 mi

Taiwan Straits:  220 km at widest point130 km at its narrowest

     Taiwan, which literally means “Terraced Bay” in Chinese, is a small island (roughly the size of Holland or 1/12th the size of California) with a collection of smaller offshore islands/islets surrounding the main island. The island is (160km/99mi) across the Taiwan Straits from Mainland China almost equidistant from Shanghai and Hong Kong and straddles the Tropic of Cancer.

      The island is the largest body of land in the Western Pacific chain between Japan and the Philippines, bordering the East China Sea, South China Sea, and the Philippine Sea. The offshore island 'Kinmen', part of Taiwan, is only 2,310 meters/1.5 miles from mainland China.

      The west side of Taiwan is basically a narrow and flat, fertile plain (where 90% of people live) while Taiwan's spine is a ridge of steep mountains, falling away to a rocky coastline on the eastern coast, which is some of the most scenic land in Taiwan.     

     Taipei (which literally means ‘North Taiwan’) is located at the northern tip of Taiwan, and is the largest city and seat of the national government. The 2nd largest city is Kaohsiung (located in the South-West), followed 3rd by Taichung (literally means ‘Central Taiwan’). The small islands of Penghu, Lanyu, Green, Liuchiu, Kinmen, Matsu and Wuchiu are also controlled by Taiwan. There are a total of 15 counties on the main island, and a total of 85 smaller islands and islets comprising the total area of Taiwan. Each county is further divided into ‘municipal areas’.

      Taiwan “lays claim” to the Spratly Islands, a group of 53 rocks, shoals and reefs in the South China Sea also claimed by mainland China, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei because of the possibility that oil exists there. This has led to heavy fortification of the area by Taiwan which maintains military bases on Dongsha and Nansha islands (the latter is the largest islet in the Spratly group.)

      Taiwan also has a long-running dispute with Japan and Mainland China over the Tiaoyutai Islands (“Senkaku Islands” to the Japanese), which were once part of China but annexed by Japan in 1895 (the year Taiwan was annexed by the Japanese). After WWII, when the Japanese were forced out of Taiwan, the Americans acquiesced when the Japanese held onto the Tiaoyutai chain.