Question:easy

Taiwan was earlier known as

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The Portuguese named it "beautiful island" when they first sailed past it.
Updated On: Jul 17, 2026
  • Fuchow
  • Marshall Island
  • Formosa
  • Macau
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The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

The question is about an old European name for the island of Taiwan. Checking each option against the map settles it quickly.

  1. Fuchow: This is the port of Fuzhou in China's Fujian province, sitting on the mainland side of the Taiwan Strait. It is a mainland city with its own history and was never a name for the island.
  2. Marshall Island: The Marshall Islands form an independent country of atolls in the central Pacific, close to the equator and far east of Asia. They have no link with Taiwan.
  3. Formosa: Portuguese seafarers who sighted the island in the 1500s called it Ilha Formosa, meaning beautiful island. European charts shortened that to Formosa, and the name was used for the island for about four centuries before Taiwan became standard.
  4. Macau: Macau was a Portuguese possession on China's southern coast near the Pearl River delta and returned to Chinese control in 1999. It is a tiny territory, not the island in question.

Only Formosa was ever an alternative name for the island of Taiwan, so option (C) is correct.

Let's summarize:

  • Formosa comes from the Portuguese phrase Ilha Formosa, beautiful island.
  • Fuzhou and Macau are on the Chinese mainland coast, and the Marshall Islands are a Pacific nation.

So Taiwan's earlier name was Formosa.

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