Wealth Awakening
From Small Island to Silicon Shield: 400 Years of Taiwan's Wealth Rise
From prehistoric Austronesian civilization to the AI technology hub of 2026, Taiwan's 400-year journey of wealth accumulation is a remarkable underdog story. This article traces Taiwan's complete history—from Dutch and Spanish colonization, Qing and Japanese rule, the post-war economic miracle, to the semiconductor silicon shield era—explaining how an island of just 36,000 square kilometers became the heart of the global technology industry.