Meji Era Map of Japan With Formosa Included (1895)

Japan was becoming a major imperial power. During the Meji Restoration the country went through rapid industrialization and modernization. This drive to conquer other lands was a response to European colonization within Asia. The French, British, Dutch, and Americans were carving up China. Japan preemptively acted by invading territories that belonged the Qing Empire. The first Sino-Japanese War saw China defeated and losing Formosa ( Taiwan ) to Japan. The island did attempt to resist being a colony to Japan by declaring itself a republic. The Republic of Formosa was short lived and did not have the military strength to counter Japanese invasion. The Treaty of Shimonoseki sealed the fate of Formosa. The map depicts Formosa as part of the Japanese Empire. During the 1890s Japan’s ambitions grew in terms of wanting to build a bigger empire. Other Asian nations had to be concerned about not just European powers, but Japan as well. This was not be the last conflict between China and Japan. Overtime, the Japanese threat to China grew even more precarious. Qing China had been weakened by Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, and the establishment of concessions.