福爾摩沙一詞音譯自拉丁文及葡萄牙文的「Formosa」，均為「美麗」之意，也寫作福爾摩莎、福摩薩[註 1]、浩愈磨沙（台語：Hō-lú-môo-sa）[1]。 15世紀以來，自大航海時代開始，葡萄牙人在全球開闢新航線後，世界上許多地方便以福爾摩沙命名，遍布歐洲、非洲、北美洲、南美洲、亞洲和大洋洲；地形亦包括海灣、海灘、島嶼、山脈、河流、湖泊、城市等。在世界各地稱為「福爾摩沙」的地方發現的生物物種，經常都以「福爾摩沙」命名；包括原有的陰性詞，也包括其陽性形式[註 2]。該詞現今常用做臺灣的代稱，傳說16世紀葡萄牙人航海時發現臺灣，便說出：「Ilha formosa!」（美麗的島！），因而得名。
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N24 59.031 E121 32.768
Formosa is a former name for the island of Taiwan.The Republic of Formosa (Chinese: 臺灣民主國; pinyin: Táiwān mínzhǔ guó; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân Bîn-chú-kok; literally: 'Democratic State of Taiwan'), was a short-lived republic[1][2] that existed on the island of Taiwan in 1895 between the formal cession of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty of China to the Empire of Japan by the Treaty of Shimonoseki and its being taken over by Japanese troops. The Republic was proclaimed on 23 May 1895 and extinguished on 21 October, when the Republican capital Tainan was taken over by the Japanese. Though sometimes claimed as the first Asian republic to have been proclaimed, it was predated by the Lanfang Republic in Borneo, established in 1777, as well as by the Republic of Ezo in Japan, established in 1869.
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