The Portuguese discovered Taiwan and called it Formosa. It seems they used to name more than one island “Formosa”, but Taiwan is the most famous one. Later the Spanish and the Dutch came. Dutch became the dominating European power on this island later. But it never controlled the whole island, just the southwest part of it.
The region where the Dutch occupied was Tainan. Tainan was home to the local tribe—the Sirayan. However, they were called by the Europeans “Formosan”. According to the research of Wen, Chen-hua, Professor of History at Chang Jung Christian University and retired Professor of History at National Taiwan Normal University, the name “Taiwan” came from the language of the Sirayan, originally “Tavo-an” in Sirayan language. “Tavo” means “rendezvous” while “an” means “place”. So, “Tavoan” means “a place for rendezvous”.
