Taiwan's Alpha-minus capital enclave inside New Taipei
Taipei City, Taiwan's capital and a special municipality, is an enclave within New Taipei about twenty-five kilometres from the port of Keelung. March 2023 estimates put about 2.49 million residents at the core of Greater Taipei–Keelung, home to some seven million people.
Most of the city sits on the Taipei Basin, the bed of an ancient lake. The Keelung and Xindian rivers run down narrow valleys into it and merge as the Tamsui along the western edge. The metropolitan area, including New Taipei and Keelung, holds about 7.05 million people, ranking 40th among the world's urban areas, and roughly a third of Taiwan's citizens live in the metro areas. The name simply means north of Taiwan; under Japanese rule it was read Taihoku, and older spellings include Tai-pak and Taipeh.
The basin's original inhabitants were the Ketagalan, a lowland Indigenous people. Han settlement picked up in the early 18th century once the Qing allowed development, and the north became Taipeh Prefecture in 1875. The city served as temporary capital when Taiwan was declared a province in 1887 and became the formal provincial capital in 1894, a political role it has held almost continuously since. Japan, which annexed the island in 1895, launched ambitious urban planning with extensive railway links while leaving the written characters of the name untouched.
After Japan's surrender in 1945 control passed to the Republic of China, and in December 1949 the defeated Kuomintang moved its government to Taiwan and declared Taipei its provisional capital. In 1990 the city was the stage for the Wild Lily student rallies, which helped push Taiwan toward competitive elections, a transition complete by 1996, and it has housed the elected national government ever since. In foreign news the city's name often stands for that government, while Chinese Taipei is the label used for Taiwan at events such as the Olympics.
Rated Alpha− by GaWC, Taipei is the island's economic, educational and cultural hub and part of a major high-tech belt, served by Songshan and Taoyuan airports. Landmarks include Taipei 101, once the world's tallest building, the National Palace Museum, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Lungshan Temple.
Source: Taipei
