Formosa

The Republic of Formosa (Japanese: フォルモサ共和国 Formosa Kyouwakoku; Chinese: 福爾摩沙民國 Fúĕrmóshā Mínguó or 臺灣民國 Táiwān Mínguó; Portuguese: República de Formosa) is a country in East Asia off the coast of the Shan Empire of China. Formosa was initially established as a Chinese colony under orders of the Ming Dynasty, with mass migration of Han Chinese to the Island. Formosa was later conquered by the Portuguese and turned into a puppet state before eventually being made into a full colony of Portugal. The colony was later taken over by Japan in the aftermath of the Pacific War, where Korea and Japan utilized their alliance to conquer large swaths of Asian land. China's Shun Dynasty saw large parts of its land being lost to the Japanese and Koreans.

Japan briefly turned Formosa into a prison colony for those who were practicing Catholics during the persecution period. The Portuguese inhabitants of Formosa were declared prisoners of the state and forbidden to leave. The Catholic Japanese who were deported to the Island heavily intermixed with the local Portuguese population, as well as the Chinese population, creating a new culture called the Formosan Mestiços. The Mestiços were characterized by their use of the Japanese language, but heavy integration of aspects of Portuguese and to a lesser extent Chinese culture. The Penal Status of Formosa later was revoked in 1783.

Formosa later declared its independence from Japan at the height of the Great War, and with the backing of European Powers, became an independent state in 1942. Formosa is characterized as the only other Catholic Majority nation in East Asia, aside from The Philippines, which it has a close relationship too. It is considered to be a part of "Latin Asia" along with The Philippines, Australia, and the French dependencies of New Guinea and French Polynesia.