Orchid Island

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Old photo of the people of Orchid Island, near Taiwan published in a Japanese colonial government publication, ca. 1931.
Old photo of the people of Orchid Island, near Taiwan published in a Japanese colonial government publication, ca. 1931.
An Orchid Island native with a canoe (1960s)
An Orchid Island native with a canoe (1960s)
An Orchid Island native in her house
An Orchid Island native in her house

Orchid Island (Traditional Chinese: 蘭嶼; pinyin: Lán Yǔ; POJ: Lân-sū) is a 45-km² volcanic island off the eastern coast of Taiwan in the Pacific. It is governed as Lanyu Township of Taitung County of Taiwan Province, Republic of China. The island is the homeland to the Tao Taiwanese aborigines (also known as the Yami people), who call the island Ponso no Tao ("the island where we live"; also spelt Pongso no Tao). The island is also known as Botel Tobago.

Since 1982, Taipower Company has been storing nuclear waste on this island and surrounding sea.

In January 19, 1946, the island was designated as Hongtouyu Township (紅頭嶼鄉 "Red-headed Island") of Taitung County. November 24 of that year, it was renamed to Lan Yu, or Orchid Island, after the local Phalaenopsis orchids. From 1958 to 1972, thousands of convicts were sent to a prison on this island.

The village communities (社) are: (The asterisks indicate the four current administrative villages (村)

Yami name Chinese Note
Yayu Yeyou (椰油) *
Iraralay Langdou (朗島) *
Iranumilk Dongqing (東清) *
Ivarinu Yeyin (野銀) not an administrative village
Imourud Hongtou (紅頭) * Redhead Village, township seat
Iratai Yuren (漁人) incorporated into Imourud Village since 1946
Iwatas 伊瓦達斯 incorporated into Yayu since 1940

The islanders are mostly fishermen-farmers.

Lesser Orchid Island (Hsiao Lan Yü; Pinyin: Xiao Lanyu), an uninhabited volcanic islet near the main Orchid Island, is the southernmost point of Taitung County. It has been the target of military airplane's target practice. It is home to a crticially endangered endemic orchid, Phalaenopsis equestris f. aurea.

 This Republic of China (Taiwan) location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../o/r/c/Orchid_Island_8668.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.