The influence of the Kuroshio Current on place naming on Green Island, Taiwan

Green Island off the southeast coast of Taiwan is located along the Kuroshio Current in the western Pacific Ocean. Before the end of Second World War, a variety of place names for Green Island in different languages implied a connection to the Kuroshio Current. These names include exonyms such as Sanasana, Tabaco Migúel, Hóe-sio-tó, and Bonfire, which refer to maritime migration from southern ancestral homelands, the Catholic traffic between Japan and the Spanish Philippines, and shipwreck survivors respectively. Although the name Green Island has been commonly used since 1949 and no longer bears connection to the Kuroshio Current, some eponymous topographic names on the island and adjacent marine toponyms still refer specifically to oceanic flow. These toponyms include coastal place names associated with local memory of major international shipwrecks since the 20 century and fisheries created by the Kuroshio Current.