Bashi Channel

Meaning

Proper Noun

• The strait dividing Y'Ami Island of the Philippines and Orchid Island/Lanyu of Taiwan and connecting the South China Sea/Taiwan Strait and Philippine Sea/Pacific Ocean.

Origin

• Bashi + channel. Bashee, later Bashi, is from a local language term for a type of liquor drunk plentifully by the crew of William Dampier when they landed on an island south of the channel, as reported in Dampier's book the popular sensation A New Voyage Round the World () published in 1697. According to Dampier, the crew named the island after the liquor. The channel would take the name of the island. (See also basi.)