Yilan City is a city and the county seat of Yilan County, Taiwan. The city lies on the north side of the Lanyang River. The Yilan Plain in which the city is located was originally known as the Kapsulan Plain (蛤仔難/甲子蘭) or the Komalan Plain (噶瑪蘭). These names, as well as that of Yilan itself, were given to the sites by the Kavalan tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. Later arrivals included Han Chinese settlers during the Qing Dynasty in China (1802) and settlers from Okinawa during Taiwan's period of Japanese rule (1895-1945).HistoryQing dynastyIn 1810 under Qing dynasty rule, a formal administration office was established at Wuwei (五圍) and "Komalan Subprefecture" (噶瑪蘭廳) was at the present day location of Yilan City. Construction of the city wall was completed a year later. After a few years once the basic infrastructure was ready, the city assumed the political, economical, cultural and educational center for the Lanyang Plain. In 1878, Komalan was a large rice production area commonly called Kapsulan, and became a district called Gilan Hsien. It was one of the three new districts that constituted the new Taipeh Prefecture.Empire of JapanAccording to the 1904 census, the population of Giran town was about 15,000.