Early history Aboriginal inhabitants of
Liuqiu Island ( southwest of Taiwan, and now part of Pingtung County) killed Dutch sailors on two occasions. In response, in the spring of 1636, Dutch sailors carried out a punitive campaign that became known as the
Lamey Island Massacre. Modern-day Pingtung County and
Kaohsiung City were part of Banlian-chiu (萬年州;
Bān-liân-chiu) during the
Kingdom of Tungning (1661–1683) and Fongshan Prefecture (鳳山縣;
Hōng-soaⁿ-koān) during
Qing dynasty rule (1683–1895). Until the seventeenth century, this area of Taiwan was a place of exile for Chinese criminals and the occasional landing point for international
mariners. Only the settlements near present-day
Checheng Township existed. In 1664, the
Hakka settlers arrived from
mainland China and farmed under a homesteading system introduced by
Zheng Jing. Pingtung City, the biggest city in Pingtung County, also known as "A-Kau" (阿猴;
A-kâu, English: the forest), was the home of
Taiwanese Plains Aborigines. In 1684, settlers from China's southern
Fujian region created the first Han Chinese villages near Pingtung. By 1734, most of the
Pingtung Plain was cultivated, and Pingtung was expanded in 1764. In 1836, the government and locals worked together to build the city's four walls (the North Gate, the East Gate, the West Gate, and the South gate), and the roads were completed. In March 1867, fourteen American sailors were killed near
Kenting by local aborigines in the
Rover incident, which lead to the failed American
Formosa Expedition three months later. In 1871, local aborigines killed 54 sailors from Ryukyu in the
Mudan Incident. The Japanese carried out a punitive campaign against the local aborigines in the
1874 Japanese invasion of Taiwan.
Empire of Japan Under
Japanese rule (1895–1945), ; was initially under ; , but political divisions frequently changed between 1895 and 1901. In 1901, ; was established. In 1909, the name changed to ; . In 1920, the name was changed to ; and was under
Takao Prefecture administration, which consisted of modern-day Pingtung County and
Kaohsiung.
Republic of China Following the
handover of Taiwan from Japan to the
Republic of China on 25 October 1945, the area of present-day Pingtung County was incorporated into
Kaohsiung County on 25 December 1945. On 16 August 1950, Pingtung County was established after being separated from Kaohsiung County. On 1 December 1951,
Pingtung City was downgraded from
provincial city to
county-administered city and made the
county seat of Pingtung County. Pingtung was the site of a
7.1 magnitude earthquake on 26 December 2006. In 2009, due to
Typhoon Morakot, Pingtung received over of rainfall, breaking records for any place in Taiwan struck by a single typhoon. ==Geography==