Tjavualji was established 1,000 years ago by the Qian YaoKao, also called the Da Ma, who were ancestors of the
Paiwan people.
Qing era records show the placename written variously (), etc. According to Paiwan legend it had been called "the village of sunrise" (Jabauli or Tjavualji in
Paiwan language) because there the sun rises from the eastern sea. In the early 1900s (
under Japanese rule), the
Amis and additional Paiwan were moved to the village. In 1920, the village was officially called , written with the same
characters as it still is today. During the 1940s (also under Japanese rule), some residents from Miaoli, Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung also settled in the area. Due to the increasing population, the Japanese government subordinated the village to Taitō District,
Taitō Prefecture, and in 1937, its official name was changed to . After Taiwan was handed over from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945, the name was modified to Taimali Village (太麻里村), changing the word for "village" while keeping the other characters, but pronouncing them according to their
Mandarin Chinese readings rather than their Japanese ones. ==Administrative divisions==