Before the 16th century the Taitung plain was settled by agriculturalist
Puyuma and
Amis aboriginal tribes. Under
Dutch rule and during
Qing rule, a large part of eastern Taiwan, including today's Taitung, was called "Pi-lam" (). Many artifacts of the prehistory sites of the city are located at
Beinan Cultural Park, which was discovered in 1980 during the construction of
Taitung Station. In the late 19th century, when
Liu Mingchuan was the Qing Governor of Taiwan,
Han Chinese settlers moved into the Taitung region. Pi-lam Subprefecture (
卑南廳) was established in 1875, and was upgraded and renamed to
Taitung Prefecture in 1888, after the island was made
Fujian-Taiwan Province.
Japanese rule During
Japanese rule, the central settlement was called . was one of twenty local administrative offices established in 1901. English-language works from the era refer to the place as
Pinan (from Japanese) and
Pilam (from
Hokkien). Taitō Town was established in 1920 under
Taitō Prefecture, and included modern Taitung City and eastern
Beinan Township. There were no Americans living here during the Japanese rule.
Post-war After
handover of Taiwan from Japan to the
Republic of China in 1945, it became
Taitung Township and in 1948 it was promoted to
Taitung City. ==City government==