About four hundred years ago, when Chinese immigrants ventured across the Taiwan Strait, the waves at Anping Harbor sent them to Tainan, which served as the base of their cultivation and exploration of Taiwan. For being located at a key position on the marine route, Tainan developed into Taiwan's political, economic, trade and cultural center.

The following chronicles of explain well the role Tainan played in history.In 1661, Cheng Cheng-kung, a Ming dynast loyalist also known as Koxinga, crossed the Taiwan Strait and expelled the Dutch from Taiwan, who had occupied the island for 38 years. After accomplishing this, Cheng established his capital at Tainan and started to develop the surrounding areas.

In 1684, Ching's troops defeated Cheng's heir and brought Taiwan under Ching rule. The Ching court made Tainan the center of its new territory by establishing a seat of government in Taiwan.

Later in 1875, the Ching court added another seat of government in Taipei. Hereafter, Tainan began to lose its status as the political and economic capital of Taiwan.

The year 1895 brought about the period of Japanese occupation, when Japan defeated the Ching dynasty and Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese conquerors. Thus, up until the end of the 19th century, from the period of the Dutch navigators through the Cheng administration, the Ching court and Japanese rule, Tainan remained the capital of Taiwan. Finally, in 1920, the Japanese administrators redesigned Taiwan' s system of local government and began to use the name of " Tainan City ".