荷蘭人的殖民開發，開啟了臺灣歷史嶄新的一頁，而大員港埠為其開發之濫觴。基於這項關鍵性的角色，大員這個岸外沙洲經常成為相關領域史家研究徵引敘述的對象。然而，這些研究所探討的大都是以人與事為中心的臺灣早期歷史，大員只因為是具備著場景而被附帶提及，鮮少研究是以這個地點作為研究的主題；藉由針對實質空間內涵進行深入探討，本文希望能在這方面提供一些改善。事實上，大員是個港埠—— 而且是個由荷蘭人所開發以推動東亞貿易的國際港埠，要了解它，自然要先對17世紀臺海經貿局勢的形成背景有所認識。為了進一步探索這座歷史性港埠的可能面貌，本文嘗試從荷蘭遠洋帆船運輸方式與固有港埠開發傳統的角度切入，以其在西歐世居地所發展出來的規劃空間模式，來解釋其如何因應臺灣西南沿海的地形環境，進行以大員地區為中心的港埠開發與聚落建設，並解析這個港埠的空間內涵與運作方式。同時，本文也希望能夠藉此進一步了解荷蘭人的統治對臺灣島空間開發的意義與影響，以找尋此間聚落形成與發展的可能根源。

The modern history of Taiwan began with Dutch colonization, and the construction of Tayouan Harbor was their first step in taking control. Because of its key role, this offshore sandbar is mentioned in many historical studies. Yet most of these studies focus on the events and people of this early stage of Taiwan’s history, only treating Tayouan as part of the background; very few offer a detailed exploration of the port as an actual space. The goal of this paper is to examine Tayouan in terms of its place and what it contained as a space. In the 17th century Tayouan was an international harbor that the Dutch used to promote trade with China and Japan. We thus begin with a general overview of the economy of the Taiwan Straits at that time, and then move to a spatial interpretation of Tayouan itself. This essay discusses the historical potentiality of this port based on Dutch overseas sailing transportation and their traditional harbor planning on the Rhine Delta. Through an analysis of conventional town planning from the Middle Ages to the 17th century in the Low Countries, we can explain how the technology was used to construct a harbor system around Tayouan on Taiwan’s southwest coast as well as the Penghu Islands. We also hope to throw some light on the meaning and influence of Dutch colonization on spatial development in Taiwan generally, as well as the origins of the settlement formation of Taiwan.