清代打狗港因鹿耳門港的淤淺而逐漸繁，雖然打狗港也有淤沙的問題，很幸運地這些淤沙受到旗後山的阻擋而堆積形成旗後半島。這一條得天獨厚的天然防坡堤，使打狗港內水波平靜，商船能夠平穩地停靠且上、下貨物或旅客，致使打狗港內的國際與內地貿易得以持續發展。打狗地區完善的水、陸交通運輸網則是支撐打狗港貨物源源不絕輸出、入的背後推手，打狗平原的農產品藉此可以對外販售獲取利益，使清代先民社會得以穩固發展與延續。 本文著重在於打狗港對內地、對臺灣其他各港，以及打狗港內的航線進行研究發現，打狗港內曾經一度可以經前鎮港、竹仔港、鳳山港直接航向西溪（今高屏溪），這條航線大約在清代中葉就已開始淤積，在清末時已幾乎乾涸。外國商船由於船大吃水較深且不熟悉臺灣海道（今臺灣海峽），從打狗往返大陸內地大多航行於後山航線，而本地商船自明代起即時常橫渡臺灣海道往來於兩岸。 從《清末臺灣海關歷年資料》中1873-1895年內地國產品輸入總值的數據看來，輸入國產品總值至淡水港最高的港口依序是上海、廈門、汕頭，打狗港則是廈門、上海、汕頭，似乎沒有空間區隔現象。距離較遠的大港口，如天津、山東煙臺-芝罘、漢口等的輸入總值都不高，似乎有著空間邊際的現象。

Takow Harbor boomed since Lu-er-men harbor silted up in Qing Dynasty. In the meantime the Takow Harbor also deposited silt at the entrance of Takow Harbor, fortunately, most of the silt blocked by the Chi-hou Mountain formed the Chi-hou Peninsula and Takow lagoon. The Chi-hou Peninsula is the natural sea wall of Takow Harbor which made the harborage calmer for merchantmen in shipping cargos as well as passengers to Mainland China and foreign countries. The agricultural products could therefore be tansported to Takow Harbor for export by way of well developed water and land transportation system. This study focus on the shipping routes and portages in Takow arbor, the shipping route form Takow Harbor to the other ports of Taiwan and Mainland China. There was a shipping route from Takow Harbor to Shi stream Call at Chian-jen Port, Ju-tzai Port, and Feng-shan Port. The route was called off eventually in the end of Qing dynasty since the river started to silt up in the middle of Qing dynasty. Most of the foreign merchantment take the Hou-shan route in the east of Taiwan due to the unfamiliarity the sea lane of Taiwan Strait where the local merchantmen navigated across very often since Ming dynasty. The top 3 highest harbors from mainland China to Tamsui Harbor for the amount of import products were Shanghai, Amoy, Swatow, the top 3 to Takow Harbor were Amoy, Shanghai, Swatow according to the data between 1873-1895 in 'Maritime customs annual returns and reports of Taiwan, 1867-1895'. The data shows that there was not spatial segmentation in harbors between Taiwan and Mainland China. Tientsin, Chefoo, and Hankow were not within a spatial margin of profitability, therefore the amount of import products for those harbors were very low.