明末清初之際，中國東南沿海的文獻出現不少「北港」的記載，「北港」究竟在哪裡？為何被中國文獻收錄？1610年代以後，西班牙文獻與荷蘭文獻 相繼出現”Pacan (Packan)” 地名，此一地名是否與中文的「北港」有關？ 他們對 “Pacan (Packan)” 的認知為何？ 本文主要依據中文文獻及相關的西班牙、荷蘭、英國、日本文獻探討「北港」的地名起源及其在臺灣海域的重要性。筆者認為1570年以後，因臺灣周遭海域貿易的興盛，導致臺灣南北形成兩個重要的貿易據點，臺灣北部是雞籠、淡水，臺灣西南部海岸的貿易據點即是「北港」，到了荷蘭佔領時期，此一地名更成為臺灣島的稱呼；但在1662年以後，「北港」一詞由「大員 (臺灣)」取代，成為被遺忘的歷史名詞。

The place name Peikang 北港 occurred in Chinese documents during the late Ming dynasty, although Chinese officials and scholars of the time didn’t seem to know its precise position. Later, some European documents describing the Island of Formosa used a new toponym “Pacan (Paccan)”. Is Peikang the same as Pacan? This paper attempts to clarify our understanding of these two terms by gathering and analyzing related documents from China, Spain, Holland (VOC), England (EIC) and Japan. I argue that with the boom in overseas trade around the waters of Taiwan during the second half of the sixteenth century, and especially after 1570, two trading centers, or regions, formed on the island. One, located in northern Taiwan, was called Guelang-Tamsui (雞籠, 淡水), while the other, which faced the Taiwan Strait, was situated on the southwest coast. Chinese fisherman named this center Peikang. In the early seventeenth century, Chinese and Japanese traders came to Peikang to buy deerskins. Chinese traders also carried many kinds of silk to sell to the Japanese. As a result, Peikang became a prosperous port and began to draw the attention of European powers. A Spanish priest appealed for the conquering of Peikang and the VOC later dominated it.