現今臺南縣麻豆鎮東北角的水堀頭存留一座三合土遺構，經歷史與考古調查的結果，確定其為清代古麻豆港碼頭所在。今日已位居內陸的麻豆街區，顯然曾經瀕臨到風內海，麻豆社則是此地區的主人。17世紀以前，麻豆社人是西南平原最強大的部落，直至清初他們仍擁有優勢地位，影響麻豆港的貿易活動。麻豆社人由於從荷鄭以來「文明化」的經驗，歷史遭遇顯然與中北部平埔族不太相同，甚至出現社番向漢人買士地的「逆向操作」現象。 不過，乾隆中葉之後，麻豆社仍抵擋不過國家政策與漢人強勢文化勢力的侵入，逐漸漢化，或是遷徒到其他地區。麻豆街亦由水堀頭鄰近地區，遷至西邊原來麻豆大社所在位置，成為新的商業中心。麻豆港街的變化雖然受到自然環境變遷和漢人勢力的影響，另一方面，由於麻豆社固有檳榔宅住居的影響，卻促使該港街的聚落徵態不但發展出十二角結構，且成為臺灣少見、大規模的「農村與街村合成聚落」。

　　　　　Through historical investigation and archeological excavation, the Suikunto Port in Mattaw, Tainan, has been proven to be the last remaining relic of the interior ports of the Qing dynasty in Taiwan. This inland Mattaw Street area, near the Tohong sea, became the location for the settlement of the Mattaw people. Prior to the seventeenth century, the people of Mattaw were the strongest tribe of the southwest plains; until the beginning of the Qing empire, they enjoyed superior status, and greatly influenced trade activity in the port. The people of Mattaw began to be “civilized” under Dutch rule; historical records describe obvious differences between the former and the Pinpu people of North-Central Taiwan, such that the Mattaw tribe began purchasing land formt he Han Chinese in a phenomenon termed “reverse handling.” However, after the rise of the Qianlong emperor, the Mattaw people were incapable of resisting national policy and the invasion of Han Chinese cultural influence, and were thus either assimilated or relocated to other areas. When relocated to Mattaw Street or nearby Shuikutou, this became the new commercial center. The changes of Mattaw Port Street, though influenced by the surrounding environment and the Han Chinese, weer also the result of this intrinsic influence of betel nut residences. Together, these factors spurred the creation of not only the developed village structural model of twelve blocks seen today, but one of Taiwan’s few, large-scale commercial-rural compound villages.