本文主在運用現已刊行的荷蘭東印度公司有關十七世紀東臺灣的資料，以及十八、十九世紀漢籍文獻檔案，來探討南勢阿美族群在這兩百多年的歷史。文章的首要目的是重建在不同歷史時期的南勢阿美聚落，然後是窺究其人口結構，並試著藉由文獻內的人口統計數據來對十九世紀末的村落人口結構，提出一個可被接受的合理解釋。最後，藉由以南勢阿美的村落為基本單位，來進一步探討十七到十九世紀晚期之間，南勢阿美村落集團勢力的可能變遷。

　　　　　This paper aims at exploring the history of the Nan-shih Amis from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century by employing the documents left by the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) in the seventeenth century and those in Chinese since the eighteenth century. The first objective is to reconstruct the settlements of the Nan-shih Amis in different historical profiles. Then, I explore the population structure of the Nan-shih Amis and further endeavor to offer an acceptable interpretation to the late nineteenth-century society of the Nan-Shih Amis based the demographic data available in the documents. Finally, I treat the settlement as the basic unit and further try to investigate the possible transformation of the power structure of the village blocks within the Nan-Shih Amis between the seventeenth century and the late
nineteenth century.