The first known settlements there may be traced back 1,500 years to the Eastern Jin period (fourth century CE), when the attacks of five northern and western nationalities into China forced numerous Han Chinese clans to take refuge on this little island of 150 square kilometers located not even six kilometers from Xiamen on the Fujian coast.
據史籍資料顯示，以前金門被稱為浯洲、浯江或滄海，它的墾殖可以上溯至一千五百多年前的東晉時代（西元 4 世紀），因「五胡亂華」導致大批漢民族避居這個距離福建廈門僅 6 公里不到、面積總計只有 150 平方公里的孤懸小島群。