Atayal and Saisiyat aborigines are concentrated in the mountains, while the plains used be the domain of the pingpuzu plains-dwellers. The whole area was once called Chuchien (" bamboo pit ") District on account of the spiky bamboo that grew everywhere among the hills, and Chuchien was the original name for today's Hsinchu.
族群隨地形而成聚落分佈，像山地以泰雅族和賽夏族為主，平地則最早為平埔族聚居、棲息之地，因丘陵山地遍生刺竹，而稱「竹塹社」，竹塹，即為新竹的古名。