As Western powers turned their eyes to Asia, Tanshui became strategically important. In the 17th century, first the Spanish, and then the Dutch, built forts here as symbols of their claims to territorial control.
隨著洋人對亞洲的覬覦，淡水成了要寨，十七世紀時，西班牙、荷蘭都曾在此築過象徵領地的保壘。