The township also retains its history. Aborigines of the plains tribes inhabited the area 300 years ago. The town was also the landing point for most of the early settlers brought to Taiwan from Fujian by Zheng Chenggong at the end of the Ming and in the early Qing dynasty.
三百年前它曾是平埔族居住的地方，明末清初隨鄭成功自福建來台的先民，多以東港為東渡登陸的一大港，「東港」之名因此而來。