Takow

English

Map of Formosa (Taiwan) including Takow (1917)

Alternative forms

• Takau
• Takou
• Takao
• Dagou

Etymology

From either Mandarin 打狗 (Dǎgǒu) or directly from Hokkien, specifically Taiwanese Hokkien 打狗 (Tá-káu), from Siraya takau (“bamboo forest”).

Proper noun

Takow

1. Kaohsiung
   • 1900, European Settlements in the Far East‎^[1], London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, page 39:

     Anping has of late risen greatly in importance, the foreign firms making it their headquarters instead of Takow, which port in former years was considered of more significance.

   • 1919, Supplement to Commerce reports : daily consular and trade reports issued by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce‎^[2], United States Department of Commerce, page 32:

     The three shipping companies maintaining regular services with this port are the Douglas Steamship Co. (British) touching at Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, and Kongkong; the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Co. (Chinese), whose steamers run between Foochow and Shanghai; and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (Japanese), whose steamers touch at Foochow, Shanghai, Tientsin, Dairen, Amoy, Takow, and Keelung (the last two ports being in Formosa).

   • 2019, Huang Chia-lin, Jake Chung, “Descendant of Britain’s first consul visits Taiwan”, in Taipei Times‎^[3]:

     A descendant of Robert Swinhoe, the first British consul in what was then known as Formosa, on Thursday visited the British Consulate at Takow (打狗英國領事館) in Kaohsiung, hoping to deepen his understanding of his ancestor.
     Robert Swinhoe was stationed in Taiwan in July 1861 as the first British vice-consul, and he set up the first British Consular Office in Taiwan in Taiwanfu (modern-day Tainan), the Kaohsiung Bureau of Cultural Affairs said.
     Three years later, Britain relocated the vice consulate from Taiwanfu to Takao (modern-day Kaohsiung), after the Port of Kaohsiung was opened.