Alishan is traditional territory of the headhunting Tsou people, whose rich oral histories describe the migrations of each ancient clans' ancestors into the area between Yushan and the Chianan Plain.
Originally, each clan had its own settlement, with the first multi-clan town, Tfuya, only forming approximately 1600 CE.
The earliest written record of the Tsou dates from the Dutch occupation, which describes Tfuya as having approximately 300 people in 1647.
Ethnologists have attempted to reconstruct the development of Tfuya, proposing that each stage of clan migration could be equivalent to three or four generations of family.

The Alishan area was originally settled by the Tsou tribe of the Taiwanese aborigines; the name derives from the aboriginal word Jarissang.
From 1920 to 1945, the area was classified as Savage Land under Kagi District, Tainan Prefecture.
After 1945, the area was named Wufong Township (吳鳳鄉), after Chinese merchant Wu Feng, but was renamed to Alishan Township in March 1989.
Alishan is traditional territory of the headhunting Tsou people, whose rich oral histories describe the migrations of each ancient clans' ancestors into the area between Yushan and the Chianan Plain. Originally, each clan had its own settlement, with the first multi-clan town, Tfuya, only forming approximately 1600 CE. The earliest written record of the Tsou dates from the Dutch occupation, which describes Tfuya as having approximately 300 people in 1647. Ethnologists have attempted to reconstruct the development of Tfuya, proposing that each stage of clan migration could be equivalent to three or four generations of family. 
The Alishan area was originally settled by the Tsou tribe of the Taiwanese aborigines; the name derives from the aboriginal word Jarissang. From 1920 to 1945, the area was classified as Savage Land under Kagi District, Tainan Prefecture. After 1945, the area was named Wufong Township (吳鳳鄉), after Chinese merchant Wu Feng, but was renamed to Alishan Township in March 1989.
Alishan, Chiayi