Madou District
Coordinates: 23°11′N 120°15′E / 23.183°N 120.250°E
Madou District (Chinese: 麻豆區; pinyin: Mádòu Qū; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Môa-tāu-khu) is a district of about 44,963 residents in Tainan, Taiwan. It owes its name to the Siraya language word Moatau or Mattou. Mattau was one of the four core Sirayan villages during much of Taiwan's colonial history and figured heavily in the formation of colonial policy in Dutch Formosa. Currently, it is a well-known town in Tainan for its local culinary specialties and historical sites, and has become more prosperous in recent five years due to the presence of two universities. As an example of the increased attention Madou is receiving, the New Year Countdown Night for 2006 in Tainan was held at Madou Junior High School.
In the 17th century, Mattau was a village of about two to three thousand; the name was also spelled variously Matau, Mataw, Mattouw, Mathau, Matthau, Mattauw and Mandauw. Mattau was the largest and most powerful of four main aboriginal villages near Tayouan, and had been the most troublesome for the Dutch, "massacring soldiers, destroying buildings, and uprooting crops". Located about 25 km northeast of the former Dutch base of Fort Zeelandia, the place later grew into a market-town called Moa-tau.
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