Kaohsiung, special municipality of Taiwan, located in the southern part of the island on Taiwan Strait. It is a fishing center and the southern port of Taiwan. Fish, rice, sugar, pineapples, and bananas are exported. The chief industries are oil refining, shipbuilding, fish and fruit processing and canning, rice and sugar milling, and iron casting. The port, which was once under Dutch occupation, developed after 1858; the industrial center developed under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945. The city was known as Takow (Japanese Taku) until 1920 and as Takao by the Japanese from 1920 to 1945. The name is also spelled Kaosiung or Kaohiung. Population 1,433,621 (1997).
