The area where Xiamen now exists was known as Tong'an (Chinese: ??; Pe?h-oe-ji: T鈔g-Oan) in some Han Dynasty records; though the area was not significantly settled by Han Chinese until several centuries later.

In 1387; the Ming Dynasty built a fort in Xiamen; then part of Quanzhou; to guard against pirates. After the Manchu Qing Dynasty overthrew the Ming in 1644; Ming loyalist Koxinga; used Xiamen as a base to launch counterattacks against the invading Manchus from 1650 to 1660. In 1656; he named Xiamen Island; Siming (???); or 'Remembering the Ming'. In 1661; Koxinga drove the Dutch from Taiwan and moved his operations there. The Manchus renamed the island Xiamen.