年鑑學派Braudel強調亙古時間對歷史所產生的影響性，因而提出長時段「結構」、中時段「趨勢」與短時段「事件」作為探究歷史發展的幾個概念。本文即是以「結構」與「趨勢」作為立論基礎，探討鳳山溪流域交通發展史，進而歸納出四個發展分期：「流域拓墾時期」、「開港通商時期」、「縱貫鐵路通車時期」、「輕便軌道貫通時期」。 自然地貌存在已久，人類生存於自然之中，必然得面對地貌所產生的種種限制，以年鑑學派Braudel的觀點，即是長時段「結構」；而清朝日治兩個時代的交通情況，則具有時代的「趨勢」性。鳳山溪亙古以來的河川特性，以及流域的地形樣貌，對於津渡、港口、古道、官路，以及日治時期的輕便軌道、汽車路線，產生結構的限制，而交通除了遵循結構進行發展外，還有「突破結構限制」的功能，進而使鳳山溪流域聯外與內聚的交通網絡得以成形。Braudel of the Annales School stressed the influence of long periods of time to history, and proposed the concepts of long term “structures,” mid-term “trends,” and short term “events” in the exploration of historical development. This paper uses “structures” and “trends” as the basis to discuss the developmental history of the Fengshan River Region, and further summarizes the four developmental periods of “watershed opening period,” “port opening and commercial period,” “north-south railway period,” and “light rail period.” The natural landscape has existed for a long time, and for people to survive in nature, they must face the various limitations caused by the landscape. In the view of Braudel of the Annales School, this is the long term “structure.” The “trend” character of the times is in the transportation conditions of the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese Occupation Period. The river character of Fengshan River and the landscape appearances of the region produced structural limitations on river-crossing, ports, ancient paths, official roads, as well as the light rail and automobile routes under Japanese ruling. Transportation not only is developed according to structure, but also has the function of “breaking through structural limitations,” allowing a transportation network to form both inside and outside the Fengshan River Region.
