Taipa is 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) south of the Macau Peninsula and east of the island of Hengqin, which forms a part of the adjacent Chinese city of Zhuhai.

Initially, Taipa was connected to Coloane only by the Estrada do Istmo [zh] (路氹連貫公路) causeway, opened in 1969, but starting in the 1990s, land reclamation efforts created a new area, Cotai, and which is home to mega-resorts, casinos, and convention and exhibition centres, and has turned Taipa, Cotai and Coloane all into one island.

[2] Originally an island pair on the southern end of the Praia Grande, Taipa was first settled by Hokkien-speaking fishermen around 800 years ago.

In 1847, encouraged by the governorship of João Maria Ferreira do Amaral, who sought to expand Portugal's influence over Macau and affirm its sovereignty, Lesser Taipa was annexed by the Portuguese, constructing Taipa Fortress upon the command of Pedro Jose da Silva Loureiro to combat marine outlaws and protect Macau against the attack of pirates.

The annexation also aimed to resolve the problem of the divided harbour on the Peninsula and provide land, water supply and protection for the port.

By 1969, as the Portuguese colonial government sought to improve Macau's infrastructure, a causeway (Estrada do Istmo) opened connecting Taipa to Coloane, and in 1974 Taipa got its first connection to the Macau Peninsula, the Governador Nobre de Carvalho Bridge, named after the city's governor between 1966 and 1974.

Taipa's population, like Coloane, began to expand significantly as better infrastructure was built, increasing from originally 3,000 residents.

Both the character 氹 and the alternative form 凼 mean cesspit, but are obsolete in modern Chinese, and only used in relation to Taipa and the Macau-Taipa Bridge (澳氹大桥 àodàng dàqiáo).

The character 氹, or 凼 (often used in mainland Chinese texts), is often missing from mobile phone and computer input systems.

Thinking the Portuguese settlers were asking if they sold sticky rice, the Chinese responded with "大把", pronounced "daai ba" in Cantonese, meaning "a lot."

The library, which opened in January 2005, occupied 1,080 square metres (11,600 sq ft) of space on the second and third floors of Hei Loi Tang Plaza (喜來登廣場).