The Pria Grande Macao

Title

The Pria Grande Macao

Description

Striking view of the harbour of Macao.

ca. 1850

Artist

Capone

Historical Description

Macau is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It was a Portuguese colony until 1999. Macau's history is at least 6,000 years old. The place was originally settled by Chinese fishermen and farmers and leased to the Kingdom of Portugal in the mid-16th century. In the period that followed, the city developed into one of the most important trading centers between Asia and Europe. The trade in silk, spices and tea flourished and made Macau very prosperous. From the mid-19th century, a dispute between China and Portugal over 150 years over the political and legal status of Macau began. In 1845 Portugal unilaterally declared Macau its free port. At the same time, Great Britain annexed the island of Hong Kong, only 62 kilometers from Macau, to which Macau lost its supremacy in Asian trade. In response to international pressure, the Chinese Empire had to recognize the permanent occupation and government of Macau by Portugal in 1887. From 1892 the reformer Sun Yat-sen stayed in the city, so that Macau became one of the most important starting points of the Chinese revolution. Around this time, Macau developed into an appendage to the neighboring British colony in almost all economic areas. In contrast to Hong Kong, apart from a few temporary exceptions, the Chinese and Portuguese residents of the city lived in a symbiosis that was mutually beneficial. Negotiations about the return of the city to China, willing to compromise, took place between Portugal and the Republic of China as early as 1928, but remained unsuccessful in the course of the Chinese Civil War and the Sino-Japanese War. In 1999, Macau was reunified with China at midnight.