Chinese records of Macau date back to the establishment in 1152 of
Xiangshan County under which Macau was administered, though it
remained unpopulated through most of the next century. Members of
the South Sung (Song) Dynasty and some 50,000 followers were the
first recorded inhabitants of the area, seeking refuge in Macau from
invading Mongols in 1277. They were able to defend their settlements
and establish themselves there.
The Hoklo Boat people were the first to show commercial interest in
Macau as a trading center for the southern provinces. Macau did not
develop as a major settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the
16th century. Portuguese traders used Macau as a staging port as
early as 1516, making it the oldest European settlement in the Far
East. In 1557, the Chinese agreed to a Portuguese settlement in
Macau but did not recognize Portuguese sovereignty. Although a
Portuguese municipal government was established, the sovereignty
question remained unresolved.
Initially, the Portuguese developed Macau's port as a trading post
for China-Japan trade and as a staging port on the long voyage from
Lisbon to Nagasaki. When Chinese officials banned direct trade with
Japan in 1547, Macau's Portuguese traders carried goods between the
two countries. The first Portuguese governor was appointed to Macau
in 1680, but the Chinese continued to assert their authority,
collecting land and customs taxes. Portugal continued to pay rent to
China until 1849, when the Portuguese abolished the Chinese customs
house and declared Macau's "independence," a year which also saw
Chinese retaliation and finally the assassination of Gov. Ferreira
do Amaral.
On March 26, 1887, the Manchu government acknowledged the Portuguese
right of "perpetual occupation." The Manchu-Portuguese agreement,
known as the Protocol of Lisbon, was signed with the condition that
Portugal would never surrender Macau to a third party without
China's permission.
Macau enjoyed a brief period of economic prosperity during World War
II as the only neutral port in South China, after the Japanese
occupied Guangzhou (Canton) and Hong Kong. In 1943, Japan created a
virtual protectorate over Macau. Japanese domination ended in August
1945.
When the Chinese communists came to power in 1949, they declared the
Protocol of Lisbon to be invalid as an "unequal treaty" imposed by
foreigners on China. However, Beijing was not ready to settle the
treaty question, requesting maintenance of "the status quo" until a
more appropriate time. Beijing took a similar position on treaties
relating to the Hong Kong territories.
Riots broke out in 1966 when pro-communist Chinese elements and the
Macau police clashed. The Portuguese Government reached an agreement
with China to end the flow of refugees from China and to prohibit
all communist demonstrations. This move ended the conflict, and
relations between the government and the leftist organizations have
remained peaceful.
The Portuguese tried once in 1966 after the riots in Macau, and
again in 1974, the year of a military revolution in Portugal, to
return Macau to Chinese sovereignty. China refused to reclaim Macau
however, hoping to settle the question of Hong Kong first.
Portugal and China established diplomatic relations in 1979. A year
later, Gen. Melo Egidio became the first Governor of Macau to visit
China. The visit underscored both parties' interest in finding a
mutually agreeable solution to Macau's status. In 1979, Portugal and
China agreed to regard Macau as "a Chinese territory under temporary
Portuguese administration."; Handover negotiations began in 1985, a
year after the signing of the Sino-U.K. agreement returning Hong
Kong to China in 1997. The result was a 1987 agreement returning
Macau to Chinese sovereignty as a Special Administrative Region
(SAR) of China on December 20, 1999. |
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