History of Macau: Difference between revisions

 

After the Portuguese were allowed to permanently settle in Macau, both Chinese and Portuguese merchants flocked to Macau, although the Portuguese were never numerous (numbering just 900 in 1583 and 1200 out of 26,000 in 1640).<ref>Porter, Jonathan. ''Macau, the Imaginary City: Culture and Society, 1557 to the Present''. Westview Press, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-8133-3749-4}}</ref> It quickly became an important node in the development of Portugal's trade along three major routes: Macau–Malacca–Goa–Lisbon, Guangzhou–Macau–Nagasaki and Macau–Manila–Mexico. The Guangzhou–Macau–Nagasaki route was particularly profitable because the Portuguese acted as middlemen, shipping Chinese silks to Japan and Japanese silver to China, pocketing huge markups in the process. This already lucrative trade became even more so when Chinese officials handed Macau's Portuguese traders a monopoly by banning direct trade with Japan in 1547, due to piracy by Chinese and Japanese nationals.<ref name="TouristGuideHistory">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520084736/http://www.macautouristguide.com/en/history.html|url=http://www.macautouristguide.com/en/history.html|archive-date=20 May 2007 |title=Macau – a unique city|publisher=Macau Tourist Guide|access-date=19 January 2015}}</ref>

 

Macau's golden age coincided with the [[Iberian Union|union]] of the Spanish and Portuguese crowns, between 1580 and 1640. King [[Philip II of Spain]] was encouraged to not harm the status quo, to allow trade to continue between Portuguese Macau and Spanish Manila, and to not interfere with Portuguese trade with China. In 1587, Philip promoted Macau from "Settlement or Port of the Name of God" to "City of the Name of God" (Cidade do Nome de Deus de Macau).<ref>[[C. R. Boxer]], ''Fidalgos in the Far East, 1550–1770''. Martinus Nijhoff (The Hague), 1948. p. 4</ref>