Portuguese settle in Macau
With the tacit consent of Ming officials, Portuguese merchants established a permanent settlement on the Macau peninsula at the mouth of the Pearl River — the first and, as it turned out, the last European holding in China.
- Date
- 1557year known
- Place
- Macautoday: Macau, China · East Asia
- Participants
- Kingdom of Portugal, Ming dynasty
- Threads
- History of Portugal since the Battle of Aljubarrota
- Also known as
- Macao; Аомынь; Aomen
After the failure of the first Portuguese embassy to China under Tomé Pires, the Portuguese traded from islands off the coast of Guangdong. In 1554 the merchant Leonel de Sousa came to an arrangement with the maritime-defence official Wang Bo: for 500 taels of silver a year, paid at first to Wang Bo personally, the Portuguese were allowed to settle and trade at Macau. The year 1557 is conventionally taken as the date of the permanent settlement.
China never ceded sovereignty: the Portuguese paid ground rent and remained under the supervision of Chinese mandarins. Until Japan closed its ports to them in 1639, Macau prospered on the triangular trade between China, Macau and Japan; it was also the base of the Jesuit missions to China and Japan. Its status was fixed only by the Sino-Portuguese treaty of 1887.
Connections
Related events
- Capture of Malacca25 July – between 10 August and 24 August 1511 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaMalacca and Macau were the two links of the Portuguese route to China
- Portuguese on Tanegashima — the first Europeans in Japan1543 · East AsiaMacau became the base of Portuguese trade with Japan
- Handover of Macau to China20 December 1999 · East Asiathe beginning and the end of 442 years of Portuguese Macau
Same participants
- Founding of Salvador and the Governorate General of Brazil29 March 1549 · Latin Americavia Kingdom of Portugal
- Altan Khan’s raid on Beijing1550 · East Asiavia Ming dynasty
- Battle of Alcácer Quibir4 August 1578 · Africavia Kingdom of Portugal
- Bento de Góis’s journey from India to Chinabetween October 1602 and February 1603 – 11 April 1607 · Central and Northern Asiavia Ming dynasty
Adjacent events in the thread
- Garcia de Orta’s Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India10 April 1563 · South Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
Eastern Europe
- Annexation of the Astrakhan Khanate26 August 1556
- Capture of Kazan23 August – 2 October 1552
- Coronation of Ivan IV as tsar16 January 1547
Middle East and Egypt
- Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman Ibetween November and December 1534
Africa
- Battle of Alcácer Quibir4 August 1578
- Ethiopian–Adal WarMarch 1529 – 21 February 1543
South Asia
Southeast Asia and Oceania
North America
- Hernando de Soto’s expedition into the interior of North America30 May 1539 – September 1543
- Jacques Cartier’s second voyage — up the Saint Lawrence River19 May 1535 – 16 July 1536
Latin America
- Founding of Salvador and the Governorate General of Brazil29 March 1549
- Battle of Cajamarca16 November 1532
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Portuguese Macau
- Wikipedia (Russian): Португальский Макао
- Gunn G. C. Encountering Macau: A Portuguese City-State on the Periphery of China, 1557–1999. — Boulder: Westview Press, 1996.
- Wikidata: Q3916279