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(m kou´)
, Port. Macau, Mandarin Aomen, special administrative region of China, formerly administered by Portugal (2005 est. pop. 449,000), 6.5 sq mi (16.9 sq km), adjoining Guangdong prov., SE China, on the estuary of the Pearl River, 40 mi (64 km) W of Hong Kong and 65 mi (105 km) S of Guangzhou (Canton).Land, People, and GovernmentThe most densely populated place in the world, Macao consists of a rocky, hilly peninsula, connected by a sandy 700-ft-wide (213-m) isthmus to China's Zhongshan (Tangjiahuan) island; and the two small islands of Taipa and Colôane, which are connected to the peninsula by bridges and a causeway. The capital, the city of Macao, is approximately coextensive with the peninsula and contains almost the entire population of the province.Macao's historic structures include the remaining facade of St. Paul's Basilica (built 1635 by Roman Catholic Japanese artisans; burned 1835), a fascinating example of late Italian Renaissance architecture, with mixed Western and Asian motifs; St. Domingo's church and convent (founded c.1670); the fort and chapel of Guia (1626); the fort of São Paulo de Monte (16th cent.); and statues to da Gama and Luís de Camões, who wrote (1558—59) part of The Lusiads there. Macao is separated from China proper by a barrier gate (built 1849, replacing one erected by the Chinese in 1573).The inhabitants are overwhelmingly Chinese and about half are Buddhist; there is a Roman Catholic minority. Portuguese and Cantonese are spoken. Macao is ruled under the Basic Law as approved by the National People's Congress of China in 1993.EconomyA free port, Macao is a leading trade, tourist, and fishing center, with gambling casinos that account for some 40% of GDP. There are also textile, clothing, toys, plastics, fireworks, electronics, and food-processing industries. Most of Macao's transit trade with China is by way of its shallow harbor on the west side of the peninsula. Tourism is extremely important to the province, with over 80% of the tourists coming from nearby Hong Kong. There is daily ferry and bus service to Guangzhou and ferry, hydrofoil, and helicopter service to Hong Kong. Taipa is connected to Macao city by bridges; Taipa and Colôane islands are connected by a causeway. An airport opened in 1995.HistoryThe colony's name is derived from the Ma Kwok temple, built there in the 14th cent. Macao was the oldest permanent European settlement in East Asia. It was a parched and desolate spot when the Portuguese established a trading post there in 1557. For nearly 300 years the Portuguese paid China an annual tribute for the use of the peninsula, but in 1849 Portugal proclaimed it a free port; this was confirmed by China in the Protocol of Lisbon in 1887. With the gradual silting up of its harbor and the rise (19th cent.) of Hong Kong, Macao lost its preeminent position and became identified to a large extent with smuggling and gambling interests.After 1949 the population was swelled by an influx of Chinese refugees from the mainland. In the winter of 1966—67, Communist-organized riots shook the province, resulting in a capitulation by the Portuguese to Chinese demands to bar entry to refugees and prohibit anti-Communist activities. In 1974, Macao was established as a Chinese territory under Portuguese administration; the Chinese refused to accept the return of the territory at the time. A real-estate boom in the early 1990s had largely waned by the end of the decade. Under the terms of a 1987 agreement, Macao became a special administrative region under Chinese sovereignty in Dec., 1999. Macao has been promised 50 years of noninterference in its economic and social systems.
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