Macao (A-Ma-ngao, “Harbour of the goddess A-Ma”; Port. Macau), a Portuguese settlement on the coast of China, in 22° N., 132° E. Pop. (1896), Chinese, 74,568; Portuguese, 3898; other nationalities, 161 - total, 78,627.
It consists of a tongue of land 2½ m. in length and less than 1 m. in breadth, running S.S.W. from the island of Hiang Shang (Port. Ançam) on the western side of the estuary of the Canton River. Bold and rocky hills about 300 ft. high occupy both extremities of the peninsula, the picturesque city, with its flat-roofed houses painted blue, green and red, lying in the undulating ground between. The forts are effective additions to the general view, but do not add much to the strength of the place. Along the east side of the peninsula runs the Praya Grande, or Great Quay, the chief promenade in Macao, on which stand the governor’s palace, the administrative offices, the consulates and the leading commercial establishments.
The church of St Paul (1594-1602), the seat of the Jesuit college in the 17th century, was destroyed by fire in 1835. The Hospital da Misericordia (1569) was rebuilt in 1640. The Camoens grotto, where the exiled poet found leisure to celebrate the achievements of his ungrateful country, lies in a secluded spot to the north of the town, which has been partly left in its native wildness strewn with huge granite boulders and partly transformed into a fine botanical garden.
In 1871 there were in Macao 5375 persons of European birth or extraction 53,761 Chinese living on land and 10,268 in boats. Half castes are very numerous. Though most of the land is under garden cultivation the mass of the people is dependent more or less directly on mercantile pursuits for while the exclusive policy both of Chinese and Portuguese which prevented Macao becoming a free port till 1845/46 allowed what was once the great emporium of European commerce in eastern Asia to be outstripped by its younger and more liberal rivals the trade of the place is still of very considerable extent.
Since the middle of the century indeed much of it has run in the most questionable channels the nefarious coolie traffic gradually increased in extent and in cruelty from about 1848 till it was prohibited in 1874 and much of the actual trade is more or less of the nature of smuggling.
The total value of exports and imports was in 1876/77 upwards of 1,536,000. Commercial intercourse is most intimate with Hong Kong, Canton, Batavia and Goa. Preparation and packing of tea is the principal industry in the town. The colonial revenue which is largely recruited by a tax on the notorious gambling tables increased from 104,643 dollars in 1856/57 to 380,012 in 1872/73 while the expenditure rose from 69,757 to 266,344.
"Macao" in Encyclopædia Britannica, 1882
PS: Imagem não incouída na obra referida.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário