МАСАО.
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Macao is a small rocky peninsula on the south
China coast in the Canton territory between the estuaries
of the Pearl River and the Canton River. The Portuguese,
after they had frequented the neighbourhood for many years
for trading purposes, were conceded the use of Macao in
1557 in return for their services against a notorious
pirate who preyed along the south China coast and had even
gone so far as to blockade the Chinese Viceroy in the port
of Canton. The Portuguese succeeded in driving off this
menace
ce and soon built up a permanent establishment at
Macao, and during the 17th and 18th centuries trade
flourished
there partly because of the difficulty experi- enced by traders of obtaining permission to reside in
Canton. The East India Company and the Dutch Company also had establishments in Macao. Although the Portuguese
have always claimed by reason of the grant from the Viceroy
at Canton, that Macao was Portuguese territory, they had
in fact accepted the obligation to pay to the Emperor
of China an annual rental for the territory, which was
continued until 1848 when the Governor at the time
drove out the Chinese Customs officials, and with them
every vestige of Chinese authority and ceased further
payments of the annual rent. For this temerity he was
assassinated in the following year, but an assault on
Macao by Chinese troops was at the same time repulsed
by the Portuguese.
All this time Hong Kong was nothing more than a
abodz
C sparsely populated hedy of fishermen. On the ession,
however, of Hong Kong to the British in 1841, the trade
of