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Macao quickly grew into a major Portuguese base of operations in the region, and trading port, along with [[Goa]] and [[Nagasaki]]. By [[1562]], only five years after the first Portuguese arrival, there were already as many as 1,000 Portuguese living in or operating out of Macao. Other residents included Africans, Indians, and Melakans.<ref name=tignor471/> Trade routes were established between Nagasaki and [[Malacca]] by way of Macao by [[1570]], and in the early 17th century, beginning in [[1614]] and continuing in the 1630s, many Japanese Christians fled to Macao as the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] began to enforce bans on Christianity. Despite being denied direct overland access to Chinese domestic markets, the Portuguese at Macao played an active and lucrative role in the regional and worldwide trade in Chinese [[porcelain]]s and [[silk]]s, and for a brief time dominated the trade in Japanese [[silver]].<ref name=tignor471/>
Macao quickly grew into a major Portuguese base of operations in the region, and trading port, along with [[Goa]] and [[Nagasaki]]. By [[1562]], only five years after the first Portuguese arrival, there were already as many as 1,000 Portuguese living in or operating out of Macao. Other residents included Africans, Indians, and Melakans.<ref name=tignor471/> Trade routes were established between Nagasaki and [[Malacca]] by way of Macao by [[1570]], and in the early 17th century, beginning in [[1614]] and continuing in the 1630s, many Japanese Christians fled to Macao as the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] began to enforce bans on Christianity. Despite being denied direct overland access to Chinese domestic markets, the Portuguese at Macao played an active and lucrative role in the regional and worldwide trade in Chinese [[porcelain]]s and [[silk]]s, and for a brief time dominated the trade in Japanese [[silver]].<ref name=tignor471/>
When the [[Qing Dynasty|Qing Court]] ordered bans on maritime activity and pulled everyone back from the coast in the 1660s, in response to coastal harassment from [[Ming loyalists]], it initially blockaded Macao as well, ordering all Chinese to leave Macao and blocking Portuguese ships. Many Portuguese feared their settlement would be destroyed entirely; however, local officials, acting in their own personal self-interest, did not go that far. Through a number of diplomatic overtures, including the gift to the [[Kangxi Emperor]] of an African lion, as well as due to the support of the [[Society of Jesus in China|Jesuits]] at court, the Portuguese were able to retain control over Macao, and to have the blockade eventually lifted.<ref>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 65.</ref>
The city continued to be officially Chinese land, albeit given over to use by the Portuguese, until [[1887]], when it was formally ceded to Portugal. Portugal relinquished all control of the city in 1999, returning it to Chinese administration.
The city continued to be officially Chinese land, albeit given over to use by the Portuguese, until [[1887]], when it was formally ceded to Portugal. Portugal relinquished all control of the city in 1999, returning it to Chinese administration.