Page "History of Macau" Paragraph 15

Macao was first settled by Portuguese survivors of the massacres of the Portuguese at Ningbo and at Quanzhou by Chinese government soldiers.

After the Portuguese raided and pillaged villages around the trading posts in those two cities, the Emperor ruled that all Portuguese encountered everywhere should be killed on the spot.

The casualties in total, with the 800 dead Portuguese, totalled 12, 000 dead Christians.

The massacres resulted in the Portuguese survivors fleeing to Macao, where they were allowed by China to start a colony to build sheds for drying goods in 1557.

From the Mings ' standpoint, the Portuguese were ultimately responsible for the massacre, since it was they who provoked the Chinese through " rapaciousness ".

The Portuguese considered it permissible to attack and pillage " Eastern peoples ", and not treat them according to the law.

The historian Kenneth Scott Latourette said that " the Portuguese had chiefly themselves to thank " for the massacres the Chinese committed against them.

The Portuguese commander Albuquerque once stated " a Chinese junk man knew more about courtesy and humanity than a European knight ".

The Chinese had massacred them after the Portuguese engaged in pillaging and murder in Chinese villages.

" A Lesson " was delivered to the Portuguese in this manner from the Chinese.

The section of Macao they settled on was San Chuan island.

They had to pay rent to China.

They later built some rudimentary stone-houses around the area now called Nam Van.

But not until 1557 did the Portuguese establish a permanent settlement in Macau, at an annual rent of 500 taels ( 20 kilograms / 44 pounds ) of silver.

Later that year, the Portuguese established a walled village there.

Ground rent payments began in 1573.

China retained sovereignty and Chinese residents were subject to Chinese law, but the territory was under Portuguese administration.

In 1582 a land lease was signed, and annual rent was paid to Xiangshan County.