Historic Macau — Portuguese Asia (3)

Since I would like to study the heritage of Macau, I figured that a good book on Macau’s history, which is probably not widely known, is in the order. I found an exceedingly pleasant book called A Macao Narrative by Austin Coates in the library. In the last two, this entry and the next, I summarize the key points that I took from his book as an overall introduction of Macau’s fascinating history.

Rising British Influence in the Region

The first English ship that arrived in China was The London, which set sail from Surat, and anchored in Macau in 1635. The London was a result of the Convention of Goa, concluded in Goa by the Portuguese officials there and the president of the English Company at Surat. The Convention of Goa permitted English presence at the Portuguese ports. Since it had the capability to stall off the Dutch at sea, The London bore hope for the then dwindling Japan trade by the Portuguese. It could carry some of the much-desired goods for the journey in the Malacca-Macau-Japan route.

Yet the way that the British behaved in Macau touched off severe alarms on the part of the Chinese. Perhaps they were too aggressive, causing the Chinese to be readily suspicious of them. The Chinese considered them red haired barbarians, as the Dutch were.

The way that the first British trade fleet conducted itself in China in 1637 was one of the immediate causes for Macau’s downfall. With Captain John Weddell at the helm, this British voyage sailed far north into the Pearl River without Chinese permission, blew up a fort, burned down villages and murdered many. In response, the Chinese authorities imposed significant sanctions against Macau. China had not forgotten that it was in Macau that The London brought the first (forced) entry of the British into China. One of the key items of sanctions was the closure of the biannual Canton Fair to the Portuguese.

Macau continued to see a consistent decaying in its local conditions, such as crimes and murders. For the next centuries, the British would have an unruly presence in Macau—until 1841, when Hong Kong was founded, and more treaty ports were opened in places like Shanghai.

The Complete Shutdown of the Japan Trade

With the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate came the final blow to the Portuguese Japan trade. The first Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, had significant misgivings about the western foreigners. He was wary that the feudal lords under his reign may unite under the banner of Christianity in his opposition, in which case the Spaniards would step in from the Philippines. In 1616 and 1624, he revived the Hideyoshi against the Christians. To ensure that the vessels complied with the orders against missionary presence, amongst others, the Japanese removed the rudders of the ship when they docked.

Under the third Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, all of the foreigners were banned from Nagasaki, and, including the Dutch, were relegated to Deshima, a small islet connected to Nagasaki by a bridge. In 1637, a feudal uprising in Nagasaki would seal the fate of Christianity in Japan. Many of the residents in Nagasaki were Christians. In the suppression of this feudal uprising, Tokugawa Iemitsu ordered the Shimabara massacre, killing all Christian men, women and children.

The Portuguese, by then being confined in Deshima, steadily evacuated. By 1639, all of them had left Japan. For the next two centuries, Japan would adopt an ultra-isolationist policy, permanently closing the lucrative lifeline in Portuguese trade for almost a century.

The Eventual Demise of Portuguese Asia

The trade between China and Japan were closed. By the time the Dutch seized Malacca in 1641, Macau as an entrepot had next to nothing left by way of its livelihood.

Nao ha outra mais leal, meaning “City in the name of God, none other more loyal,” was the praise of Macau by Joao IV, given in the year 1642 soon after he ascended the Portuguese throne in revolt of the joint Spanish rule. As Macau rejoiced in the victorious revolt against the Spanish, its residents sent a shipment of guns and money to the independent king.

Yet in this praise there was the sense that even the appeal to the Portuguese king would not rescue Macau from the threats posed by other western colonial powers, while at the same time the Chinese veered for control.

This incident shows an exceptional characteristic of Macau as a Portuguese colony. For centuries, it remained fiercely loyal to the Portuguese king and held on to its Portuguese character and heritage strongly. That Macau joined the revolution against the Spanish also resulted in Manila being a trade option no longer. Between the 1670s and the 1700s, Macau came to face with a poverty and general decline never seen before.

Macau’s historical trajectory took an unmistakable downturn from its heyday.

Source

Austin Coates, A Macao Narrative (1978, 2009)