A Presença inglesa e as relações anglo-portuguesas em Macau

Following the founding of the East India Company in 1600, England began a long process of commercial and colonial expansion in Asia, with the commercial objectives of the North European merchants clashing with Portuguese interests in the Indian Ocean and the Far East, namely in China and Japan. The local administration of Macau struggled to defend its trade monopoly in the Middle Kingdom, particularly after the end of the Nagasaki trade.

Combining a wide range of English, Portuguese and Chinese sources provides a multidimensional image of the British presence in the Luso-Chinese enclave during the 17th and 18th centuries. Its traces can still be seen today in the humanised landscape of the city. The studied archival materials provide insights into the first benefits of the ‘China trade’, the attempts of the East India Company to establish itself in China, and the consequent rise of English influence in Macau.