A Research On Macao's Maritime Trade During The 16～(th) And Mid-18～(th) Centuries

After its establishment as the Portuguese settlement in China in the mid 16th century, Macao soon became an important international entrepot; therefore its vicissitudes should be a question worthy of study. This dissertation examines and analyses the development and evolution of Macao's maritime trade during the 16th and the mid 18th centuries in three periods, and makes conclusions as follows:1) The prosperity of Macao's maritime trade lasted from the 1580s to the 1620s; it was closely linked to the lopsided development of Sino-foreign trade, the special demands for external trade of the main countries in East Asia, and the comepitive state among the Western countries in East. 2) Owing to the deterioration of Sino - Portuguese relations, the change of competive situation between Portugal and Dutch, the religious conflict of Macao - Japan, and the Restoration of Portugal, Macao' s maritime trade ended its prosperity in the late 1630s and the early 1640s. Manchu -Ming confrontations in South China caused the depression of Macao - Canton trade. In the early Ch' ing, Macao' s maritime trade suffered heavily from "Edict of Moving Inland" .