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SCMP Reporter

1553: Portuguese sailors caught in a storm are allowed to land in Macau.

1557: Guangdong authorities allow Portuguese to erect first building and form first permanent Portuguese settlement.

Mid-1550s: Macau flourishes as heart of sea routes between Europe, South America, Africa and Far East.

Early 1600s: Strong competition from Dutch and British merchants leads to a decline in Macau's fortunes.

1603-1622: Dutch repeatedly try, and fail, to invade. Portuguese claim victory on June 24, 1622, a date still marked with a public holiday.

1623: First permanent Portuguese governor, Dom Francisco Mascarenhas, arrives to strengthen defence and administration.

Mid-1600s to 1700s: Macau operates as a key entrepot between Europe and the Far East.

Early 1800s: Opium trade booms. Britain gains Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1841. Macau declines as Hong Kong, with a deeper harbour, takes over as premier trading port.

Mid-1800s: Portugal begins demanding official recognition of its sovereignty over Macau, against the will of China and local Chinese residents.

1844: Macau becomes an overseas province of Portugal; it had previously been under jurisdiction of Portugal's Indian colonies.

1845: Portugal declares Macau a free port and takes over peninsula by expelling Chinese customs and judiciary officials. Licences are first imposed on Chinese gambling houses.

1849: Governor Joao Maria Ferreira do Amaral is beheaded by Chinese peasants after ordering their ancestors' graves to be levelled.

1887: China agrees to formally cede Macau.

Early 1890s: Gambling and opium trade support economy. Opium dealing and smoking is banned after World War II.

1934: Macau cedes gambling monopoly franchise to a private syndicate, Tai Xing.

1939-1945: Macau remains only Chinese territory not occupied by Japan during World War II, because of Portugal's neutrality. Refugees, mainly from China and Hong Kong, swell population to 500,000.

1949: Refugees flood into Macau after communist victory.

1962: Stanley Ho Hung-sun's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau wins monopoly to run casinos. It expires in 2001.

1966-1967: Cultural Revolution spills over the border.

January 29, 1967: Portugal offers to abdicate Macau's sovereignty but China declines to take over.

1970s: Economy starts to diversify; gold trading, light manufacturing and tourism flourish.

1974: Lisbon severs diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

April 25, 1974: Portugal relinquishes its colonies after the Revolution of the Carnations at home, but China again refuses to take Macau back.

February 17, 1976: Portuguese parliament confers wide authority on territory but confirms Macau is merely a territory under Portuguese administration.

February 9, 1979: China and Portugal establish political ties, and recognise Macau as a 'Chinese territory under Portuguese administration'.

May 1985: Portuguese President Ramalho Eanes begins talks with China on Macau's future.

April 13, 1987: Sino-Portuguese Joint-Declaration is signed. Agreed that Macau will revert to China on December 20, 1999. A transition period begins, and the administration starts bringing more ethnic Chinese into government.

March 1993: The National People's Congress promulgates Macau's Basic Law, which says Chinese and Portuguese will remain the official languages after the handover.

1996: Triad boss 'Broken Tooth' Wan Kuok-koi questioned by police after crime-fighter Lieutenant-Colonel Manuel Antonio Apolinario shot twice in the head and survives.

1997-1999: Recession fuels bloody gang turf war over shrinking casino profits.

March 1998: Gambling inspector Francisco Amaral shot dead.

April 29: China establishes Preparatory Committee to handle transitional matters.

May: Police chief Antonio Marques Baptista's car wrecked by bomb; 'Broken Tooth' arrested 12 hours later.

May 15 this year: Banker Edmund Ho Hau-wah is elected first chief executive.

Last month: 'Broken Tooth' is jailed for 15 years; several co-accused receive stiff jail terms.

Midnight last night. China resumes control of Macau, marking the end of European colonialism in Asia.



Macau Chronology