Macau history
Macau is a city in China that has special status within the country allowing it to have a limited level of autonomy. This is largely the result of the history of the area and the many years that the city was controlled by the Portuguese.
The earliest inhabitants of Macau arrived over two thousand years ago but for most of the areas early history the number of people was very limited. There was not a large influx of people until the period of the Mongol invasion when many people trying to escape the Mongols moved into the area. Population growth would continue even after the Mongols had left as the Ming dynasty encouraged people to move to the area to work as fishermen in order to help feed Chinas growing population. Even at this point however Macau would remain a relatively unimportant area.
Things would start to change in the early part of the sixteenth century when Portuguese explorers discovered a route to China. They brought their ships into Macau and under threat demanded the right to anchor their ships in the harbor and to use Macau as a trading base to allow them to do business with the Chinese. In the early days much of this trade would revolve around slavery however it didn't take long for this to become an issue. In order to maintain good relations with the Chinese the Portuguese government banned the use of Chinese slaves. As a result trade began to focus on other products.
As the trade between Macau and Portugal increased there was a huge increase in the number of Portuguese who were living in Macau. This resulted in demands for political control by the settlers. Over the years there would be steps taken in this direction but the Portuguese settlers would not get full control until after the opium wars of the 1840's. These were wars that were fought to give Europeans the right to sell opium in China. As a result of the victory the European powers were given control over several ports in China, the Portuguese getting Macau.
During the Second World War Macau would be one of the few areas in the Pacific that wouldn't come under Japanese control. The Japanese chose to allow Macau to continue to operate as an independent port. This meant that after the war Macau remained in Portuguese hands, although after the communists took power in Chine they demanded that the city be returned to them. This would not actually happen for another fifty years however. In the seventies the Portuguese dictator was overthrown and the new government decided that they would be giving up all of their overseas territories including Macau. However it took until 1999 for all the details to be worked out and for Macau to be returned to China. As part of this deal Macau would retain special status in China similar to that of Hong Kong.