The colony remained under Portuguese rule until 1999, when it was transferred to China. Portugal later gained perpetual colonial rights in the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking.
Portugal paid an annual rent and administered the territory under Chinese sovereignty until 1887. With a population of about 680,000 and an area of 32.9 km 2 (12.7 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world.įormerly a Portuguese colony, the territory of Portuguese Macau was first leased to Portugal as a trading post by the Ming dynasty in 1557. Macau or Macao ( English: / m ə ˈ k aʊ/ ⓘ, mə- KOW Portuguese: Chinese: 澳門, Cantonese: ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. None for local vehicles, 粤Z for cross-boundary vehicles
