CANBERRA -- Macau presents the last outpost of European colonial empire remaining anywhere in the Asia-Pacific region. Apart from Hawaii, now a state of the United States, and leaving aside Australia and New Zealand, no other territory in the Asia-Pacific region will be held or ruled by a European state after today. Portuguese Macau becomes Macau, China, just as Hong Kong (Britain) became Hong Kong, China, on July 1, 1997.
Macau used to be a place of considerable importance. In the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, it was the biggest entrepot trading port in East Asia and the starting point for shipping routes to Goa and Lisbon, Nagasaki and Mexico via Manila. It was a trading center until its decline with the rise of Hong Kong in the mid-19th century.
In sharp contrast to the recent history of Portugal's other former Asian colony of East Timor, Macau has been peaceful and it has prospered. Today, Macau's GDP is about 5 percent of Hong Kong's, but its per capita income is not far behind.