This voluminous monograph is about the so-called Macanese, one of the ethnic groups in Macao. Views on the origins and early history of this group differ, but most scholars are of the opinion that it gradually emerged in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. The general assumption is that there was an initial stage characterised by mixed marriages between Portuguese men (including mestizo men with partly Portuguese roots) and women of Malay, Indian, Japanese and other background, while in a second stage, possibly already beginning at around 1600, Chinese women became the preferred partners of Portuguese/mestizo males. But precise data for the composition of early Macao's population are rare, which often makes it difficult to draw a sharp dividing line between individual groups, as for example between 'ordinary' Portuguese from Europe and persons of Euro-Asian descent. Numerical problems also pertain to the issue of migration to and from Macao. This phenomenon already shows up in Ming and early Qing times. Not infrequently written sources of that period only permit us to vaguely state that migrants came to Macao or left that port for economic or other reasons, without telling us how many people were involved in such processes. By and large that also applies to the early Macanese.
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