This is a historical account of Luso (Portuguese) Asians and their role in establishing and maintaining the first global economy connecting Europe and Asia.
Part 1 describes their early settlements across the Portuguese Overseas Empire, beginning with Goa in 1511, through migrations to Malacca, Indonesia, Siam, Macau, Hong Kong, and Shanghai up to the end of the Opium Wars in 1860.
Part 2 focuses on the largest group of Luso-Asians from Macau, the “Macanese”, who settled from 1842 in Hong Kong to work for the British colonial government, merchant houses, and international banks. Several stories of individuals, who were community activists, clerks, business owners, working class proprietors, and wartime refugees are offered to illustrate deteriorating relations with the government as World War II approached.
The conclusion then highlights recent efforts of expatriates to use technology to develop cultural and commercial exchanges with modern China, an attempt to recapture the traditional role of the Macanese as intermediaries and ambassadors of change.
Information on the Author
Dr. Roy Eric Xavier is the Director of the Portuguese and Macanese Studies Project, and a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Berkeley’s “Institute for the Study of Societal Issues”. His research is on the history of Luso-Asian and Macanese communities, and cultural and economic diversity in Macau and Hong Kong, Special Administrative Regions of China.
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