Brief history of Macau

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The historic center of Macau was added as a World Heritage Site to UNESCO lists in 2005, highlighting its strategic and cultural importance through the centuries. The mix of Portuguese colonial architecture sits alongside the most striking style of East Asian art.

If you decide to visit Macau during your holidays remember that its offer is quite rural . You can visit and enjoy the most classic ancient Chinese villages and forests with hills full of pine trees. Much of its history is preserved on its islands , Taipa and Coloane. There you can visit the shipyards where they build their fishing boats, their immense colonial mansions, their Chinese temples and the floating fishing communities.

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However, Macau is now becoming more famous for the opening of its Las Vegas-style casino that attracts a lot of visitors. Macao was founded in 1557 during the great era of Portuguese exploration by sea. It became the main port between the Far East and Europe and, in 1670, it was confirmed as a possession of the Chinese people and Portugal. Macau went into decline as a regional commercial center in the early 1800s , when the British occupied Hong Kong.

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In 1999, Macao, like Hong Kong, became a "Special Administrative Region" within China , operating as a country with two political systems. He is able to maintain his total independence in social and economic matters. It has its own currency: the pataca .