Editing Economy of Macau (section)

==History==
Macau was a barren fishing village with a population of about 400 before the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] arrived in the 16th century, during the [[History of Portugal (1415–1542)|Age of Discovery]].<ref name="Macau economy">{{cite book |title=The Macau Economy|last=Chan|first=S. S.|year=2000|publisher=Publications Centre, University of Macau|location=Macau|isbn=978-99937-26-03-6}}</ref> In 1535, the Portuguese traders obtained by bribing the right to anchor ships in Macau harbours and engage in trading activities. Portuguese and Chinese merchants flocked to Macau, and it quickly became an important regional trading center in Portugal's lucrative trade along three major routes: Macau-[[Malacca]]-[[Goa]]-[[Lisbon]], [[Guangzhou]]-Macau-[[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|Nagasaki]] and Macau-[[Manila]]-[[Mexico]].<ref name="Macau a General Introduction">{{cite book |title=Macau: a General Introduction |last=Fung |first=Bong Yin|year=1999|publisher=Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co. Ltd. |location=Hong Kong |isbn=978-962-04-1642-2|language =zh}}</ref> However, with the decline of Portugal as a world power in the 17th and 18th centuries, the trading routes were challenged by other powers such as the Dutch and the British. After China ceded Hong Kong to the British in 1842, Macau's position as a major regional trading center declined further still because larger ships were drawn to the deep water port of [[Victoria Harbour]]. In an attempt to reverse the decline, from 1848 to the early 1870s Macau engaged in the infamous trade of [[coolies]] (slave labourers) as a transit port, shipping locals from southern China to [[Cuba]], Peru, and other South American ports to work on plantations or in mines.<ref name="Macau a General Introduction"/>

Fishing re-emerged as a dominant economic activity in Macau as it lost its position as a regional trading center. In the early 1920s, over 70% of Macau's 84,000 residents were engaged in fishing.<ref name="Macau economy"/> Meanwhile, some other businesses started to develop, such as matches, firecrackers, incense and fishing-boat building. But the most notable was the gambling business. Gambling was first legalised in the 19th century in an attempt to generate revenues for the government. The first casino monopoly concession was granted to the Tai Xing Company in 1937.<ref name="Macau 2007">{{cite book|year=2007|title=Macau Yearbook 2007|publisher=Government Information Bureau of the Macau SAR|isbn=978-99937-56-09-5}}</ref> The company was, however, too conservative to fully exploit the economic potential of gambling. The industry saw a major breakthrough in 1962 when the government granted the ''[[Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau]]'' (STDM), a syndicate jointly formed by Hong Kong and Macau businessmen, the monopoly rights to all forms of gambling. The STDM introduced western-style games and modernised the marine transport between Macau and Hong Kong, bringing millions of gamblers from Hong Kong every year.<ref name="Macau economy"/>

In the 1970s Macau also saw a rapid development in its manufacturing sector. With Macau's low-cost operating environment and its surplus quotas under the [[Multi Fiber Arrangement]] (MFA), many Hong Kong industrialists established textile and garment manufacturing bases in Macau. At its golden age in the 1980s, the manufacturing sector accounted for about 40% of Macau's GDP; textiles and garments accounted for about 90% of Macau's total visible exports.<ref name="Macau economy"/> However, the manufacturing sector has experienced a gradual decline since the early 1990s due to phasing out of the MFA quota system and the rising labour costs relative to mainland China and Southeast Asian countries.
{{Economy of Macau}}