Macau or Macao, officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a population of about 680,000 and an area of 32.9 km2 (12.7 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world.
Taipa was a former island in Macau, presently united with the island of Coloane by reclaimed land known as Cotai. Administratively, the boundaries of the traditional civil parish Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo are coterminous with that of former Taipa Island.
The Macau Peninsula is the most populous and historical part of Macau. It has an area of 8.5 square kilometers (3.3 sq mi) and is geographically connected to Guangdong Province at the northeast through an isthmus 200 meters (660 ft) wide. The peninsula, together with downtown Zhuhai, sits on an island separated from the continent by distributaries of the Pearl River. The Border Gate was built on the northern isthmus. At the south, the peninsula is connected to Taipa Island by three bridges, the Friendship Bridge ; the Macau-Taipa Bridge ; and the Sai Van Bridge . The longest axis extends 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) from the Border Gate to the southwestern edge, Barra (媽閣嘴). There is a western "Inner Harbor" (內港) paralleled by an "Outer Harbor" (外港) to the east. The 93 meters (305 ft) Guia Hill (松山) is the highest point on the peninsula, which has an average elevation of 50 to 75 meters. Many coastal places are reclaimed from the sea. The Historic Centre of Macau, which is entirely on the Macau Peninsula, became a World Heritage Site in 2005.
Nossa Senhora de Fátima is the northernmost and largest civil parish in the Macau Peninsula of Macau. It has an area of 3.2 square kilometers (1.2 sq mi) and a population of 126,000, which constitutes about 40.3% of the peninsula's land mass and one-third of the population.
Santo António is a civil parish in the western portion of the Macau Peninsula of Macau. It has the highest population density in Macau.
São Lázaro is the smallest civil parish of Macau, located in the central-east region of the Macau Peninsula. It is surrounded by the parishes of Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Santo António, and Sé.
Sé is a southeast civil parish in the Macau Peninsula of Macau. It is the second largest peninsular district in Macau after the civil parish of Nossa Senhora de Fátima. The parish area is named for the Igreja da Sé.
São Lourenço is a civil parish of Macau. It is located in the southwestern of Macau Peninsula and named after Lawrence of Rome.
Administratively, Portugal is de jure unitary and decentralized state. Nonetheless, operationally, it is a highly centralized system with administrative divisions organized into three tiers. The State is organized under the principles of subsidiarity, local government autonomy, and democratic decentralization of the public service.
Freguesia, usually translated as "parish" or "civil parish", is the third-level administrative subdivision of Portugal, as defined by the 1976 Constitution. It is also the designation for local government jurisdictions in the former Portuguese overseas territories of Cape Verde and Macau. In the past, was also an administrative division of the other Portuguese overseas territories. The parroquia in the Spanish autonomous communities of Galicia and Asturias is similar to a freguesia.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau of Macau is an administrative body without political powers responsible for providing certain civic services for the special administrative region and is the successor to the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau which was abolished in 2019. The latter was formed to handle the functions of the former municipalities of Macau and their councils and assemblies that were abolished on 1 January 2002, slightly more than two years after Macau became a special administrative region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. The body is under the Secretariat for Administration and Justice of the Macau government.
The Municipality of Ilhas was one of the two municipalities of Macau, along with the Municipality of Macau. Its organs were the municipal council and the municipal assembly. Per Law No. 17/2001, the two municipalities were abolished on December 31, 2001 and replaced by the Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais the following day.
The Municipality of Macau was one of two municipalities of Macau, along with the Municipality of Ilhas.
The Government of the Macau Special Administrative Region, are headed by secretariats or commissioners and report directly to the chief executive. The affairs of the government are decided by secretaries, who are appointed by the chief executive and endorsed by the State Council of the Central People's Government in Beijing. As a special administrative region of China, Macau has a high degree of autonomy, in light of the "One Country, Two Systems" policy. The Macau Government, financially independent from the Central People's Government, oversees the affairs of Macau.
The transfer of sovereignty of Macau from Portugal to the People's Republic of China (PRC) occurred on 20 December 1999.
Articles related to Macau include:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Macau:
Portuguese Macau was a Portuguese colony that existed from the first official Portuguese settlement in 1557 to the end of colonial rule and the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to the People's Republic of China in 1999. It comprised the Municipality of Macau and the Municipality of Ilhas. Macau was both the first and last European holding in China.
Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo is a civil parish in Macao Special Administrative Region. The major part of the freguesia is located in Taipa but it runs through to Hengqin Island in mainland China. The freguesia is named after the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Carmo. It is the largest freguesia in Macau with an area of 7.9 square kilometers.
