Municipality of Macau

Municipality of Macau Concelho de Macau
Prefecture
Flag Coat of arms
Macau Peninsula
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	澳門市
Simplified Chinese	澳门市
Cantonese Yale	ou mùhn síh
Jyutping	Ou3 Mun4 Si5
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Àoménshì Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization ou mùhn síh Jyutping Ou3 Mun4 Si5

The Municipality of Macau (Portuguese : Concelho de Macau) was one of the two municipalities (concelhos) of Macau, along with the Municipality of Ilhas.

Its organs, the Municipal Council of Macau (Câmara Municipal de Macau) and the Municipal Assembly of Macau (Assembleia Municipal de Macau), had been abolished. The law provided for their dissolution (dissolução) became effective on 31 December 2001. ^[1] The law also provided for the "extinction" (extinção) of the provisional municipalities (municípios provisórios) ^[1] but had not mentioned anything about the concelhos.

History

In 1513, Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares arrived in the Pearl River Delta, in the Shenzhen area, which he called Tamão. A Portuguese settlement was started there. By 1535 traders were allowed to anchor their ships in the harbour. In 1887, the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking was signed, allowing "the perpetual occupation and government of Macau by Portugal". ^[2]

According to National Geographic, "Macau may never have existed if not for Tamão" where the Portuguese learned "how China, the Pearl River Delta, and the South China Sea worked". The settlement and Jorge Álvares "kickstarted a chain of events that ultimately spawned Macau". A large stone sculpture of Álvares stands in downtown Macau. ^[3]  

Former municipal organs

Following the handover of Macau to China on 20 December 1999, the municipal organs were renamed as Provisional Municipal Council of Macau (Câmara Municipal de Macau Provisória) and the Provisional Municipal Assembly of Macau (Assembleia Municipal de Macau Provisória). ^[4]

The institutions were abolished on 31 December 2001 and replaced by the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau the following day. ^[1]

Divisions of departments

Despite the extinção of the municípios provisórios and the dissolution of the municipal councils and assemblies in 2001, certain government departments have maintained divisions for the area of the concelho, e.g., the Departamento Policial de Macau (DPM, lit. 'Police Department of Macau'; which exists alongside the Departamento Policial das Ilhas).

Freguesias

Freguesia / Parish [5]		2013 Area (km2) [6]	2013 Population [7]	Density (/km2)
	Nossa Senhora de Fátima (花地瑪)	3.2	237,500	74,218
	Santo António (花王 / 聖安多尼)	1.1	129,800	118,000
	São Lázaro (望德)	0.6	33,100	55,166
	Sé (大)	3.4	52,200	15,352
	São Lourenço (風順 / 聖老愣佐)	1.0	51,700	51,700

Demographics

The population of the Macau Peninsula has been increasing rapidly for decades, particularly since the transfer of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China. With 45,675 inhabitants/km², Macau has one of the highest population densities of any urban area.

Population

1981	238.413
1991	342.548
1996	390.928
2001	388.647
2006	433.730
2011	469.009
2016	520.166
2017 [8]	520.700

See also

• Municipality of Ilhas

References

1. "Imprensa Oficial - Lei n.º 17/2001". bo.io.gov.mo (in Portuguese). Imprensa Oficial. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
2. "The Origin of the Macao Question and Sino-Portuguese Negotiations for the Settlement of the Question" . Retrieved 16 March 2021.
3. "The long lost city of Tamão is hiding in plain sight". National Geographic Society . Archived from the original on March 15, 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
4. "Lei n.º 1/1999: Lei de Reunificação". bo.io.gov.mo (in Portuguese). Imprensa Oficial . Retrieved 1 October 2024.
5. "Decreto-Lei n.º 26/91/M - Revê os limites das freguesias do concelho de Macau" (PDF).
6. "Estatístico: Área de solos das freguesias". Direcção dos Serviços de Cartografia e Cadastro de Macau. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
7. "Estatísticas: Demográficas e Estimativas da População". Direcção dos Serviços de Estatística e Censos de Macau. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
8. kein Zensus durchgeführt, angegebener Wert ist Schätzung

External links

• Law No. 17/2001 - Creation of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (in Chinese) (in Portuguese) - Dissolution of the Câmaras Municipal and Assembleias Municipal, and Establishment of Instituto para os Assuntos Cívicos e Municipais

22°11′36″N113°32′22″E / 22.19333°N 113.53944°E / 22.19333; 113.53944