Macau is located on the south-eastern coast of China , at latitude 22º14' North and longitude 113 º 35' East. The territory comprises a peninsula and two islands in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province. Some 60 kms to the east-northeast, across the mouth of the river, is Hong Kong , an important financial and trading centre.

The city of Macau is built on the peninsula; two bridges of 2.5kms and 4.5kms respectively link it to its nearest island of Taipa , which in turn is joined to Coloane by a 2.2 km -long causeway. At the extreme northern end of the peninsula, on a narrow isthmus, is the imposing gateway (Portas. do Cerco, or Border Gate), which leads to the Zhuhai and Zhongshan areas of China . Coloane is also connected to Zhuhai City by the newly opened Lotus Bridge .

In history, Macau was home to Cantonese farmers and Fujian fishing folks when Portuguese merchants arrived in the 1550s. It was the great era of exploration initiated by Prince Henry the Navigator. Vasco da Gama had made his historic voyage to India , Albuquerque had settled in Malacca and the Iberian explorers were seeking a gateway to China .

In 1513 Jorge Alvares became the first Portuguese to set foot in the land Marco Polo called Cathay . Others followed and began trading with the Chinese. They established various temporary outposts before coming to an arrangement with the mandarins of Canton to settle on a tiny peninsula at the mouth of the Pearl River estuary that they named Macau . It rapidly became fabulously rich as the sole entrepot for China 's seaborne trade with Japan and Europe .

Macau also served as a vital base for the introduction of Christianity to China and Japan , an activity which provided the city with some of the most glorious - and tempestuous - moments in its history. Because of the prosperity it was enjoying and its privileged location, other European nations began casting covetous looks at Macau and plotted to seize it from Portugal . The Dutch actually tried to invade the city in 1622 but were repulsed.

As time passed and other trading nations from the west sent missions to China , Macau became the summer residence for the taipans (great traders) who retreated from their "factories" in Guangzhou (better known perhaps as Canton ) to await the opening of the trading season. Gambling business has been resulted from such history and became the main attraction of the town.

The total population in Macau was estimated at 445,000 by the end of 2003 with about 95% of the population Chinese and 5% Portuguese, Europeans and from other regions.

Portuguese and Chinese are the two official languages, with Cantonese the most widely spoken. English is Macau 's third language and is generally used in trade, tourism and commerce.

The pataca (often writtern as MOP) composed of 100 avos is the official unit of currency in Macau . It is available in coins and banknotes in denominations of:

Coins: 10, 20, 50 avos; l & 5 patacas.
Banknotes: 20, 50, 100, 500 & 1,000 patacas.
The Macau pataca can be freely converted into Portuguese escudos or Chinese yuan. It is pegged to the Hong Kong dollar - which is circulated freely in Macau - at the rate of 103.20 patacas = HK$ 100.00, with a permissible variation of up to 10%. US$1 buys 8 patacas.

There is complete freedom of worship in Macau . The main religions are Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism. The majority are Buddhists, while 7% are Catholics.

All travellers entering or leaving Macau must be holders of valid passports or some others valid travel documents. Usually travel arrangements are made through an agent, the visa processing is handled by Macau tour operators.

Since December 20, 1999, Macau became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China . In accordance with the principle of "one country, two systems". The SAR, subordinate to the Chinese Central Government, will be highly autonomous with executive, legislative and independent judicial powers. The present social and economic systems as well as the respective way of life will remain unchanged for 50 years.