Municipality of Macau
Municipality of the Macau SAR
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Municipality of Macau (Portuguese: Concelho de Macau) was one of the two municipalities (concelhos) of Macau, along with the Municipality of Ilhas.
Municipality of Macau
Concelho de Macau | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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 | ||||||||||||
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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.
| 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 |
