O PAPEL DE MACAU NO COMÉRCIO MARÍTIMO CHINÊS E A PRATA DO JAPÃO

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to study the role of Macau in the Maritime Trade since the 16th to the 18th centuries. There were two commercial and cultural routes that linked China and Europe in ancient times: one, the Overland Silk Routes, divided in Northern and Southern routes, began in Xi`an (Chang`an), went through the Gansu Province and Shaanxi Province, crossing Central Asia by several different routes which crossed deserts, mountains and steppes until Western Asia; another, the Maritime Silk Routes.