@About

The Portuguese established a base in Macau in the 16th century for trade and the spread of Christianity. This enclave lasted for four and a half centuries until 1999, when the colony was returned to China.

The Portuguese families there, a close-knit community, developed their own unique culture, dialect and fusion cuisine, and called themselves “Macaenses” or, in English, “Macanese.” Over time, many Macanese families sought a better life elsewhere, emigrating to Portugal, Brazil, the USA, Canada, Australia and many other countries. Their community was fragmented, separated not only by distance but also by language; their 500-year-old culture is in danger of extinction.

This website, in English and in Portuguese, seeks to preserve their heritage.  Our objectives are:

• to engender a sense of pride in Macanese heritage,
• to foster interest in family roots among the descendants of the Macanese,
• to create a permanent repository for the preservation of cultural and historical records,
• to have the work continue indefinitely into the future.

Work on this website has been carried out by volunteers who share a deep love of Macanese culture and history.

If  you are of Macanese descent, you might like to explore

• over 200 recipes for dishes that your ancestors in Macau enjoyed 
• stories they heard as children
• their suffering during war
• songs and poems in the dialect they spoke.

Browsing, you might 

• learn about your relatives from biographies and e-books.
• find ancestors of yours who received awards from different nations

And if you would like to trace your family tree, you should visit our other genealogy website (but you would need to register as it is restricted to protect people’s privacy).