Sketch of the Typa and Macao
Date1796
Object number00003065
NameChart
MediumPaper & ink
DimensionsOverall: 300 x 240 mm
Image: 260 x 215 mm
Image: 260 x 215 mm
ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans
Credit LineANMM Collection
Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThis map shows the island of Typa and the fortified city of Macao.HistoryMacao, or Macau, is one of two Special Administrative Regions in China. Portuguese trader settlement in the 16th Century saw foreign trade flourish and Macao emerge as a major settlement. In 1886, China was forced to cede Macao to Portugal as part of the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Amity and Commerce. In 1976 Portugal largely granted Macao economic and administrative autonomy and in 1999 China established formal sovereignty of Macao.
Typa, or Taipa, is an Island within the Macau Special Administrative Region. After The First Opium War, in 1851, Portugal occupied Typa.
The chart was engraved by William Harrison and is based on the original survey by William Bligh, who was Master of the RESOLUTION under captain Cook. Following Cook's death in Hawaii in February 1779 the expedition continued on its mission, attempting to find a North West Passage through the Bering Straits. Having been beaten by the Arctic ice wall the RESOLUTION and DISCOVERY returned home westwards, visiting Macao at the end of 1779.SignificanceBefore photography, paintings and drawings of Macao, Canton and Hong Kong were the only illustrations of these exotic ports. These works depict unusual landscapes, walled cities and spectacular architecture, which helped to establish the Western vision of China as a land of silk, porcelain and tea.
