1844–1938: The Hong Kong effect thumb|Street scene in Macau in the 1840s, by George Chinnery. thumb|1888 German map of Hong Kong, Macau, and Canton (now Guangzhou) After China ceded Hong Kong to the British in 1842, Macau's position as a major regional trading centre declined further still because larger ships were drawn to the deep-water port of Victoria Harbour. In 1846, Portugal dispatched João Maria Ferreira do Amaral to serve as governor of Macau. He unilaterally declared Macau a Portuguese colony, stopped annual rent payments to China, occupied the nearby Island of Taipa (which had never been Portuguese territory), and imposed a new series of taxes on Macau residents. In 1846, there was a revolt of the boatmen that was put down.
1844–1938: The Hong Kong effect thumb|Street scene in Macau in the 1840s, by George Chinnery. thumb|1888 German map of Hong Kong, Macau, and Canton (now Guangzhou) After China ceded Hong Kong to the British in 1842, Macau's position as a major regional trading centre declined further still because larger ships were drawn to the deep-water port of Victoria Harbour. In 1846, Portugal dispatched João Maria Ferreira do Amaral to serve as governor of Macau. He unilaterally declared Macau a Portuguese colony, stopped annual rent payments to China occupied the nearby Island of Taipa (which had never been Portuguese territory), and imposed a new series of taxes on Macau residents. In 1846, there was a revolt of the boatmen that was put down.