French Memories, Travels and Travelers in Macau (1609-1900)” is the title of the most recent publication by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC).
Currently the largest collection of historical written travel records and notes about Macau, the book is the result of a decade of research by historian Ivo Carneiro de Sousa. The publication draws from the records of central, regional, and private libraries as well as historical archives in France.
Presented in four volumes, the compendia compiles and analyzes 295 written accounts of Macau between the years 1609 and 1900. The book is only available in Portuguese.
The written materials originated from a wide range of authors and editors, from prestigious maritime travelers to missionaries, soldiers, diplomats, Navy doctors, geographers, journalists, and scientists as well as from the earliest assumed tourists to the region.
The vast quantity of documents shed light on different aspects of social and economic life in Macau, including accounts of local people and spaces, over this almost 300-year period.
As the author noted in the introduction, the collection starts from the brief journey and the modest memory of Henri de Feynes’ passage through Macau on his way to Canton in 1609. It ends with very extensive and detailed reports from 1900 written by historian George Weulersse, who was at the time on a traveling fellowship from the University of Paris. The reports depict the most varied aspects of society, from factories to funerals, monuments to people, and demographic information and the economy.
The relevance of Macau at this time was tied to the fact that the territory was an essential point of access for French nationals to imperial China.
Several chapters use the methodologies of cultural history to examine the tremendous intellectual, diplomatic and political efforts that forged progressively closer links between France and Macau. The story culminates in 1859 with the active presence of ambassadors appointed as plenipotentiary ministers in China, who transformed the French legation in the city into one of the main arenas of elite and cosmopolitan society at that time.
One of the many episodes de Sousa highlights relates to the years between 1857 and 1862, with the French military participation in the so-called Second Opium War, which led to the construction of a military hospital in Macau to treat over 2,000 injured French nationals.
The book also helps to foster an understanding of the French perspective of the city, which then inform the texts and images selected to highlight Macau’s cultural heritage and history.
The author is a professor, researcher, historian, and director of the East-West Institute for Advanced Studies. As a Doctor of Portuguese Culture (1993) and Associate of History (1999) from the University of Porto, he is a specialist in cultural and religious history, with an emphasis on Macau, East-Timor, and Southeast Asia.
The book is available for purchase for 920 patacas at the Printing Bureau, Archives of Macao, Macao Museum of Art, and Plaza Cultural Macau, among other booksellers. It is also available at the IC Online Book Shop.
