Macau stamp – The-Philatelist

Portugal never made the most out of their colonies. Their explorers had very early on encircled the world but their traders left and did not come back. Eventually leaving the Portuguese as threadbare caretakers. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, tape your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is a universal Portuguese colonial issue that displays Ceres, the Roman Gad of agriculture. She shows up on a fair number of Latin country stamps. See the one from Argentina, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/21/argentina-1954-peron-invokes-ceres-to-enobile-the-grain-exchange/ . Macau was a classic trading post colony, so agriculture was not a big part of the place. Food was brought in from China, and so it was their problem and opportunity to feed Macau. An example of the distance between Portugal and her far off subjects.

Todays stamp is issue A16, a 2 Avos stamp issued by the Portuguese overseas province of Macau in 1913. It was a 16 stamp issue with many later overprints to represent changing circumstances. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.75 unused.

The offshore island of Macau was discovered by Portuguese explorer Jorge Alvares in the early 17th century. The native people in the area were mainly the tanku people, a seafaring group of Chinese that often even live on their junk style boats. A seafaring group will be more ethnically diverse and among the Han Chinese they acquired a gypsy like reputation. Though relations with the Ming dynasty was rough, a Portuguese trade representative sent by the King was hung, the Chinese agreed to a permanent lease on Macau. Over time Macau got larger through land reclamation but the Portuguese were never more than five percent of the population. Even their occupying troops tended to be Sepoys hired from India or even Askaris from Africa. The Portuguese traders were often Jews that usually intermarried with the Tanku and Jesuits were sent to make the area Catholic. The schools brought by the Jesuits were used but they did not have much luck converting Macau to Catholicism. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/10/remember-the-divine-duty-of-empire/

A free port was very useful has a place where contract laborers called coolies from China could be sent far and wide. This trade was mostly done by Chinese Tong criminal societies but with the end of the slave trade there was a big market for cheap labor. Macau used its special status to open lucrative casinos but generally was in the shadow of much more successful Hong Kong.

The Portuguese declining position in Macau can be seen in how two riots were handled. In the 19th century, a monthly tax on Chinese junk boats was started. A flotilla of untaxed junks entered the harbor in 1846, landed and clashed with Sepoy police and the Chinese delayed good sales to the Portuguese. They were fired upon, the boats in the harbor were fired on from a harbor fortress and the Governor threatened to burn the Chinese quarter. China sent two Mandarins to apologize for the trouble and Portugal stopped paying the annual rental to China they had paid for many years. In 1967 a communist school for Chinese was allowed but then progress was slowed after the Chinese refused to pay the customary bribe for building permits. The ensuing riots saw another delay in supply sales from China and riots tore down Portuguese statues. This time it was the Portuguese turn to grovel and apologize and ban Taiwan KMT presence in Macau. The real issue. Interestingly Portuguese offers to turn over Macau to China were rebuffed. China had not hit yet upon their two systems one China approach of how to bring in these relatively prosperous trading posts into China without destroying their special nature. Portugal willingly ended their administration in 1999, slightly outlasting Hong Kong. The Chinese have agreed to mostly keep out the Han people and open more casinos.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering about Chinese governance. The Portuguese were never big on good government and it can be seen how much better off Hong Kong was compared to Macau. Yet through many systems and despite Macau’s gypsy heritage, Portugal did so much better by Macau than China did with the ports they ran for themselves. It is only this generation where this is changing but with Britain and Portugal gone, there is no alternative. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Why did European countries try to hold on to colonies when the original reason for being there had passed and the involvement is a burden for all involved? Let us consider. So slip in your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp sets The Philatelist record for how many ways Portugal showed that they did not care about Guinea through the stamp issue. Notice that Guinea is just overprinted on a stamp of Macau, another Portuguese country on the other side of the world. Next notice that is the Vasco da Gama 400th anniversary issue from 1898. This version is from 15 years later. Next notice that Portugal’s form of government and currency had changed. Both great reasons for a new stamp issue but instead handled with overprints. Grade F for effort.

Todays stamp is issue CD26, a 10 Centavo on 16 Ries stamp overprinted for the colony of Portuguese Guinea in 1913 on a stamp intended for Macau. The colony also used the same stamp but intended for Portuguese Africa and Timor. There were eight different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.60 whether mint or used.

The Portuguese first arrived in Guinea in 1452. There was not much land area onshore controlled by Portugal just the trading post at Bassau and a few close offshore islands. The name Guinea is from the Portuguese for black people. The trading was mainly in slaves. There was a hope that some of the gold that came from the interior might pass through Bissau but most stayed in Ghana, then the Gold Coast.

After the end of the slave trade, Portugal sold the rights to economically develop /exploit Guinea to foreign firms. The area did not prove attractive to white colonists. Crops of peanuts and palm oil were exported in small amounts but not in quantities enough to be profitable. The population was growing fast and rice for food was an important crop. Again with this, productivity was quite low and the colony always had large trade deficits.

The colony brought with it a duty to civilize. Starting in 1913, the colonial administration began classifying local African as assimilated or unassimilated. To be assimilated one had to speak Portuguese, be baptized Catholic, and live in the manner of a westerner. Fewer than 10 percent of the Africans qualified. Getting certified Assimilado meant that there was better ability to get jobs and educational opportunities. The Portuguese claimed to hope that the Assimilados would inspire their fellow blacks to join them as sort of junior Portuguese citizens.

Instead the Assimilados lead the independence movement against Portugal. As the ones that inherited the colony after Portugal departed in 1974, they must take responsibility for the lack of progress since. The Assimilados are only a small minority and still live as colonial masters used to, except ever more degraded. As such they are more a connection to the past than the way forward for the bulk of the people who never assimilated. The junior Portuguese citizens proved to be something less than inspiration.

Well my drink is empty and I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.