Macau returned to China
December 20, 1999
At midnight four centuries of Portuguese rule over the Pearl River estuary enclave of Macau ended and the territory became a special administrative region of the People's Republic. The last European colony in Asia had been handed over. Portugal's global empire, launched in the fifteenth century, was finally and completely wound up.
In context
Also in 1999 (7 other events on record)
- Euro introduced · Europe · Politics
- NATO bombs Yugoslavia · Europe · War
- East Timor votes for independence · Southeast Asia · Politics
- Y2K and the millennium · Oceania · Culture
- Napster upends music · North America · Technology
- Columbine High School shooting · North America · Politics
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Politics
Era
Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.
Sources