“To Continue the Great Friendship”: Eighteenth Century Luso-Chinese Diplomacy and the Endurance of Portuguese Macau

This thesis examines two embassies sent from Lisbon to Qing China in the eighteenth century and evaluates their importance in the endurance of Portuguese Macau. Using Portuguese language accounts, the thesis looks at an under-examined phase in Portuguese imperial history and finds that in this period, the empire’s administrators were capable of innovation and improvement, supporting recent viewpoints that the Portuguese empire was undergoing revision and revival long after the onset of its decline.