Macau or Macao – known as the “Las Vegas of the East” – is a city and a special administrative region of China. Macau was the first European settlement in the Far East. In the 16th century, China gave Portugal the right to settle in Macau in exchange for clearing the area of pirates. It effectively became a Portuguese colony in 1887, and on 20 December 1999 Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region of China, ending over 400 years of Portuguese administration.
