ABSTRACT
After the conquest of Melaka (Malacca) by Alfonso de Albuquerque in July 1511, the Portuguese made a determined effort to open up trade with China. These attempts met with little success at first, but the discovery of Japan by the Portuguese in 1542 improved that situation. Since the Chi nese had forbidden direct trade with Japan from about 1480, the Portuguese saw the opportunity of acting as middlemen between the two countries. From about 1550 a series of annual fairs for the exchange of goods was held on the island of Sanchuan (St. John) fifty miles southwest of Macau, and it was here that the celebrated missionary St. Francis Xavier died in 1552. The fair was moved to another island to the east, Lampacao, in 1554 or 1555. It was then that the Portuguese discovered Macau. A letter dated there in 1555 bears witness to the Portuguese presence, even though the date usually given for the foundation of the town is 1557.
