ABSTRACT
Maria I (1734–1816) ascended the Portuguese throne on 24 February 1777, and her first official act was to dismiss the powerful Marquis of Pombal. By this time, Portugal's Asian influence had waned, buckling under Dutch and British pressure and the loss of Jesuit representation at Beijing. The Portuguese Crown developed its own idiosyncratic understanding. The Royal Provisions were divided into 40 numbered articles without any formal internal structure, but a loose three-part schema can be traced within it. The Senators beseeched the Viceroy of Goa to intervene on their behalf, pleading that the Senate had successfully governed Macau for 226 years “without any subordination to the governors thereof.” The junta initially did not allow the Senate to communicate with Chinese officials but capitulated as the city's position became desperate. The French Revolution began in 1789, forever changing the governance of the Portuguese Empire and, in time, most of the world.
