The Macanese people (Portuguese: Macaense, Maquista) are a multiracial East Asian ethnic group that originated in Macau in the 16th century, consisting of people of predominantly mixed Cantonese and Portuguese as well as Malay,[7] Japanese,[7] English,[7] Dutch,[8] Sinhalese,[7] and Indian[8] ancestry.

[9][10] After World War II, many Macanese migrated out of Macau and dispersed all over the globe, causing their history and culture to become at risk of being lost.

Although there were attempts by the colonial government during the mid-1990s to redefine the term "Macanese" as simply meaning a permanent resident, or as referring to anyone born in Macau regardless of ethnicity in accordance with Cantonese usage in, this did not succeed.

[13][14][15][16] Slave women of Indian, Indonesian, Malay, and Japanese origin were used as partners by Portuguese men.

[25] Literature in Macau was written about love affairs and marriage between the Tanka women and Portuguese men, like "A-Chan, A Tancareira", by Henrique de Senna Fernandes.

Furthermore, in the midst of the Manila Galleon trade, a small number of Latinos settled in the ports of Macau in China and Ternate in Indonesia which were secondary connecting trade nodes to the primary trade-route between Manila, Philippines and Acapulco, Mexico; they intermarried with the Portuguese settlers and various Asian settlers; the first Latin American Asians were mostly Mexicans and to a lesser extent, Colombians and Peruvians who made their way to Asia (mainly the Philippines) in the 16th century, the Latin-Americans who were sent to the Philippines and Macau from the Spanish colonies in America were often made up of Mulattoes, Mestizos and Indios (Amerindians).

[30] Following the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638, about 400 Japanese Christians were officially deported to Macau or to the Spanish Philippines, and thousands more were pressured into voluntary exile.

A Portuguese and Malay-speaking Vietnamese woman who lived in Macao for an extensive period of time was the person who interpreted for the first diplomatic meeting between Cochin-China and a Dutch delegation.

[34] During the late-nineteenth century, and increasingly during Salazar's fascist Estado Novo regime, the upbringing of most Macanese fell along the lines of the continental Portuguese – attending Portuguese schools, participating in mandatory military service (some fought in Africa) and practising the Catholic faith.

[35] Since Portuguese settlement in Macau – dating from 1557 – included a strong Catholic presence, a number of Chinese converted to Catholicism.

With the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941, the Macanese population, escaping the occupation, made its way to Macau as refugees.

Another distinct group within the Macanese community is the 上海葡僑; the descendants of Portuguese settlers from Shanghai that acted as middlemen between other foreigners and the Chinese in the "Paris of the Orient".

Many spoke little Portuguese and were several generations removed from Portugal, speaking primarily English and Shanghainese, and/or Mandarin.

At the same time, Macanese of pure Portuguese descent are also learning Cantonese and Mandarin to be able to communicate to non-Portuguese-speaking Chinese.

[40] Given the shifting political climate of Macau, some Macanese are coming to recognize and identify closer with a Chinese heritage.