Macao and the English East India Company in the early nineteenth century: Resistance and confrontation

Taking as a case study the Antelope incident (1806), when a British cruiser was refused harbour facilities by the Macao Senate, this article makes use of the original correspondence of the East India Company with the British Governor General in Bengal and other officials to study British commercial and diplomatic strategies in dealing with the Portuguese Estado da India. While the British had succeeded in stationing troops in Goa, where the Portuguese needed an alliance against the French, the Macao Portuguese defended their position in the China trade against all outsiders, including even the Portuguese Governor in Goa. However, the ease with which they did so may suggest an element of passive collusion from Goa in keeping the British out of Macao.