PROBING MACAO AS PART OF THE LARGER ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL CITY AND MEGALOPOLIS (1720-1820)澳門作為對環球化城市和特大城市的人口稠密區進行深入研究分析中的一部分 (1720-1820)
The article argues that the analysis of “global cities” in the pre-modern period should be reassessed based on the effective connections between mercantile centers, their demographic networks, and circuits of regional circulation. Taking Macao (1720–1820) as part of a broader system of networked cit...
Saved in:
| Published in: | Review of Culture |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Articles |
| Published: |
Instituto Cultural de Macau
January 2010
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40033/3558 |
| Summary: | The article argues that the analysis of “global cities” in the pre-modern period should be reassessed based on the effective connections between mercantile centers, their demographic networks, and circuits of regional circulation. Taking Macao (1720–1820) as part of a broader system of networked cities and “megalopolis” on the southern coast of China, the authors propose studying the links between Canton, Macao, and the Pearl River Delta through the overlap of market data and demography, as well as by reconstructing the routes and “pathways” that articulated the Macanese enclave with the hinterland. Methodologically, the text revisits historiographical criteria and analytical models already employed to explain urban centrality, combining the notion of “gateway settlement” (Burghardt) and polycentric network schemes with reinterpretations of Skinner on market development and the discussion of typologies of exchange inspired by Geertz (bazaar). As a result, the article shifts the focus from isolated Canton to an interconnected “urban-functional ensemble,” in which Macao operates as a strategic node, and highlights differences between formally documented “exchange” and the dynamics of small-scale traders, often underrepresented in historiography due to a scarcity of data. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |