Wegbereiter für Macau: Der Kreis Xiangshan, seine mutmaßliche Entwicklung und allmähliche Einbettung in den Seehandel (ca. 1000–1500)

“Western” scholars paid much attention to the history of early Luso-Chinese contacts and interpreted Macau as a multicultural settlement, believing that its economic rise largely depended on foreign trade. The present article looks at Xiangshan 香山 District (today Zhuhai 珠海 / Zhongshan 中山), i. e. Macau’s hinterland. This includes the Macau peninsula and several small islands in the area. It outlines the spatial and demographic changes in that region and shows how these changes promoted economic and cultural transformation on the local level in the period c. 1000–1500. It also argues that geographical factors favored Xiangshan’s multiethnic setting and its growing involvement in maritime matters. In short, Xiangshan paved the way for the rise of Macau; it functioned like a precursor of that port.