Macau:
Geography

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Other pages in this profile of Macau:
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.


Background	Definition Colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Macau was the first European settlement in the Far East. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and Portugal on 13 April 1987, Macau became the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 20 December 1999. In this agreement, China promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system would not be practiced in Macau, and that Macau would enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.

Location	Definition Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China
Geographic coordinates	Definition 22 10 N, 113 33 E
Map references	Definition Southeast Asia
Area	Definition - World rank and map total: 28.2 sq km land: 28.2 sq km water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative	Definition less than one-sixth the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries	Definition total: 0.34 km regional border: China 0.34 km
Coastline	Definition 41 km
Maritime claims	Definition not specified
Climate	Definition subtropical; marine with cool winters, warm summers
Terrain	Definition generally flat
Elevation extremes	Definition lowest point: South China Sea 0 m highest point: Coloane Alto 172.4 m
Natural resources	Definition NEGL
Land use	Definition - World rank and map arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2005)
Irrigated land	Definition NA
Natural hazards	Definition typhoons
Environment - current issues	Definition NA
Environment - international agreements	Definition party to: Marine Dumping (associate member), Ship Pollution (associate member)
Geography - note	Definition essentially urban; an area of land reclaimed from the sea measuring 5.2 sq km and known as Cotai now connects the islands of Coloane and Taipa; the island area is connected to the mainland peninsula by three bridges