In some historical registers, the Portuguese presence on the islands dates back to the end of the 17th century when a group of missionaries established themselves on this island. According to historical records, the Portuguese presence on the island of Lapa dates back to 1645, when a
mandarin from Canton (Guangzhou) authorised the burial of the Jesuit priest
João Rodrigues in recognition of his service. Augustinian and Dominican missionaries also settled on this island, which appears in some ancient maps under the name of Patera Island, whose etymology is "Island of the priests" (D. João was called "Macarira", as seen in the 1912 map above). The exact date of abandonment of these facilities is not clear, but they were mentioned in a letter addressed to the government of Goa, dated 1764. During the 19th century, Portuguese missionaries also began to populate and
evangelise the other two islands. The Macau government also began to collect taxes from the populations of these three islands in exchange for protection as these islands were not protected by Chinese soldiers. The Portuguese built a
leper colony on the island of Dom João and some schools to educate the few Chinese residents on the islands. Followed by the Japanese invasion of China in 1938, the Portuguese officially occupied these three islands, with an excuse to better protect Portuguese missionaries residing there. In 1941, the Japanese Army threatened the Portuguese troops to force abandonment of these sparsely populated islands. Consequently, these islands were occupied by
Japan. At the end of World War II, China was able to reoccupy the three islands. Today, they are an incorporation of the
Special Economic Zone of
Zhuhai in
Guangdong. The islands of Dom João and Montanha are now connected by an embankment that joins the two islands. This island was given the Chinese name,
Hengqin. The
Lotus Bridge makes the connection between Hengqin of Guangdong province and
Cotai of Macau Special Administrative Region. The island of Lapa, established from
land reclamation became a peninsula connected to the "mainland". There are proposals to develop sparsely populated Hengqin into a tourist area with many hotels and luxury resorts. Hengqin has recently begun to experience major development with new residential areas.
Macau, due to lack of land, expressed their desire to annex the island of Hengqin to the Chinese Central Government, which was subsequently denied by Beijing. However, on September 1, 2005, the Central Government allowed entrepreneurs from Macau and
Hong Kong to be exempt from the payment of some taxes and fees. The CPG also allowed greater flexibility in controlling migration to the island to promote investment. == Former islands ==