A-Ma Temple
The A-Má Temple is a temple to the Chinese sea-goddess Mazu located in São [Lourenço, Macau|São Lourenço], Macau, China. Built in 1488, the temple is one of the oldest in Macau and thought to be the settlement's namesake.
History
The name Macau was thought to be derived from the name of the temple. See Hokkien ; Cantonese. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the natives replied A-maa-gok or Maa-gok. The Portuguese then named the peninsula with various forms over the centuries such as "Amacão", "Ama Cuão", "amaquan", "Amacao", "Amacuão", "Amaquão", "Amangão", "Amagão", "Amaquam", then the initial ⟨A⟩ was later elided in Portuguese likely due to misconstruing with resulting into the following forms, "Macão", "Macao", "Macau", "Maquão", "Maçhoam", "Machoam". The temple was well described in ancient Chinese texts as well as represented in paintings, related to Macao. It is also one of the first scenes photographed in Macao.In 2005, the temple became one of the designated sites of the Historic Centre of Macau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.