BOXER (Charles R.)
Fidalgos in the Far East 1550-1770
“The book is not a history of Macao, but, as the subtitle implies, a study of key episodes and periods connected with the story of the colony, centered around typical personalities at the time. Readers unfamiliar with Portuguese may care to be reminded that Fidalgo is derived from the term filho d’algo ‘son of a Somebody’, originally applied to the so-called gentlemen of blood and coat-armour, but here used in the sense of men who were personalities in their own right, however doubtful or obscure their origin may have been.” (Introductory). West 92.