It is a common misconception that Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo equals Taipa.[citation needed] When Macau was still under the colonial rule of Portugal, there were no freguesias defined on the islands of Taipa and Coloane by the Portuguese Macau government, but the Diocese of Macau established the Paróquia de Nossa Senhora do Carmo (Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish), covering Taipa Island.[2] The delineation of the freguesia is later adopted by the government from the name of the existing parish. Several reclamations were carried out along the coast of Taipa Island through different periods; the freguesia now not just only includes the area of Taipa, but is further expanded to an island called Ilha Kai Kiong [zh; ceb], which houses the control tower of Macau International Airport. In 2013, the University of Macau was moved from Taipa to a new campus on Hengqin (Portuguese: Ilha da Montanha). The campus area applies Macau Law and is included in the freguesia,[3] yet the island is owned by[clarify]Zhuhai.
The southern boundary of the freguesia is the road of Estrada da Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança, the reclaimed land south of the road, although commonly treated as a part of Taipa, belongs to Zona do Aterro de Cotai and it does not belong to any part of Macau's freguesia.
^Macao Special Administrative Region Printing Bureau (14 August 2013). "Avisos e anúncios oficiais". Boletim Oficial da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau (in Portuguese). 33 (2).
Note: The civil parishes are purely symbolic. There are currently no political administrative subdivisions in Macau, and instead, the Municipal Affairs Bureau handles some of the functions formerly handled by the abolished municipalities, the former had replaced the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau that was formed in 2002.