Hong Kong Island
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The night view of the "Island side" as seen from the "Kowloon side" - the opposite side of the Victoria Harbour |
Hong Kong Island (;
Cantonese Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 dou2;
Mandarin Pinyin: Xiānggǎngdǎo) is the
island where the colonial settlement of the
Hong Kong territory,
Victoria City, was founded.
Central on the island is the historical, political and economic centre of
Hong Kong. The island faces to the north
Victoria Harbour, which is largely responsible for the development of
Hong Kong due to its deep waters favored by large trade ships.
The island is home to many of the most famous sights in Hong Kong, such as "
The Peak",
Ocean Park, many historical sites and various large shopping centres. The mountain ranges across the island are also famous for
hiking.
The island is also sometimes locally referred to as "the Island side" (in specific reference to the south side of the
Victoria Harbour).
Districts located on the island:
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Central and Western District*
Eastern District*
Southern District*
Wan Chai DistrictNote: Hong Kong Island is not part of the
Islands District.
Hong Kong Island was first occupied militarily by Captain
Charles Elliot,
British Royal Navy, on
January 20,
1841. It was known as the "barren rock". The
Royal Navy landed at
Possession Point.
The
Treaty of Nanking officially ceded the Island to
Great Britain in 1842.
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Location of Hong Kong Island |
Hong Kong Island is the second-largest island of the territory, the largest being
Lantau Island. Its area is 80.4 km², including 6.98 km² of
land reclaimed since 1887 and some smaller scale ones since 1851. It makes up approximately 7% of the total territory. It is separated from the mainland (
Kowloon Peninsula and
New Territories) by
Victoria Harbour.
Its population as of 2000 is 1,367,900, which makes up approximately 19% of that of
Hong Kong. Its population density is higher than for the whole of
Hong Kong, ca. 18,000 per km² (versus 7,000). However, the population density of the island as a whole is a misleading figure as the northern portion of the island, the portion that excludes the Southern District, is much higher than that of the southern portion. The combined population of the more densely populated districts of Central and Western, Wan Chai, and Eastern is 1,085,500, which puts the density of the urbanised part of the island closer to 29,000 per km², or 75,000 per mi². The area of this part of the island is approximately 37.2 km², or 14.3 mi². Together with
Kowloon, it contains 47% of the total population.
The
Island Line of the
MTR metro network runs exclusively on Hong Kong Island, from West to East, along the northern coastline of the island.
Hong Kong Tramways and the
Peak Tram run exclusively on Hong Kong Island.
Hong Kong Island is connected to the
Kowloon Peninsula on the mainland by three road-only
tunnels (the
Cross-Harbour Tunnel and the
Western Harbour Tunnel), two MTR metro tunnels (
Tsuen Wan Line and
Tung Chung Line) and one combined road and MTR rail link tunnel, the
Eastern Harbour Tunnel (in separate conduits running side by side). A fourth rail link is being planned. There is no bridge connection between the island and the mainland. A bridge connects
Ap Lei Chau (island) and Hong Kong Island. It was opened in 1983 with two lanes and was expanded to four in 1994.
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Hong Kong*
List of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong*
Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong*
Hong Kong Country Parks & Special Areas*
Satellite image of Hong Kong Island by Google Mapszh-yue:香港島
