Portal:Islands/Selected article/23

Dusk view of Hong Kong Island as viewed from North Point, August 2011

Hong Kong Island (Chinese: 香港島; Jyutping: Hoeng1 gong2 dou2; Cantonese Yale: Hēunggóng dóu) is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of 16,390 per square kilometre (42,400/sq mi), as of 2023. It is the second largest island in Hong Kong, with the largest being Lantau Island. Hong Kong Island forms one of the three areas of Hong Kong, with the other two being Kowloon and the New Territories.

In 1842, following the Qing dynasty's defeat at the First Opium War (1839–1842), Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Nanking. The City of Victoria was then established on the island by British forces in honour of Queen Victoria. At the time, the island had a population of about 3,000 inhabitants scattered in a dozen fishing villages. (Full article...)