Hong Kong: Modern-day Hong Kong is known for its sprawl of skyscrapers and role as a bustling financial center and regional trade conduit off the southern coast of mainland China.
But the region was once a quiet backwater of rural settlements and fishing communities, with mountainous areas dominated by sparse human settlement.
Twenty-five years after the colonial power handed the city back to China BritainHere are the key points of its development:
Cemetery remains and early rock carvings depict human life in Hong Kong as far back as the Stone Age.
The region is believed to have come under the fold of the Chinese Empire under the Han dynasty between 206 BC and 220 AD.
An increasing number of Han Chinese from the mainland began to settle in Hong Kong, with boat-dwelling communities also believed to have originated from southern China.
Hong Kong’s sheltered main port became a place to replenish supplies for trading ships plying the Maritime Silk Route between Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, which had been flourishing since about the 7th century.
As well as silk, China exported porcelain and tea and obtained everything from spices to plants and textiles.
Hong Kong’s outlying islands were also a haven for Chinese pirates – its current territory includes 260 islands, many of which are uninhabited.
Portuguese, Dutch and French traders arrived on the southern coast of China in the 1500s, and Portugal established a base in Macau, which is neighboring Hong Kong.
But in the 18th century, China imposed sanctions on them to control the influence of Europeans.
Britain was furious after an imperial order banned the trade of opium from India to China, leading to the spread of the addiction.
After a huge consignment of the drug was seized by Chinese authorities, Britain invaded in 1840 and reached northern China, threatening Beijing in the First Opium War.
In order to establish peace, China agreed to hand over Hong Kong Island to Britain in 1841.
A second Opium War was followed by the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860, and Britain expanded north into rural new areas in 1898, leasing the area for 99 years.
Hong Kong was part of the British Empire until 1997, when the lease on the new territories expired and the entire city was handed back to China.
Under British rule, Hong Kong turned into a commercial and financial center, boasting one of the busiest ports in the world.
Anti-colonial sentiment fueled riots in 1967 that led to some social and political reforms – by the time it was handed back to China, the city had a partially elected legislature and an independent judiciary intact.
Hong Kong boomed as China opened up its economy in the late 1970s, becoming a gateway between the dominant power and the rest of the world.
After long talks with former leader Deng Xiaoping and former British Prime Minister Margaret ThatcherThe two sides signed the future transfer of Hong Kong in 1984.
Sino-British declaration that Hong Kong would a special administrative region of China and shall retain its independence and way of life for 50 years after the date of handover on 1 July 1997.
Beijing says Hong Kong’s one-country, two-system model remains intact.
But critics, including Britain and other Western powers, say China has eroded the city’s unique liberties, especially in the wake of huge democracy protests in 2019.
But the region was once a quiet backwater of rural settlements and fishing communities, with mountainous areas dominated by sparse human settlement.
Twenty-five years after the colonial power handed the city back to China BritainHere are the key points of its development:
Cemetery remains and early rock carvings depict human life in Hong Kong as far back as the Stone Age.
The region is believed to have come under the fold of the Chinese Empire under the Han dynasty between 206 BC and 220 AD.
An increasing number of Han Chinese from the mainland began to settle in Hong Kong, with boat-dwelling communities also believed to have originated from southern China.
Hong Kong’s sheltered main port became a place to replenish supplies for trading ships plying the Maritime Silk Route between Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, which had been flourishing since about the 7th century.
As well as silk, China exported porcelain and tea and obtained everything from spices to plants and textiles.
Hong Kong’s outlying islands were also a haven for Chinese pirates – its current territory includes 260 islands, many of which are uninhabited.
Portuguese, Dutch and French traders arrived on the southern coast of China in the 1500s, and Portugal established a base in Macau, which is neighboring Hong Kong.
But in the 18th century, China imposed sanctions on them to control the influence of Europeans.
Britain was furious after an imperial order banned the trade of opium from India to China, leading to the spread of the addiction.
After a huge consignment of the drug was seized by Chinese authorities, Britain invaded in 1840 and reached northern China, threatening Beijing in the First Opium War.
In order to establish peace, China agreed to hand over Hong Kong Island to Britain in 1841.
A second Opium War was followed by the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860, and Britain expanded north into rural new areas in 1898, leasing the area for 99 years.
Hong Kong was part of the British Empire until 1997, when the lease on the new territories expired and the entire city was handed back to China.
Under British rule, Hong Kong turned into a commercial and financial center, boasting one of the busiest ports in the world.
Anti-colonial sentiment fueled riots in 1967 that led to some social and political reforms – by the time it was handed back to China, the city had a partially elected legislature and an independent judiciary intact.
Hong Kong boomed as China opened up its economy in the late 1970s, becoming a gateway between the dominant power and the rest of the world.
After long talks with former leader Deng Xiaoping and former British Prime Minister Margaret ThatcherThe two sides signed the future transfer of Hong Kong in 1984.
Sino-British declaration that Hong Kong would a special administrative region of China and shall retain its independence and way of life for 50 years after the date of handover on 1 July 1997.
Beijing says Hong Kong’s one-country, two-system model remains intact.
But critics, including Britain and other Western powers, say China has eroded the city’s unique liberties, especially in the wake of huge democracy protests in 2019.