Britain occupied Hong Kong Island in 1841 in the aftermath of the First Opium War, later expanding the colony to include the Kowloon peninsula and the New Territories. Over more than a century and a half of British rule, it grew into a major free trading port and global financial centre.

Hong Kong was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 as a Special Administrative Region operating under a semi-autonomous «one country, two systems» framework. It now boasts one of the highest densities of skyscrapers per square kilometre anywhere in the world, overlooking the famed Victoria Harbour.