香港的歷史遠早於
1841年英國國旗於規時西區水坑口街高掛之前已經開始。當時的香港人口只有數千人，人們從事簡樸的農漁業為生。暗而今日，香港已發展至世界金融中心及交通中樞，其貿易收益更達世界第八位。香港的本地總收入比英國的還要高，其公共房屋及郊外地方比率，甚至人口壽命均超越國際水平。根據大浪灣和長洲的石刻顯示，自青銅時代已有漁民來訪香港，六千年前更有居民沿海定居。漁港面貌雖已換上高樓大廈，但漁村風味及廟宇特色仍可見於大嶼山的大澳。於公元前兩世紀，秦代彊域不斷擴張，至公元前
111年的漢代，香港已列入中國的版圖，九龍李鄭屋便出士了漢朝將軍的古墓。「香港」這名稱取自其著名的特產「線香」，喻意香港是一個芳香港口。香港仔的命名亦源於此。從前，吐露港養殖的珍珠是香港的主要產物；鹽亦是非常重要的出產，這從清水灣一塊十三世紀時官方豎立的石刻可見。
於
1270年，宋朝的兩位小皇帝和其侍從因逃避北下元軍的追捕，曾於大嶼山及九龍城避難。那時的香港，大部份的農田都屬於鄧姓氏族。他們於一千年前已定居香港，其於錦田、屏山及其他地方的祠堂顯示出其家族龐大的財富和權力。鄧氏圍村的考古蠻二現，更反映出土匪橫行、野獸襲擊及，氏族鬥爭的舊社會境況。村民信奉佛，教和道教，祈求押靈保祐平安。香火，鼎盛的寺廟由銅鑼灣至元朗的漁村隨處可見。「於
1644年，清戟初年，反清復明之土二活躍於南中國海一帶。滿清為防止沿海人民與鄭成功交通，勒令濱海五十里人民盡行後撤，為時達七年之久。鄭氏覆滅後，詔令復界。很多原來的己本地居民經多年顛沛流離，離鄉別井，有的甚至永不回頭了。朝廷乃詔勵外地農民遷入墾殖，原籍北方的客家遂於此時逐批南下移居香港。客家人的遺跡於荃灣三棟屋博物館及西貢的士窯民俗文物館可見。滿清政府曾於大嶼山東涌沿海一帶安置炮台。於
1810年，龐大的海盜船隊便被中國、英國東印度公司及葡萄牙的聯合艦隊所擊敗。屯門港口更是香港第一處鈹紀錄於中國史籍上的地方。那時的屯門港口位於通往廣州的航道上；當葡萄牙商人建立強大的軍事基地時，屯門港口更被截入歐洲歷史書上。十九世紀初，西方大量輸入中國的茶葉、絲綢和盜器，導致資金大量流出。外國商人以「矯正貿易的不平衡」為籍口而向中國輸出鴉片。鴉片貿易嚴重耗損中國的銀幣儲備，積弱的滿清政府曾下令禁止鴉片人口。禁煙專員林則徐沒收外國商人所有鴉片，並於虎門銷毀，隨後爆發了鴉片戰爭。戰爭最後由滿清簽訂不平等條約而結束。香港島於
1842年割讓給英國。於1860年，再割讓九龍半島。至1898年，英國為尋找緩衝區，與中國簽訂條約，租借由界限街至深圳河的新界土地九十九年。新界原居民強烈反對無效。孫中山先生曾在香港避難及於香港大學學醫，最後終於成功推翻滿清，建立民國。第二次世界大戰，香港於1941年聖誕夜被日軍攻陷。於太平洋戰爭完結後，英國重返香港。中國於內戰及政局不穩定的影響下，大批內地居民南下。他們的湧入加速了香港的發展，使香港由轉口港發展至工業中心，再轉型至服務性行業。1982
年，香港前途問開始進行談判；1984年的中英聯合聲明更定出明確的方向，中國於1997年7月 1日恢復行使香港主權。根據鄧小平所提出的「一國兩制」方案，中國保證維持香港資本主義體系五十年不變。而基本法更鞏固了香港作為中國特別行政區的地位。中英竫拗雖時有所聞，但由港督彭定康所代表的英國統治，過渡至特區行政首長董建華，落實港人治港，將會是一片風調雨順，繁華昌盛。香港歷史將開展新的一頁。
The history of Hong Kong did not begin in 184 i when the British flag was raised at what is now Western District's Possession Street. Then Hong Kong Island was home to several thousand people, but the territory had long been an international maritime crossroads. Since the turn of the century Hong Kong has grown into a global financial centre and regional transportation hub boasting the world's eighth-largest trade figures. Its per capita GDP is higher than Britain's, and its ratios of public housing and country parkland are world-beaters. So is life expectancy, for the 6.3 million people who live in Asia's most popular travel destination.
Rock inscriptions, as at Big Wave Bay and on Cheung Chau, show that fisherfolk inhabited Hong Kong during the Bronze Age, there were coastal settlements six millennia ago. That prehistoric era can he sensed today in the Lantau Island village of Tai O , packed with an aboriginal heritage of stilt houses and animist prayer stones.
In the 2nd Century BC, China's Qin Dynasty expanded its empire. The Han Dynasty took sovereignty over the Hong Kong region in 111 BC, the vaulted tomb of one of its military officers now lies within a housing estate at Lei Cheng UK.
The region's products included incense trees, the probable inspiration for Hong Kong's name, meaning ''Fragrant Harbour". The village of that name was actually near Aberdeen. Pearls were a major export for centuries, harvested in Tolo Harbour. Salt was cultivated too, its importance evident in a 13th-century lmperial official's rock inscription near Clear Water Bay.
In the 1270s, Hong Kong's first VIP visitors arrived. The Sung Dynasty's last two emperors (young ''boy emperors'') and their lmperial retinue, fleeing Mongol conquerors, found temporary refuge on Lantau and at Kowloon City.
At that time, much farmland belonged to the Tang's, the First of the Five Cantonese "Great Clans" to settle here - about 1,000 years ago. Their ancestral halls in Kam Tin, Ping Shan and elsewhere are imposing evidence of wealth and power. Their walled villages are solid reminders of past banditry, tigers and clan warfare. Villagers also sought supernatural protection, from Buddhist and Taoist deities, and ornate temples survive in many old fishing villages, from Causeway Bay to Yuen Long.
In 1662, Manchu invaders ousted China's Ming Dynasty, but loyalist rebels dominated the South China Sea.The new Qing Dynasty enfurced coastal evacuation for seven years, many villagers did not return. A new wave of migrants arrived from the north : northern Hakka clans. Their heritage is preserved in walled-village folk museums at Tsuen Wan's Sam Tung Uk and Sai Kung peninsula's Sheung Yiu.
The Qing Dynasty erected coastal forts, as at Tung Chung on Lantau island. It was there that the largest pirate fleet was crushed in 1810 by a combined armada of lmperial Chinese, British East india Company and Portuguese vessels. Nearby, Tuen Mun harbour - on the maritime route to Canton City (modern Guangzhou) - was the first Hong Kong place recorded in Chinese annals. It entered European history in l 5 14, when Portuguese traders set up a fortified base.
In the 19th Century, t h e W e s t ' s increasing passion for such Chinese imports as tea, silk and porcelain led to a balance-of-payments crisis. Blocked bv trade restriction , merchants redressed the trade balance with opium. Sold via Chinese middlemen, it depleted China's silver reserves. The weak Qing Dynasty banned the drug, its Commissioner Linseized the merchants stock in Canton, and the ''Opium Wars" began. Each ended with punitive agreements, called ''Unequal Treaties" by China.
In 1842, Britain was ceded Hong Kong Island, which had been claimed the previous year by Captain Charles Elliot. The island's anchorage attracted shipping and an influx of settlers, both Western and Chinese. In 1860, Britain gained all of Kowloon Peninsula. In 1898, seeking a bu1Yer zone, it signed a 99-year lease for the New Territories, from Kowloon's Boundary Street to the Shenzhen River. Local clans rebelled briefly. Ironically, Hong Kong provided a temporary haven - and University of Hong Kong medical schooling - for the founder of modern China, Dr Sun Yat - sen.
On Christmas Day 1941, Hong Kong surrendered to Japanese forces. After the Pacific War, Britain resumed sovereignty. China's civil war and political turmoil created tidal waves of refugees, who hastened Hong Kong's development from entrepot to manufacturing centre to a services industry powerhouse.
In the 1980s, negotiations about Hong Kong's future began, the 1984 Sino- British Declaration outlined the way forward. Adopting Deng Xiaoping's policy of "One Country, Two Systems", China guaranteed to maintain Hong Kong's capitalist system for 50 years. The Basic Law defined Hong Kong's new status as a Special Administrative Region of China (SAR).
Despite some Sino - British disagreements, the transition from semi-autonomy under the last British Governor (Chris patten) to self-rule under the first Hong Kong -Chinese Chief Executive (Tung Chee-hwa) has been accompanied by economic prosperity and social stability. Now, the history of Hong Kong begins its next exciting chapter of change and progress.