City of Victoria
維多利亞市 Victoria | |
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Dependent territory | Hong Kong |
Country | United Kingdom |
Founded as a town | 25 January 1841 |
Incorporated as a city | 11 May 1849[1] |
Founded by | British Hong Kong, Charles Elliot |
Elevation | 552 m (1,811 ft) |
Time zone | UTC+08:00 (HKT) |
City of Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 維多利亞市 維多利亞城 | ||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 维多利亚市 维多利亚城 | ||||||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | Wàih dō leih a shíh Wàih dō leih a shìhng | ||||||||||||||
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The City of Victoria,[2] (Chinese: 維多利亞市,[3] or 維多利亞城)[4] often called Victoria City or simply Victoria (Chinese: 維城), was the de facto capital of Hong Kong during its time as a British dependent territory.[5] It was initially named Queenstown but was soon known as Victoria.[6] It was one of the first urban settlements in Hong Kong and its boundaries are recorded in the Laws of Hong Kong.[7] All government bureaux and many key departments still have their head offices located within its limit.
Present-day Central is at the heart of Victoria City. Although the city expanded over much of what is now Kennedy Town, Shek Tong Tsui, Lung Fu Shan, Sai Ying Pun, Sheung Wan, Wan Chai, Happy Valley, the Mid-Levels, East Point and parts of Causeway Bay,[8] the name Victoria has been eclipsed by Central in popular usage.[9] However, the name is still used in places such as Victoria Park, Victoria Peak, Victoria Harbour, Victoria Prison, and a number of roads and streets. It is also retained in the names of various organisations such as the Victoria City District of the Hong Kong Scout,[10] and the Victoria Junior Chamber.[11] The name Victoria District Court had been used into the 1980s,[12][13][14][15] when it was moved to the Wanchai Tower and combined with other district courts in the territory.