Hong Kong was a British colony and later a British Dependent Territory from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India and was causing widespread addiction among the populace.
Possibly the earliest painting of Hong Kong Island, showing the waterfront settlement which became Victoria City
Spring Garden Lane, 1846
Hong Kong in the 1930s
Japanese troops crossing the border from the mainland, 1941
British Overseas Territories
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) are the 14 territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, while not forming part of the United Kingdom itself, are part of its sovereign territory. The permanently inhabited territories are delegated varying degrees of internal self-governance, with the United Kingdom retaining responsibility for defence, foreign relations and internal security, and ultimate responsibility for good governance. All of the territories are inhabited by civilians, except three that are chiefly or only inhabited by military or scientific personnel. All fourteen have the British monarch as head of state. These UK government responsibilities are assigned to various departments of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and are subject to change.
St. George's town (originally named New London), in the Islands of Bermuda, or "The Somers Isles". The colony was founded by the wrecking of the flagship of the Virginia Company in 1609. The company's charter was extended to include Bermuda in 1612, and it has remained an English (since 1707, British) colony ever since. Since the rebellion of Virginia, it has been the oldest-remaining British colony, and the town of St. George's is the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in the New World.
Leaders of the Overseas Territories with the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in 2012
Tristan da Cunha on 6 February 2013, as seen from space. The population was temporarily evacuated to the UK in 1961 because of an eruption. Postal code TDCU 1ZZ
Coastline at Little Bay, the site of the new capital of Montserrat replacing Plymouth. The project is funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (previously the Department for International Development).