Hong Kong was already inhabited 6,000 years ago. These primitive tribes were strongly depending on the sea. There have been 2 neolithic cultures discovered so far. Artifacts such as pieces of coarse, cord-marked pottery, fine decorated pottery, weapons, arrowheads and other tools have been unearthed all over Hong Kong. Remnants of early metallurgy were discovered on the islands Chek Lap Kok, Lantau and Lamma.
Besides tools and crafts, ancient Chinese writing have also been found around Hong Kong Island and on some of the smaller uninhabited outlying islands. These writings provide us some insight in the life of these maritime people and shows a lot of resemblance with the life of Southeastern Chinese maritime people.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, a lot of people fled to Hong Kong for settlement. In 1955 in Lei Cheng Uk, a brick tomb was uncovered together with a series of Han tomb furniture. Beside a tomb, a great number of Han coins have been found.
Hong Kong has always been a strategic location for trading, even during the Tang and Song Dynasties. In early 15th - 16th century, thanks to the fast growing Silk Road, Westerners took interest in Hong Kong with the aim for a trade between the West and China. The Portuguese mariner Jorge Álvares was the first non-Asian to discover Hong Kong in 1555. But the British were the first to claim foreign trade in Guangzhou, Southern China.
When Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty allowed foreign trade with Guangzhou on a limited basis, the British East India Company (BEIC) stationed their ships on the Indian coast. About 15 years later, the BEIC was allowed to have a storage warehouse of their own just outside of Guangzhou. But Westerners had to obey certain rules while staying on the mainland. Those rules included: prohibition of arms, warships, Western women and studying the Chinese language.
Western aristocrats took great interest in porcelain and the special Chinese landscape-furnishing. As these became more and more popular the BEIC tried to balance the huge purchases from the Chinese with doubling their sale of the addictive opium to the Chinese.  Being aware of this drug problem, the Chinese emperor decided in 1799 to ban this trade. But opium was a real success, so the trade changed into smuggle. After the British lost their monopoly on this smuggle, other foreign traders were looking for their share and continued this illegal business.
In 1839 the emperor put Lin Zexu in charge of ending the illegal trade. This event resulted in the First Opium War in 1840. The Chinese feared the military power of the British and offered them Hong Kong (Island) to put this war to an end. Right after the 'Convention of Chuen Pi' in 1841, the British flag was raised at the Possession Point at Hong Kong Island. The first governor of Hong Kong under British rule was Sir Henry Pottinger, who saw a lot of potential in Hong Kong's future and dedicated his life to build up Hong Kong.
Sir Pottinger wanted to make peace with the Chinese and send out troops on the Yangzi River and threatened to attack Nanjing. The Chinese, still fearing the British military power, surrendered and proposed the 'Treaty of Nanjing' (Nanking). As the 'Chuen Pi Convention' was never signed and therefor illegal, the First Opium War resulted in signing the 'Treaty of Nanking' in 1842, which means that starting from 1843 Hong Kong would legally become a British crown colony.
Upon defeat of the Chinese during the Second Opium War, the 'Treaty of Peking' was signed in 1860. Kowloon and Stonecutter's Island were ceded to Britain. Lateron in 1989 Lantau Island and the New Territories were under British occupation too for 99 years.
After the fall of China's last emperor, reformist Kang You Wei and the Father of Modern China Sun Yat-Sen both took refuge in Hong Kong after being sentenced to death, the latter being many times in danger of arrest.
The Second World War also affected Hong Kong. The Japanese invaded in 1941. Only 2 weeks after invasion, the Battle of Hong Kong resulted in full occupation of the Japanese. But they were no British rulers and the people suffered widely until the end of the war when the British regained control.
With the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, a lot of mainlanders fled to Hong Kong. And from then on, Hong Kong was just a contact point between the isolated PRC and the West.
In 1990, the 'Basic Law of Hong Kong' was ratified and in 1997 the British colony was no longer as the 99 year lease came to an end. From then on it became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Area: 1,104 km²
South China Sea
Adjacent province: Guangdong
Languages: Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and English.
Nationalities: Chinese (95%), Filipino (1,6%), Indonesian (1,3%), Indian (0,3%), ...

Hong Kong can be divided into 4 major regions: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the Outlying Islands and the New Territories. Administratively it is divided into following 18 districts:

Central and Western: Belcher, Castle Road, Central, Centre Street, Kennedy Town, Kwun Lung, Mid-Levels, Mount Davis, Peak, Sai Wan, Sai Ying Pun, Shek Tong Tsui, Tung Wah, University and Water Street.
Eastern:
Islands:
Kowloon City:
Kwai Tsing:
Kwun Tong:
North:
Sai Kung:
Sha Tin:
Sham Shui Po:
Southern:
Tai Po:
Tsuen Wan:
Tuen Mun:
Wan Chai:
Wong Tai Sin:
Yao Tsim Mong:
Yuen Long: