Where Is the City of Victoria?

Anyone visiting Hong Kong in the 21st century would be hard-pressed to find the City of Victoria (alternatively, Victoria City). Central, however, is easy to find. As its name implies, it is the financial heart and the center of Hong Kong.

Yet, any nineteenth-century traveler would have faced the opposite issue. The City of Victoria would have been easily identifiable, as it was the administrative center of the colony; meanwhile, Central simply did not exist yet.

However, Hong Kong Island is filled with clues that should lead any 21st-century visitor to the location of Victoria City. Indeed, the main road on Hong Kong Island is Queen’s Road Central, in present-day Central. When the British took possession of Hong Kong in 1841, the reigning monarch was none other than Queen Victoria.

Moreover, in Victoria Park, you will find a statue of the Queen after whom the park was named: Queen Victoria. Although located in Causeway Bay, that statue was initially installed at the center of Statue Square, in what is now Central. The mountain towering over Central is still known as Victoria Peak, and Victoria Harbour still stretches north of Central.

In fact, Central is part of the former City of Victoria; as present-day Central forms the central part of what was once Victoria City, which stretched from present-day Kennedy Town to Causeway Bay and Happy Valley.