New Territories (abbreviated to
NT or N.T.) is one of the three
main regions of Hong
Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and
the Kowloon
peninsula. Historically, it is the region
described in
The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong
Territory. According to that the territories
comprise the mainland area north of the Boundary Street of
Kowloon
Peninsula and south of the Sham Chun
River which is the border between Hong Kong
and Mainland
China, as well as over 200 outlying Islands
including Lantau
Island, Lamma Island,
Cheung
Chau, and Peng Chau in the
territory of Hong Kong.
Later, after New
Kowloon was defined from the area between the
Boundary Street and the Kowloon Ranges spanned from Lai Chi
Kok to Lei Yue Mun, and the
extension of the urban areas of Kowloon, New Kowloon was gradually
urbanised and absorbed into Kowloon. In modern times New Kowloon is
almost always considered part of Kowloon and instead of the New
Territories – except statutorily.
Hence, the New Territories now comprises only the mainland
north of the Kowloon Ranges and south of the Sham Chun River, as
well as the Outlying Islands. It comprises an area of 952 km²
(368 sq mi). Nevertheless, New Kowloon has remained
statutorily part of the New Territories instead of
Kowloon.
The New Territories were leased from Qing China to the
United Kingdom in 1898 for 99 years in
the Second Convention of Peking
(The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory). Upon
the expiration of the lease, sovereignty was transferred
to People's Republic of China
in 1997, together with the Qing ceded territories of Hong Kong
Island and Kowloon Peninsula.
In 2006, New Territories had a population of 3,573,635 and
its population density was 3,748 per km².
