Nei Lingding Island

Nei Lingding Island

Coordinates: 22°24′46″N 113°48′13″E / 22.41278°N 113.80361°E / 22.41278; 113.80361

A view of Nei Lingding Island from Castle Peak, Hong Kong

Nei Lingding Island (Chinese: 内伶仃岛, Nei Lingding Dao, 'Inner Lingding Island'） is an island in the Pearl River estuary in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. Although it is located closer to the eastern (Hong Kong and Shenzhen) shore of the estuary, it is administratively part of the prefecture-level city of Zhuhai, whose main administrative center is located on the west shore of the river.

Contents

History

A 19th-century German map shows "Lintin Island" in the middle of the Pearl River Estuary

When the Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares landed on Nei Lingding Island (known in early European sources as Lintin Island) in May 1513,[1] it was the first known arrival of a European-flagged boat to China.[2]

Opiums ships at Lintin in 1824, by William John Huggins.

In the early 19th century Nei Lingding (Lintin) Island was known as the "outer anchorage" for the European ships traveling to Guangzhou. They would have to stop at the island, have their cargo measured by the Chinese customs officials stationed at the island, and pay customs duties. When in 1821 Chinese government prohibited importation of opium into the country's ports, Lintin became the base of drug smugglers; old boat hulks, anchored near the island, would serve as warehouses and depots where imported opium would be reloaded to smaller boats to be smuggled into Guangzhou and other ports. From the 1830s and until the conquest of Hong Kong in the 1840s, Lintin Island was the main base for the British merchants in the Pearl River Delta area. [3] [4]

Nature reserve

Since 1984,[5] a part of the island forms the "Neilingding Island and Futian (福田) Nature Reserve". The reserve covers 7.8 km2, including 4.5 km2 of land area and 3.0 km2 of mangrove forest, and is created to protect some 300 rhesus macaques and other animals, such as pangolins and pythons.[6]

See also

  • There is also Wai Lingding Island ('Outer Lingding Island') some 40 km to the southeast, in Wanshan Archipelago.

References

  1. ^ [1], whose source is: Brage, J.M., "China Landfall 1513, Jorge Alvares Voyage to China". Macau, Imprensa Nacional, 1965
  2. ^ Construction of Lung Kwu Chau Jetty - Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment
  3. ^ "Shameen: A Colonial Heritage", By Dr Howard M. Scott
  4. ^ China in Maps - A Library Special Collection
  5. ^ Neilingding Island-Futian National Nature Reserve of Guangdong
  6. ^ NEILINGDING ISLAND AND FUTIAN NATURE RESERVE
v · d · eIslands of Guangdong
Changzhou Island • Chuanshan Archipelago • Datansha • Er Sha Island • Guanzhou • Haixinsha Island (Haizhu District) • Haixinsha Island (Tianhe District) • Haizhu District • Hengqin New Area • Jinshazhou • Luoxi Island • Nanpu Island • Nei Lingding Island • Pazhou • Shamian Island • Shangchuan Island • Wanshan Archipelago • Xiachuan Island • Xiaoguwei • Zhongshan Dao


Stub icon This article related to a protected area in Asia is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.