In 1861 the British formally occupied Kowloon. Since the main purpose of their occupation was military, except for a few enterprises such as the Whampoa Dock and the Kowloon Wharf, the scope of commercial development in Kowloon in the early years was limited.
In 1898 the British leased the New Territories. Initially this new-acquired land was regarded as a military buffer area for Kowloon, but it also answered to the pressing need for land due to the increase of population. The acquisition hastened the development of several districts in Kowloon. Sham Shui Po, Lai Chi Kok and Kowloon Tong, north of the old boundary, were later incorporated into Kowloon, which was subsequently called “New Kowloon.” The first traffic artery in Kowloon, Robinson Road (later to become Nathan Road), was built to facilitate military troop and supply movements. By the closing years of the 19th Century, harbour reclamation and road building projects were underway in Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei and Hung Hom. With the opening of the Kowloon-Canton Railway in 1910, the establishment of the China Light & Power Company and the Green Island Cement Company, the first two decades of the 20th century saw further development in Hung Hom and Tsim Sha Tsui; the former gradually turned into an industrial district while latter soon became a transport centre.
By the 1920s, the terrain that obstructed the completion of a through-road network in Kowloon was overcome by levelling the surrounding hills. Most crucial to the development of this period was the completion in 1926 of the widening and extension of Nathan Road that joined Boundary Street and Tai Po Road. Nathan Road subsequently became the longest road in Kowloon which not only connected Kowloon with the New ac...
