Aberdeen has been a fishing port and home to the Tanka and Hoklo clans who originated from the mainland coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian provinces for generations.
The original Chinese settlement on this harbor was named Hong Kong. It was one of the first places British troops came ashore in 1841 and when British seafarers landed here in the 19th century they mistook the name of the village for the name of the entire island. The settlement was subsequently renamed Aberdeen after George Hamilton Gordon, the 4th Earl of Aberdeen (Scotland), the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at the time. Its Chinese name is “Heung Gong Tsai ” (香港仔) meaning “little fragrant harbor” with “fragrant” being a reference to incense wood for burning in worship which was grown in the New Territories, collected at Tsim Sha Tsui and then sent in junks to Aberdeen for export. The name was later anglicized and Hong Kong became the name by which the whole territory is now known.