Lamma Island
Outlying island in Hong Kong
Lamma Island, also known as Y Island, Pok Liu Chau or simply Pok Liu, is the third largest island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District.
Lamma Island is a rural area.
Lamma Island is Hong Kong’s third-largest outlying island. Car-free and located a 30-minute ferry ride from Central Pier, the island features nature trails, seafood restaurants, and multicultural communities.
Name
The island was named Lamma because of a chart reading error by Alexander Dalrymple in the 1760s. He acquired a Portuguese chart of the entrance to the Pearl River. Close to the west of the island, the Portuguese owner had written "Lama". Dalrymple misinterpreted that as the name of the island. However, it was a Portuguese note describing the consistency of the seabed for the sake of anchoring there.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Lamma Island” is outlying island in Hong Kong. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Lamma, Island and Outlying, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “outlying island in Hong Kong” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q931179. VIAF identifies the subject as 315528215. The Library of Congress control number is sh97003545. Authority coordinates are 22.200, 114.117. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lamma Island”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lamma Island primary sources, Lamma Island archive and Lamma research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lamma Island”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lamma Island” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.