Lamma Island

Lamma Island

南丫島
Aerial photo of Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island
Geography
Location	Southwest of Hong Kong Island
Area	13.55 km2 (5.23 sq mi)
Length	7 km (4.3 mi)
Highest elevation	353 m (1,158 ft)
Highest point	Mount Stenhouse 山地塘
Administration
Hong Kong
Demographics
Population	6,050

Lamma Island (Chinese: 南丫島), also known as Pok Liu Chau (Chinese: 博寮洲; pinyin: Bóliáozhōu) or simply Pok Liu (Chinese: 博寮), is the third largest island in Hong Kong (香港). Administratively, it is part of the Islands District.

Lamma Island got named Lamma only because of a chart reading error by Alexander Dalrymple in the 1760s. He had acquired a Portuguese chart to the entrances to the Pearl River and, 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 notation as to the holding (consistency of the seabed from the point of view of anchoring there), which was (and is) mud – in Portuguese "lama". In all the early charts the name was spelled with only one "m". So the island acquired a British name by error and one that subsequently was Sinicized by its name being rendered phonetically in characters ("Lam a" can mean "south fork" in Cantonese), and everyone forgetting about the original muddle. At some point things became even more obscured by the addition of the second "m" in the English spelling.

In ancient times, Lamma used to be named as Pok Liu or Pok Liu Chau.

Lamma Island is located to the southwest of Hong Kong Island. It is the third largest island of Hong Kong, with an area of 13.55 km² (5.23 sq mi) and a length of 7 kilometres (4.3 mi). The northern village is called Yung Shue Wan (Banyan Tree Bay) and the eastern village is called Sok Kwu Wan (Rainbow Bay). Few people live on the southern part of Lamma. Access for much of this part is by hiking or private boat. Sham Wan, an important breeding site for sea turtles, is located there.