Guǎngzhōu or Guǎng Prefecture was a '' zhou'' (prefecture) in

imperial China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

in the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Mac ...

. Its administrative area contained parts of modern

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, as well as both modern

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. Between 601 and 607 it was known as Pan Prefecture, between 742 and 758 as Nanhai

Commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

, and in the 10th century (before 971) as Xingwang Prefecture (as the capital of

Southern Han Southern Han (; 917–971), officially Han (), originally Yue (), was one of the ten kingdoms that existed during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was located on China's southern coast, controlling modern Guangdong and Guangxi. The ...

). The modern sub-provincial city

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, established in 1918, retains its name.

Counties

#Nanhai () #Panyu () #Zengcheng () #Qingyuan () #Huaiji () #Dongguan () #Xinhui () #Yining () or Xin'an () #Sihui () #Xiangshan () #Huameng () #Jianshui () #Chengyang () #Hankuang ()

References

* * * Prefectures of the Sui dynasty Prefectures of the Tang dynasty Prefectures of Southern Han Guangnan East Circuit Former prefectures in Guangdong {{China-hist-stub