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Viceroy

A viceroy is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory.

The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman roy (Old French roi, roy), meaning "king". This denotes the position as one who acts on behalf of a king or monarch. A viceroy's territory may be called a viceroyalty, though this term is not always applied. The adjective form is viceregal, less often viceroyal. The term vicereine is sometimes used to indicate a female viceroy suo jure, although viceroy can serve as a gender-neutral term. Vicereine is more commonly used to indicate a viceroy's wife, known as the viceregal consort.

The term has occasionally been applied to the governors-general of the Commonwealth realms, who are viceregal representatives of the monarch.

The position of a viceroy is by royal appointment rather than a noble rank. An individual viceroy often also held a separate noble title, such as Bernardo de Gálvez, 1st Viscount of Galveston, who was also Viceroy of New Spain.

Spanish Empire
The title was originally used by the Crown of Aragon, where, beginning in the 14th century, it referred to the Spanish governors of Sardinia and Corsica. After the unification, at the end of the 15th century, later kings of Spain came to appoint numerous viceroys to rule over various parts of the increasingly vast Spanish Empire in Europe, the Americas, and overseas elsewhere.

In Spanish ruled Europe
In Europe, until the 18th century, the Habsburg crown appointed viceroys of Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia, Navarre, Portugal during the brief period known as the Iberian Union, Sardinia, Sicily, and Naples. With the ascension of the House of Bourbon to the Spanish throne, the historic Aragonese viceroyalties were replaced by new captaincies general. At the end of War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish monarchy was shorn of its Italian possessions. These Italian territories, however, continued to have viceroys under their new rulers for some time; Naples until 1734, Sicily until 1816 and Sardinia until 1848.

 * See also:

 * List of viceroys of Aragon
 * List of viceroys of Valencia
 * List of viceroys of Catalonia
 * List of viceroys of Navarre
 * List of viceroys of Sardinia
 * List of viceroys of Sicily
 * List of viceroys of Naples

In the Americas
The Americas were incorporated into the Crown of Castile. With the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the institution of viceroys was adapted to govern the highly populated and wealthy regions of the north overseas: New Spain (Mexico and Philippines) and the south overseas: Peru and South America. The viceroys of these two areas had oversight over the other provinces, with most of the North American, Central American, Caribbean and East Indian areas supervised by the viceroy in Mexico City and the South American ones by the viceroy in Lima, (with the exception of most of today's Venezuela, which was overseen by the high court, or Audiencia of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola for most of the colonial period). These large administrative territories became known as viceroyalties (Spanish term: virreinatos). There were only two New World viceroyalties until the 18th century, when the new Bourbon dynasty established two additional viceroyalties to promote economic growth and new settlements on South America. New viceroyalties were created for New Granada in 1717 (capital, Bogotá) and the Río de la Plata in 1776 (capital, Buenos Aires).

The viceroyalties of the Spanish Americas and the Spanish East Indies were subdivided into smaller, autonomous units, the audiencias (tribunal with the authority to judge), and the captaincies general (military districts), which in most cases became the bases for the independent countries of modern Hispanic America. These units gathered the local provinces which could be governed by either a crown official, a corregidor (sometimes alcalde mayor) or by a cabildo or town council. Audiencias primarily functioned as superior judicial tribunals, but unlike their European counterparts, the New World audiencias were granted by law both administrative and legislative powers. Captaincies general were primarily military districts set up in areas with a risk of foreign or Indian attack, but the captains general were usually given political powers over the provinces under their command. Because the long distances to the viceregal capital would hamper effective communication, both audiencias and captains general were authorized to communicate directly with the crown through the Council of the Indies. The Bourbon Reforms introduced the new office of the intendant, which was appointed directly by the crown and had broad fiscal and administrative powers in political and military issues.

See also:
 * Viceroyalty of the Indies (1492–1535)
 * Viceroyalty of New Spain (1535–1821) – List of viceroys of New Spain
 * Viceroyalty of Peru (1542–1824) – List of viceroys of Peru
 * Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1819) – List of viceroys of New Granada
 * Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (1776–1814) – List of viceroys of the Río de la Plata

India
From 1505 to 1896 Portuguese India – including, until 1752, all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to Southeast Asia and Australasia – was governed alternatively by either a viceroy (Portuguese vice-rei) or governor and commission located in the capital of Goa. The government started seven years after the discovery of sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, in 1505, under the first viceroy, Francisco de Almeida (b.1450–d.1510). Initially, King Manuel I of Portugal tried to distribute power with three governors in different areas of jurisdiction: a government covering the area and possessions in East Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf, overseeing up to Cambay (Gujarat); a second one ruling the possessions in India (Hindustan) and Ceylon; and a third one from Malacca to the Far East. However, Governor Afonso de Albuquerque (1509–1515) centralized the post into a plenipotentiary office, which it remained after his tenure. The typical duration in office was usually three years, although powerful viceroys might extend their tenure; of the thirty-four governors of India in the 16th century, only six had longer mandates.
 * List of governors of Portuguese India (1505–1961)

Portugal
During some periods of the Iberian Union, between 1580 and 1640, the king of Spain, who was also king of Portugal, appointed viceroys to govern Portugal itself, as the king had multiple realms throughout Europe and delegated his powers to various viceroys.

Brazil
After the end of the Iberian Union in 1640, the governors of Brazil that were members of the Portuguese high nobility started to use the title of Viceroy. Brazil became a permanent Viceroyalty in 1763, when the capital of the State of Brazil (Estado do Brasil) was transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro.

India
Following adoption of the Government of India Act 1858, which transferred control of India from the East India Company to the British Crown, the Governor-General as representing the Crown became known as the Viceroy. The designation Viceroy, although it was most frequently used in ordinary parlance, had no statutory authority, and was never employed by Parliament. Although the Proclamation of 1858 announcing the assumption of the government of India by the Crown referred to Lord Canning as "first viceroy and governor-general", none of the warrants appointing his successors referred to them as viceroys, and the title, which was frequently used in warrants dealing with precedence and in public notifications, was basically one of ceremony used in connection with the state and social functions of the sovereign's representative. The governor-general continued to be the sole representative of the Crown, and the government of India continued to be vested in the Governor-General-in-Council.

The viceroys reported directly to the secretary of state for India in London and were advised by the Council of India. They were largely unencumbered in the exercise of their authority and were among the most powerful men on earth in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, ruling over an entire subcontinent with a large military force at their disposal in the form of the Indian Army. Under the terms of the Government of India Act 1919, viceroys shared some limited aspects of their authority with the Central Legislative Assembly, one of the first steps in the establishment of Indian home rule. This process was accelerated by the Government of India Act 1935 and ultimately led to the independence of India and Pakistan as dominions in 1947. Both countries finally severed complete ties with Britain when they became republics – India as a secular republic in 1950 and Pakistan as an Islamic republic in 1956.

Alongside the Commander-in-Chief, India, the viceroy was the public face of the British presence in India, attending to many ceremonial functions as well as political affairs. As the representative of the emperors and empress of India, who were also the kings and queens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the viceroy served as the grand master of the two principal orders of chivalry of British India: the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire. During the office's history, the governors-general of India were based in two cities: Calcutta until 1911 and New Delhi afterwards. Additionally, whilst Calcutta was the capital of India, the viceroys spent the summer months at Simla. The two historic residences of the viceroys still stand: the Viceroy's House in New Delhi and Government House in Kolkata. They are used today as the official residences of the president of India and the governor of West Bengal, respectively. The portraits of the governors-general still hang in a room on the ground floor of the Presidential Palace, one of the last vestiges of both the viceroys and the British Raj.

Notable governors-general of India include Warren Hastings, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Curzon, The Earl of Minto, Lord Chelmsford, and Lord Mountbatten. Lord Mountbatten served as the last Viceroy of India, but continued on as the first governor-general of the Dominion of India.

Ireland
The lords lieutenant of Ireland were often referred to as viceroy after 1700 until 1922, even though the Kingdom of Ireland had been merged in 1801 into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Commonwealth realms
The term has occasionally been applied to the governors-general of the Commonwealth realms, for example Gough Whitlam in 1973 told the Australian House of Representatives: "The Governor-General is the viceroy of the Queen of Australia".

The Australia Act 1986 also provide that all royal powers in Australia, except the actual appointment of the governor-general and the governors, are exercisable by the viceregal representatives. The noun viceroy is rarely used, but the adjective viceregal is standard usage.

Russian Empire
Namestnik (наме́стник, ) was an official position in the history of the Russian Empire. It can be translated as "viceroy", "deputy", "lieutenant" (in the broadest sense of the word) or in place appointee. The term has two periods of usage, with different meanings.

 * In the 12th–16th centuries, namestniks (more correctly knyaz namestniks, or "knyaz deputies") were in charge of local administration. In particular, they ruled uyezds.
 * In the 18th–20th centuries, a namestnik was a person in charge of namestnichestvo, with plenipotentiary powers. The latter has traditionally been translated as "viceroyalty" and namestnik as "viceroy" or "vicegerent" (or, as a common blunder, "viceregent"). For example, Mikhail Vorontsov was namestnik of Bessarabia (1823–44) and of the Caucasus (1844–1854). Sometimes the term is confused with governor general (генерал-губернатор). For example, during Vorontsov's term of office in Bessarabia, seven governor-generals were in, and at the same time he held the office of governor general of Novorossiya. The following namestniks existed under the House of Romanov emperors of Russia:
 * Congress Kingdom of Poland, while under the emperors of Russia as kings (styled tsar; 20 June 1815 – 5 November 1916), had only one viceroy, 9 December 1815 – 1 December 1830: Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov (1779–1831)
 * Viceroyalty of the Caucasus – Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia; first under governors in Tbilisi 1802–1844) had viceroys of Transcaucasia.
 * Viceroyalty of the Far East, lasted from July 30, 1903, to June 8, 1905, with Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev being the sole office holder.

The Tsar Paul I's 1799 formation of the Russian-American Company obviated viceroys in the colonization of the northwestern New World.

French colonies
New France, in present Canada, had a single governor:
 * Jacques Cartier: 24 July 1534 – 15 January 1541

Thereafter it had lieutenants-general and viceroys:

 * Jean François de la Rocquet, sieur de Roberval (c. 1500 – 1560): 15 January 1541 – September 1543)
 * interregnum September 1543 – 3 January 1578
 * Troilus de Mesgouez, marquis de la Roche-Mesgouez (died February 1606): viceroy from 3 January 1578, lieutenant-general from 12 January 1598
 * Jean de Biencourt, sieur de Poutrincourt, baron de St. Just (1557–1615): February 1606 – 1614

Next were a series of viceroys (resident in France) from 8 October 1611 to 1672. Later there were governors and governors-general.

The president of France retains, ex officio, the title of Co-Prince in the neighboring microstate of Andorra (a post previously occupied by the king of France) and continues to send a personal representative, a de facto viceroy to rule on their behalf (as does their co-ruler, the Bishop of Urgell).

The French position of "adjunct département director, delegate for the sea and coast of the Atlantic Pyrenees and Landes" carries the title of "viceroy of Pheasant Island". Pheasant Island is a French-Spanish condominium on the river Bidasoa.

Italian colonies
In Italian viceré: The highest colonial representatives in the "federation" of Italian East Africa (six provinces, each under a governor; together Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland) were no longer styled high commissioner, but viceroy and governor-general from 5 May 1936, when Italian forces occupied the Ethiopian Empire (today Ethiopia), until 27 November 1941, when the last Italian administrator surrendered to the Allies.

On 7 April 1939, Italy invaded the Albanian Kingdom (today Albania). As viceré of Albania of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy were the Marchese Francesco Jacomoni di San Savino and after his departure General Alberto Pariani.

Ban of Bosnia
Ban Borić was the first ruler and viceroy of Bosnia, appointed by Géza II of Hungary by 1154. His war affairs are documented as he fought several notable battles. He also maintained ties with knights Templar and donated lands in Bosnia and Slavonia to their order. His own biological brother Dominic was on record as a Knight Templar.

Due to his vast powers over Bosnian politics and essential veto powers, the modern-day position of the high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina has been compared to that of a viceroy.

Ban of Croatia
From the earliest medieval period in the Kingdom of Croatia, the position of viceroy was held by Ban of Croatia who acted as king's representative in Croatian lands and supreme commander of Croatian army. In the 18th century, Croatian bans eventually become chief government officials in Croatia. They were at the head of Ban's Government, effectively the first prime ministers of Croatia. The last ban held his position until 1941 and the collapse of Yugoslavia in World War II.

Ancient antecedents
An equivalent office, called the Exarch, was created in the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire towards the end of the sixth century for governors of important areas too far from the imperial capital of Constantinople to receive regular instruction or reinforcement. The chosen governors of these provinces were empowered to act in place of the monarch (hence ex- "outside", arch "ruler") with more discretion and autonomy than was granted other categories of governor. This was an extraordinary break from the centralized traditions of the Roman Empire and was an early example of the principle of viceroyalty.

Non-Western counterparts
As with many princely and administrative titles, viceroy is often used, generally unofficially, to render somewhat equivalent titles and offices in non-western cultures.

Africa
In cultures all over the continent of Africa, the role of viceroy has been subsumed into a hereditary noble as opposed to strictly administrative position. In the Arabo-Berber north, for example, the title of Khalifa is often used by individuals who derive their authority to rule from someone else in much the same way as a viceroy would. Elsewhere, subordinate inkosis under the rule of a paramount chief like the King of the Zulu Nation of Southern Africa or subordinate baales in the realms of the reigning obas of West African Yorubaland continue to occupy statutorily recognized positions in the contemporary countries of South Africa and Nigeria as the customary representatives of their respective principals in the various areas that are under their immediate control.

Maurya Empire
The viceroy in the Maurya Empire was called Uparaja (lit. vice king).

Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire had a system of administration which involved both official governors appointed from the capital, and local officials (zamindars). Subahdars were the former, and can be seen as equivalents of viceroys, governing the provinces (subahs) by appointment from the capital. Mansabdars were military governors who were also appointed to provincial government, but they were appointed for military rather than civilian government.

Ottoman Empire
The Khedive of Egypt, especially during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805–1848). This officer established an almost autonomous regime in Egypt, which officially still was under Ottoman rule. Although Mehemet Ali/Muhammad Ali used different symbols to mark his independence from the Sublime Porte, he never openly declared himself independent. Adopting the title of viceroy was yet another way to walk the thin line between challenging the Sultan's power explicitly and respecting his jurisdiction. Muhammad Ali Pasha's grandson, Ismail Pasha, subsequently received the title of Khedive which was almost an equivalent to viceroy.

Other titles, such as Sharif (as in the Sharifate of Mecca), or Khan (as in the Crimean Khanate or the Khanate of Kazan), denoted hereditary rulers of Ottoman vassal states, under the Sultan's titles of Caliph and Great Khan, respectively.

Titles such as pasha, beylerbey, bey, and agha denote officials who were, at least nominally, appointed to their positions by the Sublime Porte rather than hereditary privilege. Pashas and beylerbeys were appointed to govern provinces called eyalets, until the promulgation of the Vilayet Law in 1867 ended the eyalet system, replacing it with more centrally-controlled vilayets. the beylerbey of the Rumelia Eyalet was the only provincial governor entitled to a seat in the Imperial Council, but only when a matter fell within his jurisdiction.

Vietnamese Empire
The post of Tổng Trấn (governor of all military provinces) was a political post in the early period of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1830). From 1802, under the reign of emperor Gia Long, there were two Tổng Trấn who administered Vietnam's northern part named Bắc thành with administrative center in Hanoi and the southern part Gia Định thành with administrative center in Gia Định, while Nguyen emperors ruled only the central region Kinh Kỳ from capital Phú Xuân. Tổng Trấn is sometimes translated to English as viceroy. In 1830, emperor Minh Mạng abolished the post in order to increase the imperial direct ruling power in all over Vietnam.

Chinese empires
During the Han, Ming and Qing dynasties, there existed positions of viceroys having control over various provinces (e.g., Liangguang = Guangdong and Guangxi, Huguang = Hubei and Hunan).

Siam
In Siam before 1885, the title was used for the heir-apparent or heir presumptive (Thai: กรมพระราชวังบวรสถานมงคล) The title was abolished and replaced with that of the Crown Prince of Siam.

title: Viceroy


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Lantau Island

Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands District of Hong Kong. A small northeastern portion of the island is located in the Tsuen Wan District.

Originally an island with fishing villages, it has been developed since the late 20th century with the construction of Tung Chung New Town on its north-western coast and the completion of several major infrastructure projects, including Lantau Link (1997), Hong Kong International Airport (1998), Hong Kong Disneyland (2005), and Ngong Ping 360 (2006).

Geography
With a land mass of 147.16 sqkm, Lantau is the largest island in Hong Kong, almost twice the size of Hong Kong Island. Lantau Island primarily consists of mountainous terrain. Lantau Peak (934 m) is the highest point of the island. It is the second highest in Hong Kong, after Tai Mo Shan, and is almost twice the height of Victoria Peak. Other mountains include Sunset Peak (Tai Tung Shan) at 869 m, Lin Fa Shan at 766 m, Nei Lak Shan at 751 m and Yi Tung Shan at 747 m.

Lantau Island is often referred to as "the lungs of Hong Kong", because of its abundance of indigenous forest and relative scarcity of high-rise residential developments which characterise Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. The largest country park of Hong Kong, Lantau South Country Park is located on the island, which hosts two other parks, namely Lantau North Country Park and its extension. These parks cover slightly more than half of the area of Lantau Island.

Shek Pik Reservoir is the third largest freshwater reservoir in Hong Kong. Completed in 1963, it covers an area of 1.01 km2 and has a capacity of 24,500,000 m3.

Fan Lau Kok at the end of Fan Lau Peninsula is the southwest end of the territory of Hong Kong. The small island of Peaked Hill, off Tsin Yue Wan, marks the westernmost point on the land of Hong Kong territories.

Population
Lantau Island has relatively low population density. Settlements are scattered throughout the island and each has its own distinctive characteristics. The completion of the Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok in 1998 has led to economic development in north-western Lantau; the once quiet village of Tung Chung became a new town and is now home to over 45,000 people located in 30 to 50 storey high-rise housing estates and condominiums located near the airport. The neighbouring Yat Tung Estate houses 37,273 people, primarily in public housing. Over the next few years, the population of the North Lantau New Town is expected to increase to a target population of over 200,000 across 7.6 km2 of reclaimed land stretching from Tung Chung to Tai Ho Wan.

Discovery Bay
Discovery Bay is a privately owned residential development located on the south-eastern coast of Lantau. The district has a population of 20,271 residents from over 30 different countries, giving it a reputation as an expatriate enclave.

Villages
Other settlements include Mui Wo, Tai O, Tong Fuk, Sha Lo Wan villages, Pui O villages, Luk Keng Village, Nim Shue Wan Village, Pak Mong, San Shek Wan and The Sea Ranch.

Etymology
The name Lantau Island is based on the old local name of Lantau Peak. Its Chinese name is sometimes romanized as Tai Yu Shan. The island has been historically known as Tai Hai Shan, Tai Kai Shan , Tai Yi Shan and Tuen Mun Island.

History

Early human artifacts have been discovered on the island. These include rock carvings at Shek Pik, which are thought to date back to the Bronze Age, and a stone circle at Fan Lau which is probably from the Neolithic Age. Both sites are located on the southwestern coast of the island.

The island was often shown in navigation maps because of its proximity to a major sea route in South China.

In 1276, the Southern Song dynasty court fled to Guangdong by boat to escape Mongol invaders, leaving Emperor Gong of Song behind. The resistance centred on two young princes, Emperor Gong's brothers. The older boy Zhao Shi, was declared emperor at the age of nine, ascending the throne as Emperor Duanzong of Song. In 1277, the imperial court sought refuge first in Silvermine Bay (Mui Wo) on Lantau Island (then known as Gangzhou, and later in today's Kowloon City. The older brother became ill, died, and was succeeded by the younger brother Zhao Bing (Emperor Bing of Song) at the age of seven. He died in 1279, and the Song dynasty ended. These emperors are also believed to have held court in the Tung Chung valley, which takes its name from a local hero who gave up his life for the emperor.

Lantau Island and Tamão, Tuen Mun were among the first European trading settlements in the Pearl River area, established by Portuguese traders in the 1510s. The Portuguese abandoned these settlements around 1517, following their defeat by Chinese troops in the Battle of Tunmen and Battle of Sincouwaan. Lantau was visited in 1607 by one of the early Dutch East India Company (VOC) fleet commanders Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge who describes his visit to the local "mandarin". A drawing of this official's compound was published in the 1648 edition of Matelieff's travelogue. Much later the island became an important trading post for the British, long before they became interested in Hong Kong Island.

There were nine settlements on the island in the early 16th century: Kai Kung Tau, Shek Pik, Tai O, Sha Lo Wan, Tung Sai Chung (, now known as Tung Chung), Tai Ho Shan (, now known as Lantau Peak), Mui Wo, Lo Pui O (now known as Pui O) and Tong Fuk. The island was evacuated for about a decade, following the orders imposed by the Great Clearance, and people were allowed to return to settle on the island in 1669. Five villages were subsequently resettled: Tai O, Tung Sai Chung, Lo Pui O, Shek Pik and Mui Wo.

Salt was illegally produced on Lantau Island. This was discovered by the Chinese rulers during the 16th century, and the local warlord put many islanders to death as a result.

Lantau was once a base for pirates and smugglers, and was one of the haunts of Cheung Po Tsai in the 19th century. Galena, a mineral consisting of lead and silver, was mined at Mui Wo until the 19th century.

Lantau Island was a major site of resistance against the Japanese during the Second World War. The resistance movement made use of the island's wooded areas and deep valleys in order to organise ambushes and move supplies. The resistance movement persevered through the war until the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945.

In 2000, Lantau Island acted as an important base for the Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe project and the Asia-Pacific Cable Network which acts as an Internet bridge to the rest of the world.

Ngong Ping
The Ngong Ping Plateau features the Po Lin Monastery and its vegetarian restaurant, as well as the 85 ft-high bronze Tian Tan Buddha (or "Giant Buddha") statue, once the world's largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha statue. Walkers can ascend from Tung Chung to the monastery in two hours. Visitors can also take a 25-minute ride on a Ngong Ping 360 cable car from Tung Chung to the Ngong Ping Plateau. Ngong Ping 360 is a tourism experience which combines a 5.7 km cable car journey with a cultural themed village and easy access to the Tian Tan Buddha Statue.

Tai O
Tai O is a fishing village located in the northwest of Lantau Island which is more than three centuries old. Tourists visit Tai O for its several hundred stilt houses (pang uk), though some of those houses have been repaired after a fire in July 2000 and others from damage caused by super typhoons and related storm surges in subsequent years. While Tai O is in the process of being revitalised with a series of measures such as new signages and two bridges to facilitate movement of visitors, Tai O retains most of its historical setting such as waterways, stilt houses and fishing boats and is famous for its fishing village scenery in a mountainous setting. Traditional Chinese food like salted fish and locally produced shrimp paste can be found there.

Tung Chung
Tung Chung Fort was built in 1817 to thwart the opium trade and defend the coast from pirates. There are 6 old cannons and the enclosures are made of granite. During World War II, the Japanese army occupied the fort. In 1979, it was listed as one of the historical monuments of Hong Kong and was refurbished in 1988. The ruins of the Tung Chung Battery, also a historical monument, are located nearby.

Trappist Haven Monastery
The Trappist Haven Monastery at Tai Shui Hang, home to a number of Roman Catholic monks, sits on the east coast of Lantau Island, approximately halfway between the towns of Mui Wo and Discovery Bay. The Lantau Trappist congregation was established in Beijing in the 19th century.

Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland lies on the northeastern part of the island, approximately two kilometres from Discovery Bay. It opened on 12 September 2005 on a massive land reclamation project in Penny's Bay. The US$1.8 billion project includes a Disney theme park, three hotels, and retail, dining and entertainment facilities stretching over 1.26 km2 (310 acres). The project also has its own rail network linking from Sunny Bay MTR station in Yam O.

Nature
Over 50% of Lantau consists of national parks, including a large number of well-marked trails. The best known of these is the 70 kilometre, 12 section Lantau Trail composed of beauty of natural stone steps and the dense woodland along a 3-kilometer stretch. Section 11 of the Lantau Trail starts just across the Tung Chung Road, which is not far from Ngong Ping 360. This section of the trail will reach South Lantau Road at Pui O and hikers can appreciate the beauty of natural stone steps and the dense woodland along the 3 km journey. The national parks feature campsites and youth hostels. Lantau's longest beach is Cheung Sha and one of its most famous hikes is to Sunset Peak (Tai Tung Shan ), the third highest peak in Hong Kong.

Flora and fauna
Chinese white dolphins, often called pink dolphins, can be seen off the coast of Lantau. , a marine park, the Southwest Lantau Marine Park, is being planned to protect them. In the southern parts of Lantau Island, local residents rely on local oyster fields, lemon and tangerine trees to make preserved fruits. There are also feral water buffalos living in Mui Wo and Pui O. The entire southern part of Lantau Island has a well-established ecosystem.

Prisons
There are six prisons on Lantau Island: Chi Ma Wan Correctional Institution, Chi Sun Correctional Institution (formerly the Chi Ma Wan Drug Addiction Treatment Centre), Ma Mo Ping Prison, Tong Fuk centre west of Tong Fuk, Sha Tsui Detention Centre and the maximum security Shek Pik Prison, both located near Shek Pik Reservoir. Plans were put forward by the government to build an enormous "Super Prison" on the sparsely populated nearby island of Hei Ling Chau, to be connected by a bridge to Mui Wo. However, this plan was indefinitely shelved after organised resistance by local residents.

Airport
Hong Kong International Airport (HKG/HKIA) is located on Chek Lap Kok island and started service in July 1998. It is located off the north coast of Lantau, near the new town of Tung Chung and is connected to urban areas by the Lantau Link, which is composed of the Kap Shui Mun Bridge, the Ma Wan Viaduct, and the Tsing Ma Bridge.

Rail
The airport also has a metro rail connection to the rest of Hong Kong via the MTR's Airport Express, along with several bus routes. This was built in the 1990s, whilst the new airport was being built. Using the Airport Express, the journey time between Central, Hong Kong's business district, and Chep Lap Kok airport is 23 minutes (though the Airport Express does not make any stops in Lantau proper). In addition, one can reach Tung Chung by train on the Tung Chung line of the MTR, and the Disneyland Resort line branches off of the Tung Chung line at Sunny Bay station, serving the Disneyland Resort station at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.

Water transport
Tourists can get to Lantau using ferry services provided by Sun Ferry. This ferry service is available between Mui Wo and Central with a transportation time of about 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the vessel. A 24-hour ferry service operated by HKR International Limited connects Pier 3 in Central to Discovery Bay with a transportation time of 25 minutes.

There are also several smaller inter-island ferry services linking neighbouring islands and the mainland. These ferries, known locally as kai-tos (pronounced Guy-doe) provide scheduled services. These include Nim Shue Wan; adjacent to Discovery Bay, and Peng Chau Island with a stopover at the Trappist Haven Monastery on Lantau, Nim Shue Wan and Mui Wo on Lantau. Other Kai-To and ferry services link Peng Chau, Mui Wo Lantau, Chi Ma Wan Lantau, and Cheung Chau Island, and another links Tuen Mun, Tung Chung, Sha Lo Wan, and Tai O.

Travel between islands is also possible by walla walla, a traditional water taxi, typically from nearby Cheung Chau Island.

Road transport
Residents and tourists can travel within Lantau Island either by taxi or bus. The New Lantao Bus provides major bus services within the island, where one can get to Tai O and Po Lin Monastery from Mui Wo pier. Some of the roads and bridges were built in the 1990s, whilst the new airport was being built.

In Hong Kong, there are three types of taxis. Red taxis serve the urban areas, green taxis serve the New Territories while taxis on Lantau Island are blue in colour. All three taxi services can ply for passengers at the Airport and Tung Chung, but only the blue taxis can take passengers to other locations on Lantau Island. There are 75 blue taxis serving the Lantau Island area. (25 added in 2016)

The southern part of Lantau Island are the most dangerous roads in all of Hong Kong due to the narrow and hilly roads that are inaccessible to buses with lack of safety barriers. From February, 2016, owners of private vehicles that wish to travel to these roads must obtain a temporary permit. However, due to the dangerous roads, the permit only lasts from 8am-7pm, only has 25 allotments, and only available on weekdays, while residents of these areas must obtain a permanent permit.

Cable car
The Ngong Ping 360, a gondola lift, is located on Lantau and is operated by the MTR. Opened on 18 September 2006, this provides a 5.7 km 20-minute gondola cableway journey between Tung Chung and Ngong Ping.

Education
Most of Lantau Island is in Primary One Admission (POA) School Net 98, which contains multiple aided schools on Lantau Island, including two in Tung Chung; no government primary schools are in this net.

Northeast Lantau Island is in POA School Net 62, which includes schools in Tsuen Wan and areas nearby. The net includes multiple aided schools and one government school, Hoi Pa Street Government Primary School.

Discovery Bay, Nim Shue Wan, and Tai Pak Wan are in POA School Net 99, which contains two aided schools: SKH Wei Lun Primary School in Discovery Bay and Holy Family School in Peng Chau; no government primary schools are in this net.

Discovery Bay International School and Discovery College are private co-educational schools in Discovery Bay.

Proposed development
The Lantau Development Advisory Committee (LanDAC) was formed within the Development Bureau to advise the government on Lantau Island's development potential. The committee first met in 2014. Save Lantau Alliance, an activist group opposed to large-scale development of the island, called on the council members to disclose their conflicts of interest. Numerous members hold business interests on the island, including 10 non-official members who subsequently declared interests ranging from running the AsiaWorld–Expo events centre (Allen Ha) to holding directorships at major developers with land holdings in and around Lantau (Andrew Lam of Shui On Land, Randy Yu of Sino Land, Ivan Chu of Swire).

Following the first meeting of the LanDAC, development chief Paul Chan Mo-po told the press that the government would not rule out developing country parks. LanDAC member Wu Chi-wai stated publicly that the committee was ignoring a 2007 concept plan for Lantau, developed with public consultation, and spoke against developing the country parks. Lam Chiu Ying, conservationist and former head of the Hong Kong Observatory, responded that Chan's remarks were "unacceptable" and stated, "while other cities are aiming for an increase (in greenery), we are doing the opposite. It's ridiculous."

The committee's first report, a 33-page document entitled "Space for All", was discreetly released online on 10 January 2016. Only a Chinese version of the full report was released, with an English synopsis provided. The report recommends developing Lantau Island into a "metropolis" housing between 700,000 and 1,000,000 people, a new commercial hub, and a centre of tourism. It proposes large-scale land reclamation on the north shore of the island, and a series of highway and railway connections between Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island, passing through Hei Ling Chau and a series of artificial islands, to land at Mui Wo. Leung Chun-ying praised the report for having "fully considered the current situations of various districts in Lantau, including the conservation needs and the development potential" while it was denounced by green groups for being environmentally destructive.

On 13 January 2016, during his annual policy address, CY Leung announced that a dedicated Lantau Development Office would be set up as soon as possible to take forward development on the island. The Lantau Tomorrow Vision was announced in 2018, with the intention of creating additional islands on the east coast of Lantau.

Famous places

 * Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
 * Ngong Ping 360
 * Tai O

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Lantau Island


text:
Karl Rudolf Hagenbach

Karl Rudolf Hagenbach (March 4, 1801 – June 7, 1874) was a Swiss church theologian and historian. He was particularly interested in the Protestant Reformation and its figures.

Life
Hagenbach was born at Basel, where his father was a practising physician, and a professor of anatomy and botany in the university. His preliminary education was at a Pestalozzian school, and afterwards at the gymnasium, whence in due course he passed to the newly reorganized local university. He early devoted himself to theological studies and the service of the church, while at the same time cherishing and developing broad "humanistic" tendencies which found expression in many ways and especially in an enthusiastic admiration for the writings of Herder.

The years 1820–1823 were spent first at Bonn, where G. C. F. Lucke (1791–1855) exerted a powerful influence on his thought, and afterwards at Berlin, where Schleiermacher and Neander became his masters. Returning in 1823 to Basel, where W. M. L. de Wette had recently been appointed to a theological chair, he distinguished himself greatly by his trial dissertation, Observationes historico-hermeneuticae circa Origenis methodum interpretendae sacrae Scripturae; in 1824 he became professor extraordinarius, and in 1829 professor ordinarius of theology.

Apart from his academic labours in connection with the history of dogma and of the church, he lived a life of great and varied usefulness as a theologian, a preacher and a citizen; and at his jubilee in 1873, not only the university and town of Basel but also the various churches of Switzerland united to do him honour. He died at Basel on 7 June 1874.

Works
Hagenbach was a voluminous author, distinguished as a writer on church history. Though neither so learned and condensed as the contributions of Gieseler, nor so original and profound as those of Neander, his lectures are clear, attractive and free from narrow sectarian prejudice. In dogmatics, while avowedly a champion of the mediation theology (Vermittelungstheologie), based upon the fundamental conceptions of Herder and Schleiermacher, he was much less revolutionary than were many others of his school. He sought to maintain the old confessional documents, and to make the objective prevail over the purely subjective manner of viewing theological questions. But he himself was aware that in the endeavour to do so he was not always successful, and that his delineations of Christian dogma often betrayed a vacillating and uncertain hand.

His works include:

 * Tabellarische Übersicht der Dogmengeschichte (1828).
 * Encyclopädie u. Methodologie der theol. Wissenschaften (1833/1889; English trans., 1884/1891).
 * Vorlesungen über Wesen u. Geschichte der Reformation u. des Protestantismus (1834–1843; vol. 1–2; vol. 3; vol. 4; English transl., vol. 1, 1878; vol. 2, 1879).
 * Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte (1840–1841, 5th ed., 1867; English transl., vol. 1, 1850, vol. 2, 1861).
 * Die Kirchengeschichte des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts: Aus dem Standpunkte des evangelischen Protestantismus (Part I, 1848; English transl., vol. 1, 1870; vol. 2, 1870).
 * Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der alten Kirche (1853–1855).
 * Vorlesungen über die Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters (1860–1861).
 * German Rationalism, in its Rise, Progress, and Decline, in Relation to Theologians, Scholars, Poets, Philosophers, and the People (1865).
 * Grundlinien der Homiletik u. Liturgik (1863)
 * Johann Oekolampad und Oswald Myconius, die Reformatoren Basels. Leben und ausgewählte Schriften (1859).
 * Geschichte der theologische Schule Basels (1860).
 * Predigten (“Sermons,” Basel, 1858–1875).
 * Luther und seine Zeit, a book of poems (“Luther and his times,” 1838)
 * Gedichte (“Poems,” Basel, 1846).

The lectures on church history under the general title Vorlesungen über die Kirchengeschichte von der ältesten Zeit bis zum 19ten Jahrhundert were reissued in seven volumes (1868–1872; vol. 1; vol. 2;vol. 3; vol. 4; vol. 5; vol. 6; vol. 7).

He edited the Kirchenblatt für die reformierte Schweiz (from 1845 to 1868), and also a series of biographies of the reformers of the Reformed Church, with selections from their writings (Leben und Schriften der Väter und Begründer der reformierten Kirche, Elberfeld, 1857–1862, 10 vols.), to which he contributed the lives of Oecolampadius and Oswald Myconius (1859, see above).

title: Karl Rudolf Hagenbach


text:
James Wolfe

James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec.

The son of a distinguished general, Edward Wolfe, he received his first commission at a young age and saw extensive service in Europe during the War of the Austrian Succession. His service in Flanders and in Scotland, where he took part in the suppression of the Jacobite Rebellion, brought him to the attention of his superiors. The advancement of his career was halted by the Peace Treaty of 1748 and he spent much of the next eight years on garrison duty in the Scottish Highlands. Already a brigade major at the age of 18, he was a lieutenant-colonel by 23.

The outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756 offered Wolfe fresh opportunities for advancement. His part in the aborted raid on Rochefort in 1757 led William Pitt to appoint him second-in-command of an expedition to capture the Fortress of Louisbourg. Following the success of the siege of Louisbourg he was made commander of a force which sailed up the Saint Lawrence River to capture Quebec City. After a long siege, Wolfe defeated a French force under the Marquis de Montcalm, allowing British forces to capture the city. Wolfe was killed at the height of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham due to injuries from three musket balls. The next day, Montcalm died as well.

Wolfe's part in the taking of Quebec in 1759 earned him lasting fame, and he became an icon of Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War and subsequent territorial expansion. He was depicted in the painting The Death of General Wolfe, which became famous around the world. Wolfe was posthumously dubbed "The Hero of Quebec", "The Conqueror of Quebec", and also "The Conqueror of Canada", since the capture of Quebec led directly to the capture of Montreal, ending French control of the colony.

Early life

James Wolfe was born at the local vicarage on 2 January 1727 (New Style or 22 December 1726 Old Style) at Westerham, Kent, the older of two sons of Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Edward Wolfe, a veteran soldier whose family was of Anglo-Irish origin, and the former Henrietta Thompson. His uncle was Edward Thompson MP, a distinguished politician. Wolfe's childhood home in Westerham, known in his lifetime as Spiers, has been preserved in his memory by the National Trust under the name Quebec House. Wolfe's family were long settled in Ireland and he regularly corresponded with his uncle Major Walter Wolfe in Dublin. Stephen Woulfe, the distinguished Irish politician and judge of the next century, was from the Limerick branch of the same family; his father was James Wolfe's third cousin.

The Wolfes were close to the Warde family, who lived at Squerryes Court in Westerham. Wolfe's boyhood friend George Warde achieved fame as Commander-in-Chief in Ireland.

Around 1738, the family moved to Greenwich, in north-west Kent. From his earliest years, Wolfe was destined for a military career, entering his father's 1st Marine regiment as a volunteer at the age of thirteen.

Illness prevented him from taking part in a large expedition against Spanish-held Cartagena in 1740, and his father sent him home a few months later. He missed what proved to be a disaster for the British forces at the Siege of Cartagena during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in which most of the expedition died from disease.

European War
In 1740 the War of the Austrian Succession broke out in Europe. Although initially Britain did not actively intervene, the presence of a sizable French army near the border of the Austrian Netherlands compelled the British to send an expedition to help defend the territory of their Austrian ally in 1742. James Wolfe was given his first commission as a second lieutenant in his father's regiment of Marines in 1741.

Early in the following year he transferred to the 12th Regiment of Foot, a British Army infantry regiment, and set sail for Flanders some months later where the British took up position in Ghent. Here, Wolfe was promoted to Lieutenant and made adjutant of his battalion. His first year on the continent was a frustrating one as, despite rumours of a British attack on Dunkirk, they remained inactive in Flanders.

In 1743, he was joined by his younger brother, Edward, who had received a commission in the same regiment. That year the Wolfe brothers took part in an offensive launched by the British. Instead of moving southwards as expected, the British and their allies instead thrust eastwards into Southern Germany where they faced a large French army. The army came under the personal command of George II but in June he appeared to have made a catastrophic mistake which left the Allies trapped against the river Main and surrounded by enemy forces in "a mousetrap".

Rather than contemplate surrender, George tried to rectify the situation by launching an attack on the French positions near the village of Dettingen. Wolfe's regiment was involved in heavy fighting, as the two sides exchanged volley after volley of musket fire. His regiment had suffered the highest casualties of any of the British infantry battalions, and Wolfe had his horse shot from underneath him. Despite three French attacks the Allies managed to drive off the enemy, who fled through the village of Dettingen which was then occupied by the Allies. However, George failed to adequately pursue the retreating enemy, allowing them to escape. In spite of this the Allies had successfully thwarted the French move into Germany, safeguarding the independence of Hanover.

Wolfe's regiment at Battle of Dettingen came to the attention of the Duke of Cumberland who had been close to him during the battle when they came under enemy fire. A year later, he became a captain of the 45th Regiment of Foot. After the success of Dettingen, the 1744 campaign was another frustration as the Allies forces now led by George Wade failed to complete their objective of capturing Lille, fought no major battles, and returned to winter quarters at Ghent without anything to show for their efforts. Wolfe was left devastated when his brother Edward died, probably of consumption, that autumn.

Wolfe's regiment was left behind to garrison Ghent, which meant they missed the Allied defeat at the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745 during which Wolfe's former regiment suffered extremely heavy casualties. Wolfe's regiment was then summoned to reinforce the main Allied army, now under the command of the Duke of Cumberland. Shortly after they had departed Ghent, the town was suddenly attacked by the French who captured it and its garrison. Having narrowly avoided becoming a French prisoner, Wolfe was now made a brigade major.

Jacobite rising

In July 1745, Charles Stuart landed in Scotland in an attempt to regain the British throne for his father, the exiled James Stuart. In the initial stages of the 1745 Rising, the Jacobites captured Edinburgh and defeated government forces at the Battle of Prestonpans in September. This resulted in the recall of Cumberland, commander of the British army in Flanders and 12,000 troops, including Wolfe's regiment.

On 8 November, the Jacobite army crossed into England, avoiding government forces at Newcastle by taking the western route via Carlisle. They reached Derby before turning back on 6 December, largely due to lack of English support, and successfully returned to Scotland. Wolfe was aide-de-camp to Henry Hawley, commander at Falkirk and fought at Culloden in April under Cumberland.

A famous anecdote claims Wolfe refused an order to shoot a wounded Highland officer after Culloden, the person giving the order variously named as Cumberland or Hawley. There is certainly evidence to confirm Jacobite wounded were killed and Hawley was one of those who gave orders to that effect. However, the claim that he refused such orders cannot be confirmed, while author and historian John Prebble refers to the killings as 'symptomatic of the army's general mood and behaviour.' This included Wolfe; as leader of punitive raids after the battle, he wrote to a colleague that 'as few Highlanders are made prisoner as possible.'

Return to the Continent
In January 1747 Wolfe returned to the Continent and the War of the Austrian Succession, serving under Sir John Mordaunt. The French had taken advantage of the absence of Cumberland's British troops and had made advances in the Austrian Netherlands including the capture of Brussels.

The major French objective in 1747 was to capture Maastricht considered the gateway to the Dutch Republic. Wolfe was part of Cumberland's army, which marched to protect the city from the advancing French force under Marshal Saxe. On 2 July Wolfe participated in the Battle of Lauffeld, he was very badly wounded and received an official commendation for services to Britain. Lauffeld was the largest battle in terms of numbers in which Wolfe fought, with the combined strength of both armies totalling over 140,000. Following their narrow victory at Lauffeld, the French captured Maastricht and seized the strategic fortress at Bergen-op-Zoom. Both sides remained poised for further offensives, but an armistice halted the fighting.

In 1748, aged 21 and with service in seven campaigns, Wolfe returned to Britain following the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which ended the war. Under the treaty, Britain and France had agreed to exchange all captured territory and the Austrian Netherlands were returned to Austrian control.

Peacetime service (1748–1756)
Once home, he was posted to Scotland and garrison duty, and a year later was made a major, in which rank he assumed command of the 20th Regiment, stationed at Stirling. In 1750, Wolfe was confirmed as Lieutenant Colonel of the regiment.

Over the eight years that Wolfe was in Scotland, he wrote military pamphlets and became proficient in French as a result of several trips to Paris. Despite struggling with bouts of ill health suspected to be tuberculosis, he made an effort to keep himself mentally fit by teaching himself Latin and mathematics. When able to, Wolfe trained his body, especially pushing himself to improve his swordsmanship.

In 1752, Wolfe was granted extended leave. Departing from Scotland, he first went to Ireland and stayed with his uncle in Dublin. He visited Belfast and toured the site of the Battle of the Boyne. After a brief stop at his parents' house in Greenwich, he received permission from the Duke of Cumberland to go abroad, and crossed the English Channel to France. In Paris, he was frequently entertained by the British Ambassador, Earl of Albemarle, with whom he had served in Scotland in 1746. In addition to this, Albemarle arranged an audience for Wolfe with Louis XV. He submitted an application to extend his leave so that he could witness a major military exercise conducted by the French army, but he was instead urgently ordered home. He rejoined his regiment in Glasgow. By 1754 Britain's declining relationship with France made a war imminent, and fighting broke out in North America between the two sides.

Desertion, especially in the face of the enemy had always officially been regarded as a capital offence. Wolfe laid particular stress on the importance of the death penalty and in 1755, he ordered that any soldier who broke ranks ("offers to quit his rank or offers to flag") should be instantly put to death by an officer or a sergeant.

Seven Years' War (1756–63)

In 1756, with the outbreak of open hostilities with France, Wolfe was promoted to Colonel. He was stationed in Canterbury, where his regiment had been posted to guard his home county of Kent against a French invasion threat. He was extremely dispirited by news of the loss of Minorca in June 1756, lamenting what he saw as the lack of professionalism amongst the British forces. Despite a widespread belief that French landing was imminent, Wolfe thought that it was unlikely his men would be called into action. In spite of this, he trained them diligently and issued fighting instructions to his troops.

As the threat of invasion decreased, the regiment was marched to Wiltshire. Despite the initial setbacks of the war in Europe and North America, the British were now expected to take the offensive and Wolfe anticipated playing a major role in future operations. However, his health was beginning to decline, which led to suspicions that he was suffering, as his younger brother (Edward Wolfe 1728–1744) had, from consumption. Many of his letters to his parents began to assume a slightly fatalistic note in which he talked of the likelihood of an early death.

Rochefort
In 1757, Wolfe participated in the British amphibious assault on Rochefort, a seaport on the French Atlantic coast. A major naval descent, it was designed to capture the town, and relieve pressure on Britain's German allies who were under French attack in Northern Europe. Wolfe was selected to take part in the expedition partly because of his friendship with its commander, Sir John Mordaunt. In addition to his regimental duties, Wolfe also served as Quartermaster General for the whole expedition. The force was assembled on the Isle of Wight and after weeks of delay finally sailed on 7 September.

The attempt failed as, after capturing an island offshore, the British made no attempt to land on the mainland and press on to Rochefort and instead withdrew home. While their sudden appearance off the French coast had spread panic throughout France, it had little practical effect. Mordaunt was court-martialed for his failure to attack Rochefort, although acquitted. Nonetheless, Wolfe was one of the few military leaders who had distinguished himself in the raid – having gone ashore to scout the terrain, and having constantly urged Mordaunt into action. He had at one point told the General that he could capture Rochefort if he was given just 500 men but Mordaunt refused him permission. While Wolfe was irritated by the failure, believing that they should have used the advantage of surprise and attacked and taken the town immediately, he was able to draw valuable lessons about amphibious warfare that influenced his later operations at Louisbourg and Quebec.

As a result of his actions at Rochefort, Wolfe was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Elder. Pitt had determined that the best gains in the war were to be made in North America where France was vulnerable, and planned to launch an assault on French Canada. Pitt now decided to promote Wolfe over the heads of a number of senior officers.

Louisbourg

On 23 January 1758, James Wolfe was appointed as a brigadier general, and sent with Major General Jeffrey Amherst in the fleet of Admiral Boscawen to lay siege to the Fortress of Louisbourg in New France (located in present-day Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia). Louisbourg stood near the mouth of the St Lawrence River, and its capture was considered essential to any attack on Canada from the east. An expedition the previous year had failed to seize the town, because of a French naval build-up. For 1758 Pitt sent a much larger Royal Navy force to accompany Amherst's troops. Wolfe distinguished himself in preparations for the assault, the initial landing and in the aggressive advance of siege batteries. The French capitulated in June of that year in the Siege of Louisbourg (1758). He then participated in the Expulsion of the Acadians in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758).

The British had initially planned to advance along the St Lawrence and attack Quebec that year, but the onset of winter forced them to postpone to the following year. Similarly a plan to capture New Orleans was rejected, and Wolfe returned home to England. Wolfe's part in the taking of the town brought him to the attention of the British public for the first time. The news of the victory at Louisbourg was tempered by the failure of a British force advancing towards Montreal at the Battle of Carillon and the death of George Howe, a widely respected young general whom Wolfe described as "the best officer in the British Army". He died at almost the same time as the French general.

Appointment

As Wolfe had comported himself admirably at Louisbourg, William Pitt the Elder chose him to lead the British assault on Québec City the following year. Although Wolfe was given the local rank of major general while serving in Canada, in Europe he was still only a full colonel. Amherst had been appointed as Commander-in-Chief in North America, and he would lead a separate and larger force that would attack Canada from the south. He insisted on the choice of his friend, the Irish officer Guy Carleton as Quartermaster General and threatened to resign the command should his friend not have been chosen. Once this was granted, he began making preparations for his departure. Pitt was determined to once again give operations in North America top priority, as he planned to weaken France's international position by sailing back to India.

Advance up the Saint Lawrence
Despite the large build-up of British forces in North America, the strategy of dividing the army for separate attacks on Canada meant that once Wolfe reached Quebec the French commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm would have a local superiority of troops having raised large numbers of Canadian militia to defend their homeland. The French had initially expected the British to approach from the east, believing the St Lawrence River was impassable for such a large force and had prepared to defend Quebec from the south and west. An intercepted copy of British plans gave Montcalm several weeks to improve the fortifications protecting Quebec from an amphibious attack by Wolfe.

Montcalm's goal was to prevent the British from capturing Quebec, thereby maintaining a French foothold in Canada. The French government believed a peace treaty was likely to be agreed the following year and so they directed the emphasis of their own efforts towards victory in Germany and a planned invasion of Britain hoping thereby to secure the exchange of captured territories. For this plan to be successful Montcalm had only to hold out until the start of winter. Wolfe had a narrow window to capture Quebec during 1759 before the St Lawrence began to freeze, trapping his force.

Wolfe's army was assembled at Louisbourg. He expected to lead 12,000 men, but was greeted by only approximately 400 officers, 7,000 regular troops, and 300 gunners. Wolfe's troops were supported by a fleet of 49 ships and 140 smaller craft led by Admiral Charles Saunders. Eager to begin the campaign, after several delays, he pushed ahead with only part of his force and left orders for further arrivals to be sent on up the St Lawrence after him.

Siege
The British army laid siege to the city for three months. During that time, Wolfe issued a written document, known as Wolfe's Manifesto, to the French-Canadian civilians, as part of his strategy of psychological intimidation. In March 1759, prior to arriving at Quebec, Wolfe had written to Amherst: "If, by accident in the river, by the enemy's resistance, by sickness, or slaughter in the army, or, from any other cause, we find that Quebec is not likely to fall into our hands (persevering however to the last moment), I propose to set the town on fire with shells, to destroy the harvest, houses and cattle, both above and below, to send off as many Canadians as possible to Europe and to leave famine and desolation behind me; belle résolution & très chrétienne; but we must teach these scoundrels to make war in a more gentleman like manner." This manifesto has widely been regarded as counter-productive as it drove many neutrally-inclined inhabitants to actively resist the British, swelling the size of the militia defending to Quebec to as many as 10,000.

After an extensive yet inconclusive bombardment of the city, Wolfe initiated a failed attack north of Quebec at Beauport, where the French were securely entrenched. As the weeks wore on the chances of British success lessened, and Wolfe grew despondent. Amherst's large force advancing on Montreal had made very slow progress, ruling out the prospect of Wolfe receiving any help from him.

Battle and subsequent death

Wolfe then led 4,400 men in small boats on a very bold and risky amphibious landing at the base of the cliffs west of Quebec along the St. Lawrence River. His army, with two small cannons, scaled the 200-metre cliff from the river below early in the morning of 13 September 1759. They surprised the French under the command of the Marquis de Montcalm, who thought the cliff would be unclimbable, and had set his defences accordingly. Faced with the possibility that the British would haul more cannons up the cliffs and knock down the city's remaining walls, the French fought the British on the Plains of Abraham. They were defeated after fifteen minutes of battle, but when Wolfe began to move forward, he was shot thrice, once in the arm, once in the shoulder, and finally in the chest.

Historian Francis Parkman describes the death of Wolfe: "They asked him [Wolfe] if he would have a surgeon; but he shook his head, and answered that all was over with him. His eyes closed with the torpor of approaching death, and those around sustained his fainting form. Yet they could not withhold their gaze from the wild turmoil before them, and the charging ranks of their companions rushing through the line of fire and smoke.

'See how they run,' one of the officers exclaimed, as the French fled in confusion before the levelled bayonets.

'Who run?' demanded Wolfe, opening his eyes like a man aroused from sleep.

'The enemy, sir,' was the reply; 'they give way everywhere.'

'Then,' said the dying general, 'tell Colonel River, to cut off their retreat from the bridge. Now, God be praised, I die contented,' he murmured; and, turning on his side, he calmly breathed his last breath."

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham caused the deaths of the top military commander on each side: Montcalm died the next day from his wounds. Wolfe's victory at Quebec enabled the Montreal Campaign against the French the following year. With the fall of that city, French rule in North America, outside of Louisiana and the tiny islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, came to an end.

Wolfe's body was returned to Britain on HMS Royal William and interred in the family vault in St Alfege Church, Greenwich alongside his father (who had died in March 1759). The funeral service took place on 20 November 1759, the same day that Admiral Hawke won the last of the three great victories of the "Wonderful Year" and the "Year of Victories" – Minden, Quebec and Quiberon Bay.

Character
Wolfe was renowned by his troops for being demanding on himself and on them. He was also known for carrying the same combat equipment as his infantrymen – a musket, cartridge box and bayonet – which was unusual for officers of the period. Although he was prone to illness, Wolfe was an active and restless figure. Amherst reported that Wolfe seemed to be everywhere at once. There was a story that when someone in the British Court branded the young Brigadier mad, King George II retorted, "Mad, is he? Then I hope he will bite some of my other generals." A cultured man, before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham Wolfe is said by John Robison to have recited Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, containing the line "The paths of glory lead but to the grave" to his officers, adding: "Gentlemen, I would rather have written that poem than take Quebec tomorrow".

After being stung by rejection, in a letter to his mother in 1751 he admitted he would probably never marry and stated that he believed people could easily live without marrying. An apocryphal story was published after Wolfe's death saying that he had carried a locket portrait of Katherine Lowther, his supposed betrothed, with him to North America, and that he gave the locket to First Lieutenant John Jervis the night before he died. The story holds that Wolfe had a premonition of his own death in battle, and that Jervis faithfully returned the locket to Lowther.

Legacy

The inscription on the obelisk at Quebec City, erected to commemorate the battle on the Plains of Abraham once read: "Here Died Wolfe Victorious." In order to avoid offending French-Canadians it now simply reads: "Here Died Wolfe." Wolfe's defeat of the French led to the British capture of the New France department of Canada, and his "hero's death" made him a legend in his homeland. The Wolfe legend led to the famous painting The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West, the Anglo-American folk ballad "Brave Wolfe" (sometimes known as "Bold Wolfe"), and the opening line of the patriotic Canadian anthem "The Maple Leaf Forever".

In 1792, scant months after the partition of Quebec into the provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, the lieutenant-governor of the former, John Graves Simcoe, named the archipelago at the entrance to the St. Lawrence River for the victorious generals: Wolfe Island, Amherst Island, Howe Island, Carleton Island and Gage Island, for Thomas Gage. The last is now known as Simcoe Island.

In 1832, the first war monument in present-day Canada was erected on the site where Wolfe purportedly fell. The site is marked by a column surmounted by a helmet and sword. An inscription at its base reads, in French and English, "Here died Wolfe – 13 September 1759." It replaces a large stone which had been placed there by British troops to mark the spot.

Wolfe's Landing National Historic Site of Canada is located in Kennington Cove, on the east coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Contained entirely within the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada, the site is bounded by a rocky beach to the south, and a rolling landscape of grasses and forest to the north, east and west. It was from this site that, during the Seven Years' War, British forces launched their successful attack on the French forces at Louisbourg. Wolfe's Landing was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1929 because: "here, on 8 June 1758, the men of Brigadier General James Wolfe's brigade made their successful landing, leading to the capitulation of Louisbourg".

There is a memorial to Wolfe in Westminster Abbey by Joseph Wilton. The 3rd Duke of Richmond, who had served in Wolfe's regiment in 1753, commissioned a bust of Wolfe from Wilton. There is an oil painting "Placing the Canadian Colours on Wolfe's Monument in Westminster Abbey" by Emily Warren in Currie Hall at the Royal Military College of Canada.

A statue of Wolfe overlooks the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, a spot which has become increasingly popular for its panoramic views of London. A statue also graces the green in his native Westerham, Kent, alongside one of that village's other famous resident, Sir Winston Churchill. At Stowe Gardens in Buckinghamshire there is an obelisk, known as Wolfe's obelisk, built by the family that owned Stowe as Wolfe spent his last night in England at the mansion. Wolfe is buried under the Church of St Alfege, Greenwich, where there are four memorials to him: a replica of his coffin plate in the floor; The Death of Wolfe, a painting completed in 1762 by Edward Peary; a wall tablet; and a stained glass window. In addition the local primary school is named after him. The house in Greenwich where he lived, Macartney House, has an English Heritage blue plaque with his name on, and a nearby road is named General Wolfe Road after him.

In 1761, as a perpetual memorial to Wolfe, George Warde, a friend of Wolfe's from boyhood, instituted the Wolfe Society, which to this day meets annually in Westerham for the Wolfe Dinner to his "Pious and Immortal Memory". Warde paid Benjamin West to paint "The Boyhood of Wolfe" which used to hang at Squerres Court but has recently been donated to the National Trust and is now hung at Quebec House his childhood home in Westerham. Warde also erected a cenotaph in Squerres Park to mark the place where Wolfe had received his first commission while visiting the Wardes.

In 1979, Crayola crayons introduced a Wolfe Brown colour crayon. It was discontinued the following year.

There are several institutions, localities, thoroughfares, and landforms named in honour of him in Canada. Significant monuments to Wolfe in Canada exist on the Plains of Abraham where he fell, and near Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Ontario Governor John Graves Simcoe named Wolfe Island, an island in Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River off the coast of Kingston (near the Royal Military College of Canada) in Wolfe's honour in 1792. On 13 September 2009, the Wolfe Island Historical Society led celebrations on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of James Wolfe's victory at Quebec. A life-size statue in Wolfe's likeness is to be sculpted.

South Mount Royal Park, Calgary is home to a James Wolfe statue since 2009, but it was originally located in Exchange Court in New York City. It was sculpted in 1898 by John Massey Rhind and moved into storage around 1945 to 1950, sold in 1967 and relocated to Centennial Planetarium in Calgary, stored 2000 to 2008 and finally installed again in 2009.

A senior girls house at the Duke of York's Royal Military School is named after Wolfe, where all houses are named after prominent figures of the military. There is a James Wolfe school for children aged 5–11 down the hill from his house in Greenwich, in Chesterfield Walk, which is just east of General Wolfe Road.

His letters home from the age of 13 until his death as well as his copy of Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and other items are housed at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto, Ontario. Other artefacts and relics owned by Wolfe are held at museums in both Canada and England, although some have mainly legendary association. Wolfe's cloak worn at Louisbourg, Quebec and at the Plains of Abraham is part of the British Royal Collection. In 2008 it was lent to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia for an exhibit on the Siege of Louisbourg, and in 2009 was loaned to the Army Museum at the Halifax Citadel where it remains on display. Wolfe Crescent, Halifax, Nova Scotia is named after Wolfe.

Point Wolfe is a former village and current campground located in Fundy National Park, which additionally contains the Point Wolfe Bridge. The town of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire is named in honour of Wolfe. In Montreal, Rue Wolfe parallels Rue Montcalm and Rue Amherst, while in the Quebec City neighbourhood of Ste-Foy, he has given his name to an avenue.

title: James Wolfe