The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony in 1841 and its subsequent development as a trading centre.

Lying in the middle of the territory's dense urban region, the harbour is the site of annual fireworks displays and its promenades are used as gathering places for residents and also tourists.

The first reference to what is now called Victoria Harbour is found in Zheng He's sailing maps of the China coast, dated c.1425, which appear in the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology), a comprehensive 17th-century military book.

The water club races were stopped in 1973 due to pollution in the harbour,[3] a year after the former RMS Queen Elizabeth burned and sank at the Tsing Yi island anchorage.

The latest proposed reclamation, extending along the waterfront from Sheung Wan to Causeway Bay, faced public opposition, as the harbour has become a pivotal location to Hongkongers in general.

The eastern boundary is generally considered to be the line formed between the westernmost extremity of Siu Chau Wan (小酒灣) and A Kung Ngam.

As the natural centre of the territory, the harbour has played host to many major public shows, including the annual fireworks displays on the second night of the Lunar New Year.

Modeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it honours the most illustrious people the Hong Kong film industry has produced over the past decades.

By the end of November every year, the outer walls of buildings in the central business districts on both sides of the harbours are dressed with Christmas-related decorations, and replaced with Lunar New Year-related ones by January.

The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Company used to operate numerous cross-harbour routes between various piers of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

Currently, the company continues to operate vehicular ferry services for vehicles carrying dangerous goods that are prohibited within tunnel crossings.