From 1841 to 1997, except for a brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II between 1941 and 1945, Hong Kong was a British crown colony and, from 1981 until its handover, a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island under the Convention of Chuenpi in 1841 of the Victorian era and ended with the handover of Hong Kong in July 1997.