Map titled Canton et la Riviere des Perles, overall size is approx. 39 x 28 cm, image size is approx. 28 x  19 cm, fold as issued. From La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vol., 1875-94 (In English: The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1878-94), great work of Elisee Reclus.

Guangzhou

Wade-Giles romanization Kuang-chou , conventional Canton or  Kwangchow

city, capital of Guangdong sheng (province), southern China. Its city centre  lies near the head of the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) Delta, more than 90 miles (145  km) inland from the South China Sea. Because of its position at the meeting  point of inland rivers and the sea, it has long been one of China's main  commercial and trading centres. It has served as a doorway for foreign influence  since the 3rd century CE and was the first Chinese port to be regularly visited  by European traders, who called it Canton. The city is a historic centre of  learning. And as a centre of political activity for the Chinese Nationalist  leader Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan), it was one of the cradles of the Chinese  Revolution of 1911–12. Area central city districts, 108 square miles (280 square  km); all city districts, 1,484 square miles (3,843 square km); mun., 2,870  square miles (7,434 square km). Pop. (2007 est.) central city districts,  3,461,100; all city districts, 6,367,700; mun., 7,734,800.

Pearl River Delta

extensive low-lying area formed by the junction of the Xi, Bei,  Dong, and Pearl (Zhu) rivers in southern Guangdong province, China. It covers an  area of 2,900 square miles (7,500 square km) and stretches from the city of  Guangzhou (Canton) in the north to the Macau Special Administrative Region in  the south. The delta is a maze of streams and canals between small rice paddies  that, because of the 12-month growing season, commonly support three rice crops  annually. It is one of the most crowded areas of China, where modern industry  and agriculture have been rapidly developed since the 1980s.