广州有文字记载的历史约为2200年。而早在4000多年前的新石器时代，这一带就有“百越”人活动。Guangzhou has a written history of about 2200 years. As early as the neolithic age, more than 4,000 years ago, there were "hundred yue" people in this area.
在公元前九世纪的周代，这里的“百越”人和长江中游的楚国人已有来往，於周夷王八年设楚庭，这是广州最早的名称。In the zhou dynasty of the 9th century BC, the "baiyue" here had already been connected with the chu people in the middle reaches of the Yangtze river.
秦始皇33年统一岭南后建南海郡，郡治为"番禺城"，即今天的广州。到公元226年，孙权为了便于统治，由分交州东部为广州，“广州”由此得名。直至1921年2月15日成立市府厅，才特指广州这个城市。 After the unification of lingnan in 33 years, emperor qin shihuang established nanhai county, which was ruled as "panyu city", today's guangzhou. By 226, in order to facilitate his rule, sun quan had divided the eastern part of the territory into guangzhou, hence the name "guangzhou". It was not until February 15, 1921, when the municipal government office was established, that it specifically referred to guangzhou as the city.