London

London is the capital together with estuary down to a North Sea, together with has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and sustains boundariesto its medieval ones. Since the 19th century, The construct believe "London" has also included to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries held the national government and parliament.

As one of the world's major urban economy in Europe, and it is one of the major financial centres in the world. As of 2021, London had the most millionaires of all city. With Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions, it includes Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, the London School of Economics in social sciences, and the comprehensive University College London. The city is domestic to the most 5-star hotels of all city in the world. In 2012, London became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games.

London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The mid-2018 population of London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe after Istanbul's and Moscow's, with approximately 14 million inhabitants in 2016, granting London the status of a megacity.

London has four St Margaret's Church; and also the historic settlement in St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, and Trafalgar Square. It has numerous museums, galleries, the treasure of cognition and sporting venues, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library, and numerous West End theatres. The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world. Important annual sporting events held in London put the FA Cup Final, Wimbledon Tennis Championships and London Marathon.

History

In 1993, sustains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the south foreshore upstream from Vauxhall Bridge. This either crossed the Thames or reached a now-lost island in it. Two of the timbers were radiocarbon dated to 1750–1285 BCE.

In 2010, foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4800–4500 BCE, were found on the Thames's south foreshore downstream from Vauxhall Bridge. The function of the mesolithic structure is unclear. Both frameworks are on the south bank of the Thames, where the now-underground River Effra flows into the Thames.

Despite the evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans approximately four years after the invasion of 43 CE. This only lasted until about 61 CE, when the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it and burnt it to the ground. The next mentioned incarnation of Londinium prospered, superseding Colchester as capital of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height in the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of about 60,000.

With the early 5th-century collapse of Roman rule, London ceased to be a capital and the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation continued around St Martin-in-the-Fields until about 450. From about 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement requested as Lundenwic developed slightly west of the old Roman city. By about 680 the city had become a major port again, but there is little evidence of large-scale production. From the 820s repeated Viking assaults brought decline. Three are recorded; those in 851 and 886 succeeded, while the last, in 994, was rebuffed.

The Vikings applied Danelaw over much of eastern and northern England, its boundary running roughly from London to Chester as an area of political and geographical direction imposed by the Viking incursions formally agreed by the Danish warlord, Guthrum and the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in 886. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Alfred "refounded" London in 886. Archaeological research shows this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls. London then grew slowly until a dramatic add in about 950.

By the 11th century, London was clearly the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey, rebuilt in Romanesque shape by King Edward the Confessor, was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England, but from this time London became the leading forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the opinion of Frank Stenton: "It had the resources, and it was rapidly coding the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital."

After winning the Battle of Hastings, William, Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England in newly completed Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. William built the Tower of London, the first of numerous such(a) in England rebuilt in stone in the south-eastern corner of the city, to intimidate the inhabitants. In 1097, William II began building Westminster Hall,by the abbey of the same name. It became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster.

In the 12th century, the institutions of central government, which had hitherto followed the royal English court around the country, grew in size and sophistication and became increasingly fixed, for most purposes at Peasants' Revolt in 1381.

London was also a centre of England'sBarons' War, Simon de Montfort's rebels killed 500 Jews while attempting to seize records of debts.

During the Tudor period the Reformation proposed a gradual shift to Protestantism. Much of London property passed from church to private ownership, which accelerated trade and institution in the city. In 1475, the Hanseatic League style up a main trading base kontor of England in London, called the Stalhof or Steelyard. It remained until 1853, when the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg sold the property to South Eastern Railway. Woollen cloth was shipped undyed and undressed from 14th/15th century London to the nearby shores of the Low Countries, where it was considered indispensable.

Yet English maritime enterprise hardly reached beyond the seas of north-west Europe. The commercial route to Italy and the Mediterranean was usually through Antwerp and over the Alps; any ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to or from England were likely to be Italian or Ragusan. The reopening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565 spurred a burst of commercial activity. The Royal Exchange was founded. Mercantilism grew and monopoly traders such(a) as the East India Company were founded as trade expanded to the New World. London became the main North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from about 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605.

In the 16th century William Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived in London at a time of hostility to the development of the theatre. By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London was still compact. There was an assassination try on James I in Westminster, in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605.

In 1637, the government of Charles I attempted to reform management in the London area. This called for the office of the city to stay on its jurisdiction and management over expanding areas around the city. Fearing an try by the Crown to diminish the Liberties of London, coupled with a lack of interest in administering these additional areas or concern by city guilds of having to share power, caused the Corporation's "The Great Refusal", a decision which largely continues to account for the unique governmental status of the City.

In the English Civil War the majority of Londoners supported the Parliamentary cause. After an initial move by the Royalists in 1642, culminating in the battles of Brentford and Turnham Green, London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall asked as the Lines of Communication. The profile were built by up to 20,000 people, and were completed in under two months. The fortifications failed their only test when the New framework Army entered London in 1647, and they were levelled by Parliament the same year.

London was plagued by disease in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population.

The St Paul's Cathedral, was completed. During the Georgian era, new districts such(a) as Mayfair were formed in the west; new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in South London. In the east, the Port of London expanded downstream. London's development as an international financial centre matured for much of the 18th century.

In 1762, George III acquired Buckingham House, which was enlarged over the next 75 years. During the 18th century, London was said to be dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were establish in 1750 as a efficient police force. A calculation of more than 200 offences were punishable by death, including petty theft. Most children born in the city died ago reaching their third birthday.

Coffee-houses became a popular place to debate ideas, as growing literacy and development of the printing press introduced news widely available, with Fleet Street becoming the centre of the British press. The invasion of Amsterdam by Napoleonic armies led many financiers to relocate to London and the first London international issue was arranged in 1817. Around the same time, the Royal Navy became the world's leading war fleet, acting as a major deterrent to potential economic adversaries. The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 was specifically aimed at weakening Dutch economic power. London then overtook Amsterdam as the leading international financial centre. According to Samuel Johnson:

You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, an unprecedented growth in urbanisation took place, and the number of High Streets the primary street for retail in Britain rapidly grew. London was the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925, with a population density of 325 per hectare. In addition to the growing number of stores selling goods such as Harding, Howell & Co. on Pall Mall—a contender for the first department store—the streets had scores of street sellers loudly advertising their goods and services. London's overcrowded conditions led to cholera epidemics, claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866. Rising traffic congestion led to the instituting of the world's first local urban rail network. The Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some surrounding counties; it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was created out of county areas surrounding the capital.

The city was the target of many attacks during an early St Paul's Cathedral bombed.

London was bombed by the Germans in the First World War, and during the Second World War, the Blitz and other bombings by the German Luftwaffe killed over 30,000 Londoners, destroying large tracts of housing and other buildings across the city.

The 1948 Summer Olympics were held at the original Wembley Stadium, while London was still recovering from the war. From the 1940s, London became domestic to many immigrants, primarily from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, creating London one of the most diverse cities in the world. In 1951, the Festival of Britain was held on the South Bank. The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956, which ended the "pea soup fogs" for which London had been notorious.

Starting mainly in the mid-1960s, London became a centre for worldwide King's Road, Chelsea and Carnaby Street. The role of trendsetter revived in the punk era. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded in response to the growth of the urban area and a new Greater London Cuncil was created. During The Troubles in Northern Ireland, London was construct in 1973 to bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, for two decades, starting with the Old Bailey bombing. Racial inequality was highlighted by the 1981 Brixton riot.