London 1 London London From upper left: City of London, Tower Bridge and London Eye, Palace of Westminster London region in the United Kingdom Coordinates: 51°30′26″N 0°7′39″W Sovereign state United Kingdom Country England Region London Ceremonial counties City and Greater London Districts City and 32 boroughs Settled by Romans as Londinium, c. 43 AD Headquarters City Hall Government • Regional authority Greater London Authority London 2 • Regional assembly London Assembly • Mayor of London Boris Johnson • UK Parliament 74 constituencies *London Assembly 14 constituencies *European Parliament London constituency Area • London 1,570 km2 (607 sq mi) [1] Elevation 24 m (79 ft) [2] Population • London 8,174,100 • Density 5,206/km2 (13,466/sq mi) • Urban 8,278,251 • Metro 13,709,000 • Demonym Londoner • Ethnicity (June 2009 estimates) Time zone GMT (UTC±0) • Summer (DST) BST (UTC+1) Postcode areas E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W, WC, BR, CM, CR, DA, EN, HA, IG, KT, RM, SM, TN, TW, UB, WD Area code(s) 020, 01322, 01689, 01708, 01737, 01895, 01923, 01959, 01992 [3] Website london.gov.uk London i/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest city, urban zone and metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the European Union by most measures.[4] Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium.[5] London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core.[6] The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region[7] and the Greater London administrative area,[8][9] governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.[10] London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence.[11] It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City[12][13][14] and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world depending on measurement.[15][16][17] London has been described as a world cultural capital.[18][19][20][21] It is the world's most-visited city measured by international arrivals[22] and has the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic.[23] London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe.[24] In 2012, London became the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.[25] London has a diverse range of peoples and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken within its boundaries.[26] In March 2011, London had an official population of 8,174,100, making it the most populous municipality in the European Union,[27][28] and accounting for 12.5% of the UK population.[29] The Greater London Urban Area is the second-largest in the EU with a population of 8,278,251,[30] while the London metropolitan area is the largest in the EU with an estimated total population of between 12 million[31] and 14 million.[32] London had the largest population of any city in the world from around 1831 to 1925.[33] London 3 London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret's Church; and the historic settlement of Greenwich (in which the Royal Observatory marks the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, and GMT).[34] Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. London is home to numerous museums, galleries, libraries, sporting events and other cultural institutions, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Modern, British Library, Wimbledon, and 40 West End theatres.[35] The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.[36][37] History Toponymy The etymology of London is uncertain.[38] It is an ancient name and can be found in sources from the 2nd century. It is recorded c. 121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin.[38] The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae.[38] This had it that the name The name London may derive from the River originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over Thames the city and named it Kaerlud.[39] From 1898 it was commonly accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos; this explanation has since been rejected.[38] Richard Coates put forward an explanation in 1998 that it is derived from the pre-Celtic Old European *(p)lowonida, meaning 'river too wide to ford', and suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London; from this, the settlement gained the Celtic form of its name, *Lowonidonjon;[40] this requires quite a serious amendment however. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *(h)lōndinion (as opposed to *londīnion), from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889 the name "London" officially only applied to the City of London but since then it has also referred to the County of London and now Greater London.[6] Prehistory and antiquity Although there is evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans in 43 AD.[41] This lasted for just seventeen years and around 61, the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it, burning it to the ground.[42] The next, heavily planned incarnation of the city prospered and superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height during the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of around 60,000. By the 7th century, the Anglo-Saxons had created a new settlement called Lundenwic over a mile (2 km) upstream from [43] the old Roman city, around what is now Covent Garden. In 1300 the City was still confined within the Roman walls. It is likely that there was a harbour at the mouth of the River Fleet for fishing and trading, and this trading grew, until the city was overcome by the Vikings and forced to move east, back to the location of the Roman Londinium, in order to use its walls for protection.[44] Viking attacks continued to increase, until 886 when Alfred the Great recaptured London and made peace with the Danish leader, Guthrum.[45] London 4 The original Saxon city of Lundenwic became Ealdwic ("old city"), a name surviving to the present day as Aldwych, which is in the modern City of Westminster.[46] Two recent discoveries indicate that London could be much older than previously thought. In 1999 the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the foreshore north of Vauxhall Bridge.[47] This bridge either crossed the Thames, or went to a (lost) island in the river. Dendrology dated the timbers to 1500BC.[47] In 2010 the foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4500BC, were found on the Thames foreshore, South of Vauxhall Bridge.[48] The function of the mesolithic structure is not known. Both structures are on South Bank, at a natural crossing point where the River Effra flows into the River Thames.[48] Middle Ages With the collapse of Roman rule in the early 5th century, London ceased to be a capital and was effectively abandoned. However, from the 6th century, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed slightly to the west of the old Roman city, around what is now Covent Garden and the Strand, likely rising to a population of 10–12,000.[43] In the 9th century, London was repeatedly attacked by Vikings, leading to a return to the location of Roman Londinium, in order to use its walls for protection.[44] Following the unification of England in the 10th century, London, already the country's largest city and most important trading centre, became increasingly important as a political centre, although it still faced competition from Winchester, the Anglo-Saxon capital of England and traditional centre of the kingdom of Wessex. In the 11th century, King Edward the Confessor refounded and rebuilt Westminster Abbey, and Westminster, a short distance upstream from London, The Lancastrian siege of London in became a favoured royal residence. From this point onward, Westminster 1471 is attacked by a Yorkist sally. steadily supplanted the City of London itself as a venue for the business of national government.[49] Following his victory in the Battle of Hastings, William, Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England in the newly finished Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066.[50] William constructed the Tower of London, the first of the many Norman castles in England to be rebuilt in stone, in the southeastern corner of the city, to intimidate the native inhabitants.[51] In 1097, William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of the same name. The hall became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster.[52][53] During the 12th century, the institutions of central government, which had hitherto accompanied the royal English court as it moved around the country, grew in size and sophistication and became increasingly Westminster Abbey is a World Heritage Site and fixed in one place.