London, United Kingdom

London, the capital city of the United Kingdom, is situated on the River Thames in the south-east of England. Its population of almost 8 million makes it the largest city in the European Union, and its surrounding metropolitan area population is estimated at between 12 and 14 million. It consists of 32 boroughs (including the City of Westminster), the City of London, and the Inner and Middla Temples. The City of London, occupying the site of the old walled mediaeval city north of the Thames, is the financial and business centre, including the Bank of England, the London Stock Exchange, and the Royal Exchange. The City of Westminster is the administrative and judicial centre, including the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and government departments. The West End is the main shopping and entertainment centre, around Oxford Street, Piccadilly, and Regent Street; the outer boroughs comprise mixed residential and industrial developments. London's extensive docklands, have been extensively redeveloped and the area is now served by the Docklands Light Railway.

History

(the account of the period up to the 18th century draws upon Walter Besant's 1901 History of London[1])

London has been Britain's principal commercial centre ever since its establishment by the Romans at around 50CE, and in the course of the following twelve centuries it developed into a centre of international trading. The European merchants of the Hanseatic League set up a trading centre in the City's Steelyard in the 12th century, and they were gradually supplanted by English traders known as "mercers". The mercers, led by Richard Whittington (the "Dick Whittington" of legend) acquired substantial wealth and political influence. London itself had been acquiring political importance. The wealth and population of London gave it power that was said to be unequalled by that of any other medieval city. Londoners were able in effect, to elect a prospective monarch (as in the case of Stephen), or depose a reigning monarch (as in the case of Edward II), and their ability to raise a several-thousand-strong army enabled them to protect a reigning monarch. Westminster, on the western side of London, was the site of a major royal palace and the place of coronations; and by the 13th century it was firmly established as the seat of the country's government. The ability of the monarch to raise money from loans from London's merchants was established in the 16th century by Thomas Gresham, by the establishment of the Royal Exchange and the facility it offered for collective action. (Central government's ability to raise money by loans was subsequently formalised by the foundation of the Bank of England in 1694). The rapid growth in London's population that occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries caused problems arising from its high housing density and poor water supply, and great damage was done by epidemics and fires, culminating in the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666, which destroyed more than half of the city. The expansion of London in the 18th and 19th centuries was greatly influenced by the secondary effects of the industrial revolution and Britain's rôle as an imperial power.

Geography

The term London usually refers to the administrative area defined by the Greater London Authority Act, which is formally termed "Greater London". Most of it lies within a roughly circular area about thirty miles in diameter, centred on the river Thames at Westminster. It is sited within the "London Basin", which is bounded to the south by the chalk of the North Downs, and to the north by the chalk outcrop of the Chiltern Hills, and much of it is geologically classified as "London clay". It is surrounded by the "home counties" comprising Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire to the north of the Thames, and Surrey, Kent, and Sussex to the south.

People

The resident population of Greater London as at 30th June 2010 was estimated to be 7.83 million, an increase of 71.6 thousand from the previous year.Its ethnic composition in 2011 is estimated to be 5.2 million white and 2.7 million BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic). There were 3.2 million households, including 1.4 million couples, 1.3 million sole person households and 300 thousand single parents

Government

The Greater London Authority comprises the Mayor of London and a 25-member Greater London Assembly. It has responsibility, for: - transport, economic development and regeneration, the environment, the overall planning framework, police, fire and emergency planning, and culture, media, sport and tourism. It has four functional bodies: Transport for London, the London Development Agency. the Metropolitan Police Authority, and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. The 32 London Borough Councils each have responsibility for local planning. housing, local highways, building regulation, environmental health and refuse collection.

Economy

London's economy is estimated to have ranked fifth in GDP and second in GDP per head among the world's cities in 2008, and to have had the greatest number of tourist arrivals in 2006. Its output, in terms of gross value added was 21 per cent of that of the United Kingdom in 2009. London's financial and professional services accounted for 28 percent of its gross value added in 2009 and 42 percent of the gross value added of the United Kingdom's financial and professional services. Despite its disproportionate share of financial activity, it did not suffer disproprtionately from the financial crisis and the recession that followed. Its output (GDP) fell by only 5.3 percent compared to 6.2 percent for the country as a whole, only 2.6 percent of employee jobs were lost, compared with the country's 3.9 percent, and the (claimant) unemployment rate went up by only 1.7 percent compared with the country's 2.2 percent. However, London's unemployment rate continued to rise after the end of the recession, and had reached 9.5 percent by April-June 2011

Transport

Road

London has an extensive internal road network (map] with a network of bus routes, and it is the hub of nine of Britain's major highways (termed "motorways") leading to Canterbury (M2) in the east, Folkestone (M20), Brighton (M23) and Southampton (M3) in the south, Bristol (M4} in the west, and Birmingham (M40), Leeds (M1} and Newcastle (A1(M)) in the north.

Rail

Underneath the streets of London there are some 250 miles of underground railway (often called "the tube") (map) and above them on the south bank of the Thames is the Dockland Light Railway. Among the many railway stations are six terminuses of the country's main rail services. They are Paddington (for Bristol), Euston (for Glasgow), Waterloo (for southern counties and Exeter), King's Cross (for Birmingham), Victoria (for Brighton) and St Pancras International (for continental Europe by Eurostar),

Air

The five airports serving London are Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and City Airport. (transport links).

River

Regular river bus services operate between the Embankment (London Eye) and Woolwich Arsenal, calling at Tate Modern, London Bridge, Tower of London, Hilton London Docklands Riverside, the O2 and Greenwich. There are also river cruises.

Major buildings

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster is on the north bank of the river Thames, adjacent to Westminster bridge and near to Westminster Abbey. (plan) . Its centrepiece is the Central Lobby (images), a large octagonal hall from which corridors lead north to the House of Commons Lobby and Chamber and south to the Peers' Lobby and House of Lords Chamber. Beyond the House of Lords are the ceremonial rooms used during the State Opening of Parliament - the Queen's Robing Room and the Royal Gallery. To the north of the House of Commons are the Speakers' and Serjeant-at-Arms' rooms, and offices for ministers and officials. Beyond these is the Clock Tower which houses Big Ben. The oldest building in the palace is the 11th century Westminster Hall (virtual tour), which is used for major ceremonial occasions and for Commons adjournment debates.

Westminster Abbey

Besides being a place of worship, the Abbey has been the venue of coronations and royal weddings, and the last resting-place of the famous. Among its features are a lofty (100ft) pillared nave, a richly-decorated choir screen, numerous royal chapels, cloisters and secluded cloister gardens, and the octagonal Chapter House that had once been the meeting-place of the Great Council.

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral (virtual tour) has hosted many major national occasions including Queen Elizabeth's golden jubilee, the service of remembrance for the victims of the 7 July bombings and the funeral of Winston Churchill. Its appearance from without and within is dominated by its 360 foot high dome, beneath which visitors can climb the 258 steps to its "Whispering Gallery" and look down at the nave.

The Tower of London

The Tower of London has variously served as a fortress, a royal palace, a prison, and a place of execution. Its most distinctive feature is the White Tower - a square building, 90 feet high, on the four corners of which are turrets bearing onion-shaped domes. The White Tower originally stood on its own, but it is now encircled by two fortified walls. The spaces enclosed by the walls are termed the Inner Ward and the Outer Ward. The Inner Ward has eleven towers, one of which is the Jewel Tower which houses the Crown Jewels including the Cullinan and Kho-i-Noor diamonds. Beneath the outer wall is an entrance from the river known as the Traitors Gate.

The Monument

The Monument[2] is a 200-foot tall stone column in the heart of the City of London. It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and erected between 1671 and 1677, as the City's memorial to the Great Fire in 1666. It contains a spiral staircase leading to a viewing platform that gives a panoramic view of the city.

Bridges

The Thames is crossed within London by 31 bridges [3] (including railway bridges), of which the best-known are:
Westminster Bridge, which links the north bank near Parliament Square with the south bank in the region of County Hall and St Thomas's Hospital.
Waterloo Bridge, which links the Victoria Embankment at Somerset House with the region of Waterloo station and the South Bank Centre.
London Bridge, which crosses the Thames from near The Monument in the City of London to a road which leads to the Elephant and Castle on its South.
Tower Bridge, which links the north bank near the Tower of London with the south bank near London's City Hall'
The Millenium Bridge, which is a footbridge that links St Paul's Cathedral on the north bank with Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe in Southwark.

Parks and Commons

St James's Park[4] is the most central of London's parks, adjacent to Buckingham Palace, and the Palace of St James's, it is dominated by a lake bordered with plane trees, with ducks, geese and pelicans.
Hyde Park[5] lies to the west of the West End, with thousands of trees, the Serpentine boating lake, and contains the "Rotten Row" horse riding area. Large open-air concerts are held there, and its north-east corner is the site of Speakers Corner.
Kensington Gardens[6] lie beyond Hyde Park to its west. It is a place of ornamental gardens and formal avenues of trees, and it is the site of the Princess Diana Memorial Playground [7], the Albert Memorial and the statue of Peter Pan.
Green Park[8]is an area of grassland to the north of St James's Park between Constitution Hill and Piccadilly.
Regents Park[9], to the north of the West End is the site of London Zoo. It has a rose garden with 30,000 roses in 400 varieties, extensive sporting facilities, and (occasionally) open-air theatre performances.
Primrose Hill[10], just north of Regents Park is a viewpoint commanding most of London's landscape
Hampstead Heath[11] is an 800-acre area of moorland and woodland, four miles north of Trafalgar Square. It has a string of ponds, some of which are used for open-air bathing.
Greenwich Park[12] is on the south bank of the river Thames several miles to the south-east of central Londn. It is the site of the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. In 2012 it is to host the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events
Battersea Park[13] is on the south bank of the Thames in central London. It has a boating lake, a funfair, an adventure playground and a children's zoo.

Entertainment and culture

London has sixtythree theatres [14], an opera house[15], more than a dozen concert halls[16], twelve major art galleries[17], several observatories and planetariums, more than five skating rinks[18] numerous libraries, a major zoo[19], an aquarium[20], thirty sports stadiums[21], more than a dozen gymnasiums[22], over twenty tennis courts[23], about twenty swimming pools[24], and five greyhound racing tracks[25], as well as some unique facilities such as Madam Tussauds[26], the London Dungeon[27], and the London Eye[28].