This article is about the capital city. For the region and county of England, see Greater London. For the historic city and financial district within London, see City of London. For other uses, see London (disambiguation).
"London" is an ancient name, attested already in the first century AD, usually in the Latinised form Londinium;[62] for example, handwritten Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio ("in London").[63]
Over the years, the name has attracted many mythicising explanations. The earliest attested appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniae, written around 1136.[62] This had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud.[64]
Modern scientific analyses of the name must account for the origins of the different forms found in early sources Latin (usually Londinium), Old English (usually Lunden), and Welsh (usually Llundein), with reference to the known developments over time of sounds in those different languages. It is agreed that the name came into these languages from Common Brythonic; recent work tends to reconstruct the lost Celtic form of the name as *[Londonjon] or something similar. This was adapted into Latin as Londinium and borrowed into Old English, the ancestor-language of English.[65]
The toponymy of the Common Brythonic form is much debated. A prominent explanation was Richard Coates's 1998 argument that the name derived from pre-Celtic Old European*(p)lowonida, meaning "river too wide to ford". Coates 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.[66] However, most work has accepted a Celtic origin for the name, and recent studies have favoured an explanation along the lines of a Celtic derivative of a proto-Indo-European root *lendh- ('sink, cause to sink'), combined with the Celtic suffix *-injo- or *-onjo- (used to form place-names). Peter Schrijver has specifically suggested, on these grounds, that the name originally meant 'place that floods (periodically, tidally)'.[67][65]
Until 1889, the name "London" applied to the City of London, but since then it has also referred to the County of London and Greater London.[68] "London" is sometimes written informally as "LDN".[69]
In 1993, the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the south foreshore, upstream of Vauxhall Bridge.[70] This bridge either crossed the Thames or reached a now lost island in it. Two of those timbers were radiocarbon dated to between 1750 BC and 1285 BC.[70]
In 2010, the foundations of a large timber structure, dated to between 4800 BC and 4500 BC,[71] were found on the Thames's south foreshore, downstream of Vauxhall Bridge.[72] The function of the mesolithic structure is not known. Both structures are on the south bank where the River Effra flows into the Thames.[72]
In 1300, the City was still confined within the Roman walls.
Although there is evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans about four years[1] after the invasion of AD 43.[73] This lasted only until around AD 61, when the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it, burning it to the ground.[74] The next, heavily planned, incarnation of Londinium prospered, and it superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height in the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of around 60,000.[75]
Anglo-Saxon and Viking period London
With the collapse of Roman rule in the early 5th century, London ceased to be a capital, and the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation continued in the area of St Martin-in-the-Fields until around 450.[76] From around 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed slightly west of the old Roman city.[77] By about 680, the city had regrown into a major port, although 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.[78]
The Vikings established Danelaw over much of eastern and northern England; its boundary stretched roughly from London to Chester. It was an area of political and geographical control imposed by the Viking incursions which was formally agreed by the Danishwarlord, Guthrum and the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in 886. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that Alfred "refounded" London in 886. Archaeological research shows that this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls. London then grew slowly until about 950, after which activity increased dramatically.[79]
By the 11th century, London was beyond all comparison the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey, rebuilt in the Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor, was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had previously been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England, but from this time on, London became the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton: "It had the resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital."[80][81]
In 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 fixed in one place. For most purposes this was Westminster, although the royal treasury, having been moved from Winchester, came to rest in the Tower. While the City of Westminster developed into a true capital in governmental terms, its distinct neighbour, the City of London, remained England's largest city and principal commercial centre, and it flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London. In 1100, its population was around 18,000; by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000.[86] Disaster struck in the form of the Black Death in the mid-14th century, when London lost nearly a third of its population.[87] London was the focus of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.[88]
London was also a centre of England's Jewish population before their expulsion by Edward I in 1290. Violence against Jews took place in 1190, after it was rumoured that the new King had ordered their massacre after they had presented themselves at his coronation.[89] In 1264 during the Second Barons' War, Simon de Montfort's rebels killed 500 Jews while attempting to seize records of debts.[90]
Early modern
Map of London in 1593. There is only one bridge across the Thames, but parts of Southwark on the south bank of the river have been developed.
During the Tudor period the Reformation produced a gradual shift to Protestantism, and much of London property passed from church to private ownership, which accelerated trade and business in the city.[91] In 1475, the Hanseatic League set up its main trading base (kontor) of England in London, called the Stalhof or Steelyard. It existed until 1853, when the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg sold the property to South Eastern Railway.[92]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.[93]
But the reach of English maritime enterprise hardly extended beyond the seas of north-west Europe. The commercial route to Italy and the Mediterranean Sea normally lay 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. Upon the re-opening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565, there ensued a strong outburst of commercial activity.[94] The Royal Exchange was founded.[95]Mercantilism grew, and monopoly trading companies such as the East India Company were established, with trade expanding to the New World. London became the principal North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from an estimated 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605.[91]
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 very compact. There was an assassination attempt on James I in Westminster, in the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605.[96]
In 1637, the government of Charles I attempted to reform administration in the area of London. The plan called for the Corporation of the City to extend its jurisdiction and administration over expanding areas around the City. Fearing an attempt by the Crown to diminish the Liberties of London, a lack of interest in administering these additional areas, or concern by city guilds of having to share power, the Corporation refused. Later called "The Great Refusal", this decision largely continues to account for the unique governmental status of the City.[97]
In the English Civil War the majority of Londoners supported the Parliamentary cause. After an initial advance by the Royalists in 1642, culminating in the battles of Brentford and Turnham Green, London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall known as the Lines of Communication. The lines were built by up to 20,000 people, and were completed in under two months.[98]
The fortifications failed their only test when the New Model Army entered London in 1647,[99] and they were levelled by Parliament the same year.[100]
London was plagued by disease in the early 17th century,[101] culminating in the Great Plague of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population.[102]
In 1762, George III acquired Buckingham House and it was enlarged over the next 75 years. During the 18th century, London was dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750 as a professional police force.[108] In total, more than 200 offences were punishable by death,[109] including petty theft.[110] Most children born in the city died before reaching their third birthday.[111]
View to the Royal Exchange in the City of London in 1886
The coffeehouse became a popular place to debate ideas, with growing literacy and the development of the printing press making news widely available; and Fleet Street became the centre of the British press. Following the invasion of Amsterdam by Napoleonic armies, many financiers relocated to London, especially a large Jewish community, and the first London international issue[clarification needed] was arranged in 1817. Around the same time, the Royal Navy became the world leading war fleet, acting as a serious deterrent to potential economic adversaries of the United Kingdom. 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.[112] In 1888, London became home to a series of murders by a man known only as Jack the Ripper and It has since become one of the world's most famous unsolved mysteries.
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.
London was the world's largest city from c.1831 to 1925,[59] with a population density of 325 people per hectare.[114] London's overcrowded conditions led to cholera epidemics,[115] claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866.[116] Rising traffic congestion led to the creation of the world's first local urban rail network. The Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some of the surrounding counties; it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was created out of those areas of the counties surrounding the capital.
British volunteer recruits in London, August 1914, during World War I
Immediately after the war, the 1948 Summer Olympics were held at the original Wembley Stadium, at a time when London was still recovering from the war.[119] From the 1940s onwards, London became home to many immigrants, primarily from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan,[120] making London one of the most diverse cities worldwide. In 1951, the Festival of Britain was held on the South Bank.[121] The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956, which ended the "pea soup fogs" for which London had been notorious.[122]
Greater London's population declined steadily in the decades after the Second World War, from an estimated peak of 8.6 million in 1939 to around 6.8 million in the 1980s.[132] The principal ports for London moved downstream to Felixstowe and Tilbury, with the London Docklands area becoming a focus for regeneration, including the Canary Wharf development. This was borne out of London's ever-increasing role as a major international financial centre during the 1980s.[133] The Thames Barrier was completed in the 1980s to protect London against tidal surges from the North Sea.[134]
In 2008, Time named London alongside New York City and Hong Kong as Nylonkong, hailing it as the world's three most influential global cities.[139] In January 2015, Greater London's population was estimated to be 8.63 million, the highest level since 1939.[140] During the Brexit referendum in 2016, the UK as a whole decided to leave the European Union, but a majority of London constituencies voted to remain in the EU.[141]
The administration of London is formed of two tiers: a citywide, strategic tier and a local tier. Citywide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities.[142] The GLA consists of two elected components: the Mayor of London, who has executive powers, and the London Assembly, which scrutinises the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject the mayor's budget proposals each year.
The headquarters of the GLA is City Hall, Southwark. The mayor since 2016 has been Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital.[143][144] The mayor's statutory planning strategy is published as the London Plan, which was most recently revised in 2011.[145] The local authorities are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation.[146] They are responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, social services, local roads and refuse collection. Certain functions, such as waste management, are provided through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010 the combined revenue expenditure by London councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22 billion (£14.7 billion for the boroughs and £7.4 billion for the GLA).[147]
Crime rates vary widely by area, ranging from parts with serious issues to parts considered very safe. Today crime figures are made available nationally at Local Authority[161] and Ward level.[162] In 2015 there were 118 homicides, a 25.5% increase over 2014.[163] The Metropolitan Police have made detailed crime figures, broken down by category at borough and ward level, available on their website since 2000.[164]
Recorded crime has been rising in London, notably violent crime and murder by stabbing and other means have risen. There have been 50 murders from the start of 2018 to mid April 2018. Funding cuts to police in London are likely to have contributed to this, though other factors are also involved.[165]
London, also referred to as Greater London, is one of nine regions of England and the top-level subdivision covering most of the city's metropolis.[note 5] The small ancient City of London at its core once comprised the whole settlement, but as its urban area grew, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to amalgamate the city with its suburbs, causing "London" to be defined in a number of ways for different purposes.[166]
Forty per cent of Greater London is covered by the London post town, within which 'LONDON' forms part of postal addresses.[167][168] The London telephone area code (020) covers a larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are excluded and some places just outside are included. The Greater London boundary has been aligned to the M25 motorway in places.[169]
Its position was formed through constitutional convention, making its status as de facto capital a part of the UK's uncodified constitution. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the royal court, and thus the political capital of the nation.[180] More recently, Greater London has been defined as a region of England and in this context is known as London.[13]
Greater London encompasses a total area of 1,583 square kilometres (611 sq mi), an area which had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 4,542 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,760/sq mi). The extended area known as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration, comprises a total area of 8,382 square kilometres (3,236 sq mi) has a population of 13,709,000 and a population density of 1,510 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,900/sq mi).[181] Modern London stands on the Thames, its primary geographical feature, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east. The Thames Valley is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills including Parliament Hill, Addington Hills, and Primrose Hill. Historically London grew up at the lowest bridging point on the Thames. The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river with extensive marshlands; at high tide, its shores reached five times their present width.[182]
Since the Victorian era the Thames has been extensively embanked, and many of its London tributaries now flow underground. The Thames is a tidal river, and London is vulnerable to flooding.[183] The threat has increased over time because of a slow but continuous rise in high water level by the slow 'tilting' of the British Isles (up in Scotland and Northern Ireland and down in southern parts of England, Wales and Ireland) caused by post-glacial rebound.[184][185]
In 1974, a decade of work began on the construction of the Thames Barrier across the Thames at Woolwich to deal with this threat. While the barrier is expected to function as designed until roughly 2070, concepts for its future enlargement or redesign are already being discussed.[186]
London has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb ) receiving less precipitation than Rome, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Naples, Sydney or New York City.[187][188][189][190][191][192] Temperature extremes in London range from 38.1 °C (100.6 °F) at Kew during August 2003[193] down to −21.1 °C (−6.0 °F). [194] However, an unofficial reading of −24 °C (−11 °F) was reported on 3 January 1740.[195] Conversely, the highest unofficial temperature ever known to be recorded in the United Kingdom occurred in London in the 1808 heat wave. The temperature was recorded at 105 °F (40.6 °C) on 13 July. It is thought that this temperature, if accurate, is one of the highest temperatures of the millennium in the United Kingdom. It is thought that only days in 1513 and 1707 could have beaten this.[196] Since records began in London (first at Greenwich in 1841[197]), the warmest month on record is July 1868, with a mean temperature of 22.5 °C (72.5 °F) at Greenwich whereas the coldest month is December 2010, with a mean temperature of −6.7 °C (19.9 °F) at Northolt.[198]
Summers are generally warm, sometimes hot. London's average July high is 24 °C (74 °F). On average each year, London experiences 31 days above 25 °C (77.0 °F) and 4.2 days above 30.0 °C (86.0 °F) every year. During the 2003 European heat wave there were 14 consecutive days above 30 °C (86.0 °F) and 2 consecutive days when temperatures reached 38 °C (100 °F), leading to hundreds of heat-related deaths.[199] There was also a previous spell of 15 consecutive days above 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) in 1976 which also caused many heat related deaths.[200] The previous record high was 38 °C (100 °F) in August 1911 at the Greenwich station.[197] Droughts can also, occasionally, be a problem, especially in summer. Most recently in Summer 2018[201] and with much drier than average conditions prevailing from May to December.[202] However, the most consecutive days without rain was 73 days in the spring of 1893.[203]
Winters are generally cool with little temperature variation. Heavy snow is rare but snow usually happens at least once each winter. Spring and autumn can be pleasant. As a large city, London has a considerable urban heat island effect,[204] making the centre of London at times 5 °C (9 °F) warmer than the suburbs and outskirts. This can be seen below when comparing London Heathrow, 15 miles (24 km) west of London, with the London Weather Centre.[205]
Although London and the British Isles have a reputation of frequent rainfall, London's average of 602 millimetres (23.7 in) of precipitation annually actually makes it drier than the global average.[206] The absence of heavy winter rainfall leads to many climates around the Mediterranean having more annual precipitation than London.
Climate data for London, elevation: 25 m (82 ft), 1981–2010 normals
London's vast urban area is often described using a set of district names, such as Bloomsbury, Mayfair, Wembley and Whitechapel. These are either informal designations, reflect the names of villages that have been absorbed by sprawl, or are superseded administrative units such as parishes or former boroughs.
Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a local area with its own distinctive character, but without official boundaries. Since 1965 Greater London has been divided into 32 London boroughs in addition to the ancient City of London.[211][212] The City of London is the main financial district,[213] and Canary Wharf has recently developed into a new financial and commercial hub in the Docklands to the east.
The West End is London's main entertainment and shopping district, attracting tourists.[214]West London includes expensive residential areas where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds.[215] The average price for properties in Kensington and Chelsea is over £2 million with a similarly high outlay in most of central London.[216][217]
The Tower of London is a historic medieval castle, the oldest part of which dates back to 1078.
Trafalgar Square and its fountains, with Nelson's Column on the right
London's buildings are too diverse to be characterised by any particular architectural style, partly because of their varying ages. Many grand houses and public buildings, such as the National Gallery, are constructed from Portland stone. Some areas of the city, particularly those just west of the centre, are characterised by white stucco or whitewashed buildings. Few structures in central London pre-date the Great Fire of 1666, these being a few trace Roman remains, the Tower of London and a few scattered Tudor survivors in the City. Further out is, for example, the Tudor-periodHampton Court Palace, England's oldest surviving Tudor palace, built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey c.1515.[219]
30 St Mary Axe, also known as "the Gherkin", towers over St Andrew Undershaft; modern styles juxtaposed by historic styles is seen often in London.
Part of the varied architectural heritage are the 17th-century churches by Wren, neoclassical financial institutions such as the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England, to the early 20th century Old Bailey and the 1960s Barbican Estate.
The London Natural History Society suggest that London is "one of the World's Greenest Cities" with more than 40 per cent green space or open water. They indicate that 2000 species of flowering plant have been found growing there and that the tidal Thames supports 120 species of fish.[223] They also state that over 60 species of bird nest in central London and that their members have recorded 47 species of butterfly, 1173 moths and more than 270 kinds of spider around London. London's wetland areas support nationally important populations of many water birds. London has 38 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), two national nature reserves and 76 local nature reserves.[224]
Among other inhabitants of London are 10,000 red foxes, so that there are now 16 foxes for every square mile (2.6 square kilometres) of London. These urban foxes are noticeably bolder than their country cousins, sharing the pavement with pedestrians and raising cubs in people's backyards. Foxes have even sneaked into the Houses of Parliament, where one was found asleep on a filing cabinet. Another broke into the grounds of Buckingham Palace, reportedly killing some of Queen ElizabethII's prized pink flamingos. Generally, however, foxes and city folk appear to get along. A survey in 2001 by the London-based Mammal Society found that 80 per cent of 3,779 respondents who volunteered to keep a diary of garden mammal visits liked having them around. This sample cannot be taken to represent Londoners as a whole.[226][227]
Other mammals found in Greater London are hedgehogs, rats, mice, rabbit, shrew, vole, and squirrels.[228] In wilder areas of Outer London, such as Epping Forest, a wide variety of mammals are found, including hare, badger, field, bank and water vole, wood mouse, yellow-necked mouse, mole, shrew, and weasel, in addition to fox, squirrel and hedgehog. A dead otter was found at The Highway, in Wapping, about a mile from the Tower Bridge, which would suggest that they have begun to move back after being absent a hundred years from the city.[229] Ten of England's eighteen species of bats have been recorded in Epping Forest: soprano, nathusius and common pipistrelles, noctule, serotine, barbastelle, daubenton's, brown Long-eared, natterer's and leisler's.[230]
Among the strange sights seen in London have been a whale in the Thames,[231] while the BBC Two programme "Natural World: Unnatural History of London" shows pigeons using the London Underground to get around the city, a seal that takes fish from fishmongers outside Billingsgate Fish Market, and foxes that will "sit" if given sausages.[232]
Herds of red and fallow deer also roam freely within much of Richmond and Bushy Park. A cull takes place each November and February to ensure numbers can be sustained.[233] Epping Forest is also known for its fallow deer, which can frequently be seen in herds to the north of the Forest. A rare population of melanistic, black fallow deer is also maintained at the Deer Sanctuary near Theydon Bois. Muntjac deer, which escaped from deer parks at the turn of the twentieth century, are also found in the forest. While Londoners are accustomed to wildlife such as birds and foxes sharing the city, more recently urban deer have started becoming a regular feature, and whole herds of fallow deer come into residential areas at night to take advantage of London's green spaces.[234][235]
London maps showing the percentage distribution of selected races according to the 2011 Census
White British
Asian British
Black British
The 2011 census recorded that 2,998,264 people or 36.7% of London's population are foreign-born making London the city with the second largest immigrant population, behind New York City, in terms of absolute numbers. About 69% of children born in London in 2015 had at least one parent who was born abroad.[237] The table to the right shows the most common countries of birth of London residents. Note that some of the German-born population, in 18th position, are British citizens from birth born to parents serving in the British Armed Forces in Germany.[238]
With increasing industrialisation, London's population grew rapidly throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and it was for some time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the most populous city in the world. Its population peaked at 8,615,245 in 1939 immediately before the outbreak of the Second World War, but had declined to 7,192,091 at the 2001 Census. However, the population then grew by just over a million between the 2001 and 2011 Censuses, to reach 8,173,941 in the latter enumeration.[239]
The region covers an area of 1,579 square kilometres (610 sq mi). The population density is 5,177 inhabitants per square kilometre (13,410/sq mi),[243] more than ten times that of any other British region.[244] In terms of population, London is the 19th largest city and the 18th largest metropolitan region.[245][246]
Age structure and median age
In 2018, London's population by age is structured differently to the rest of England's. London has a higher proportion of children under the age of 5 than the rest of England. The children (aged younger than 14 years) constitutes a 21 percent in Outer London, and 28 percent in Inner London; the age group aged between 15 and 24 years are 12 percent in both Outer and Inner London; those aged between 25 and 44 years a 31 percent in Outer London and 40 percent in Inner London; the aged between 45 and 64 years formed the 26 and 21 percent in Outer and Inner London respectively; while in Outer London the aged 65 and older were the 13 percent, in Inner London were just the 9 percent.[247]
20.9 per cent of Londoners are of Asian and mixed-Asian descent. 19.7 per cent are of full Asian descent, with those of mixed-Asian heritage comprising 1.2 of the population. Indians account for 6.6 per cent of the population, followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis at 2.7 per cent each. Chinese peoples account for 1.5 per cent of the population, with Arabs comprising 1.3 per cent. A further 4.9 per cent are classified as "Other Asian".
15.6 per cent of London's population are of Black and mixed-Black descent. 13.3 per cent are of full Black descent, with those of mixed-Black heritage comprising 2.3 per cent. Black Africans account for 7.0 per cent of London's population, with 4.2 per cent as Black Caribbean and 2.1 per cent as "Other Black". 5.0 per cent are of mixed race.
Across London, Black and Asian children outnumber White British children by about six to four in state schools.[250] Altogether at the 2011 census, of London's 1,624,768 population aged 0 to 15, 46.4 per cent were White, 19.8 per cent were Asian, 19 per cent were Black, 10.8 per cent were Mixed and 4 per cent represented another ethnic group.[251] In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken in London and more than 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000.[252] Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that, in 2010[update], London's foreign-born population was 2,650,000 (33 per cent), up from 1,630,000 in 1997.
The 2011 census showed that 36.7 per cent of Greater London's population were born outside the UK.[253] A portion of the German-born population are likely to be British nationals born to parents serving in the British Armed Forces in Germany.[254] Estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics indicate that the five largest foreign-born groups living in London in the period July 2009 to June 2010 were those born in India, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Bangladesh and Nigeria.[255]
According to the 2011 Census, the largest religious groupings are Christians (48.4 per cent), followed by those of no religion (20.7 per cent), Muslims (12.4 per cent), no response (8.5 per cent), Hindus (5.0 per cent), Jews (1.8 per cent), Sikhs (1.5 per cent), Buddhists (1.0 per cent) and other (0.6 per cent).
Important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey.[259] The Abbey is not to be confused with nearby Westminster Cathedral, which is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England and Wales.[260] Despite the prevalence of Anglican churches, observance is very low within the Anglican denomination. Church attendance continues on a long, slow, steady decline, according to Church of England statistics.[261]
Large Hindu communities are in the north-western boroughs of Harrow and Brent, the latter of which hosts what was, until 2006,[267] Europe's largest Hindu temple, Neasden Temple.[268] London is also home to 44 Hindu temples, including the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London. There are Sikh communities in East and West London, particularly in Southall, home to one of the largest Sikh populations and the largest Sikh temple outside India.[269]
There are many accents traditionally associated with London. The most well known of the London accents long ago acquired the Cockney label from London's East End, which is heard both in London itself, and across the wider South East England region more generally.[272] The accent of a 21st-century Londoner varies widely; what is becoming more and more common amongst the under-30s however is some fusion of Cockney with a whole array of ethnic accents, in particular Caribbean, which form an accent labelled Multicultural London English (MLE).[273] The other widely heard and spoken accent is RP (Received Pronunciation) in various forms, which can often be heard in the media and many of other traditional professions and beyond, although this accent is not limited to London and South East England, and can also be heard selectively throughout the whole UK amongst certain social groupings. Since the turn of the century the Cockney dialect is less common in the East End and has 'migrated' east to Havering and the county of Essex.[274][275]
The City of London, one of the largest financial centres in the world[276]
London's gross regional product in 2017 was £430 billion, around a quarter of UK GDP,[277] while the economy of the London metropolitan area—the largest in Europe—generates about 1/3 of the UK's GDP (almost $700 billion in 2005).[278] London has five major business districts: the City, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Camden & Islington and Lambeth & Southwark. One way to get an idea of their relative importance is to look at relative amounts of office space: Greater London had 27 million m2 of office space in 2001, and the City contains the most space, with 8 million m2 of office space. London has some of the highest real estate prices in the world.[279][280] London is the world's most expensive office market for the last three years according to world property journal (2015) report.[281] As of 2015[update] the residential property in London is worth $2.2 trillion – same value as that of Brazil's annual GDP.[282] The city has the highest property prices of any European city according to the Office for National Statistics and the European Office of Statistics.[283] On average the price per square metre in central London is €24,252 (April 2014). This is higher than the property prices in other G8 European capital cities; Berlin €3,306, Rome €6,188 and Paris €11,229.[284]
London's finance industry is based in the City of London and Canary Wharf, the two major business districts in London. London is one of the pre-eminent financial centres of the world as the most important location for international finance.[285][286] London took over as a major financial centre shortly after 1795 when the Dutch Republic collapsed before the Napoleonic armies. For many bankers established in Amsterdam (e.g. Hope, Baring), this was only time to move to London. The London financial elite was strengthened by a strong Jewish community from all over Europe capable of mastering the most sophisticated financial tools of the time.[112] This unique concentration of talents accelerated the transition from the Commercial Revolution to the Industrial Revolution. By the end of the 19th century, Britain was the wealthiest of all nations, and London a leading financial centre. Still, as of 2016[update] London tops the world rankings on the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI),[287] and it ranked second in A.T. Kearney's 2018 Global Cities Index.[288]
London's largest industry is finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments. Around 325,000 people were employed in financial services in London until mid-2007. London has over 480 overseas banks, more than any other city in the world. It is also the world's biggest currency trading centre, accounting for some 37 per cent of the $5.1 trillion average daily volume, according to the BIS.[289] Over 85 per cent (3.2 million) of the employed population of greater London works in the services industries. Because of its prominent global role, London's economy had been affected by the financial crisis of 2007–2008. However, by 2010 the City has recovered; put in place new regulatory powers, proceeded to regain lost ground and re-established London's economic dominance.[290] Along with professional services headquarters, the City of London is home to the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, and Lloyd's of London insurance market.
Over half of the UK's top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Europe's 500 largest companies have their headquarters in central London. Over 70 per cent of the FTSE 100 are within London's metropolitan area, and 75 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have offices in London.[291]
Media and technology
Media companies are concentrated in London and the media distribution industry is London's second most competitive sector.[292] The BBC is a significant employer, while other broadcasters also have headquarters around the City. Many national newspapers are edited in London. London is a major retail centre and in 2010 had the highest non-food retail sales of any city in the world, with a total spend of around £64.2 billion.[293] The Port of London is the second-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 45 million tonnes of cargo each year.[294]
A growing number of technology companies are based in London notably in East London Tech City, also known as Silicon Roundabout. In April 2014, the city was among the first to receive a geoTLD.[295] In February 2014 London was ranked as the European City of the Future [296] in the 2014/15 list by FDi Magazine.[297]
The gas and electricity distribution networks that manage and operate the towers, cables and pressure systems that deliver energy to consumers across the city are managed by National Grid plc, SGN[298] and UK Power Networks.[299]
London is one of the leading tourist destinations in the world and in 2015 was ranked as the most visited city in the world with over 65 million visits.[300][301] It is also the top city in the world by visitor cross-border spending, estimated at US$20.23 billion in 2015.[302] Tourism is one of London's prime industries, employing the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in 2003,[303] and the city accounts for 54% of all inbound visitor spending in the UK.[304] As of 2016[update] London is the world top city destination as ranked by TripAdvisor users.[305]
In 2015 the top most-visited attractions in the UK were all in London. The top 10 most visited attractions were: (with visits per venue) [306]
Transport is one of the four main areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London,[309] however the mayor's financial control does not extend to the longer distance rail network that enters London. In 2007 he assumed responsibility for some local lines, which now form the London Overground network, adding to the existing responsibility for the London Underground, trams and buses. The public transport network is administered by Transport for London (TfL).
The lines that formed the London Underground, as well as trams and buses, became part of an integrated transport system in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board or London Transport was created. Transport for London is now the statutory corporation responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London, and is run by a board and a commissioner appointed by the Mayor of London.[310]
London Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in Europe as well as the second busiest in the world for international passenger traffic. (Terminal 5C is pictured)
London is a major international air transport hub with the busiest city airspace in the world. Eight airports use the word London in their name, but most traffic passes through six of these. Additionally, various other airports also serve London, catering primarily to general aviation flights.
London Stansted Airport,[318] north-east of London in Essex, has flights that serve the greatest number of European destinations of any UK airport[319] and is the main base of Ryanair,[320] the world's largest international airline by number of international passengers.[321]
London City Airport, the most central airport and the one with the shortest runway, in Newham, East London, is focused on business travellers, with a mixture of full-service short-haul scheduled flights and considerable business jet traffic.[323]
London Southend Airport, east of London in Essex, is a smaller, regional airport that caters for short-haul flights on a limited, though growing, number of airlines.[324] In 2017, international passengers made up over 95% of the total at Southend, the highest proportion of any London airport.[325]
Over four million journeys are made every day on the Underground network, over 1 billion each year.[331] An investment programme is attempting to reduce congestion and improve reliability, including £6.5 billion (€7.7 billion) spent before the 2012 Summer Olympics.[332] The Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which opened in 1987, is a second, more local metro system using smaller and lighter tram-type vehicles that serve the Docklands, Greenwich and Lewisham.
There are more than 360 railway stations in the London Travelcard Zones on an extensive above-ground suburban railway network. South London, particularly, has a high concentration of railways as it has fewer Underground lines. Most rail lines terminate around the centre of London, running into eighteen terminal stations, with the exception of the Thameslink trains connecting Bedford in the north and Brighton in the south via Luton and Gatwick airports.[333] London has Britain's busiest station by number of passengers – Waterloo, with over 184 million people using the interchange station complex (which includes Waterloo East station) each year.[334][335]Clapham Junction is the busiest station in Europe by the number of trains passing.
With the need for more rail capacity in London, Crossrail is expected to open in 2020/21.[336] It will be a new railway line running east to west through London and into the Home Counties with a branch to Heathrow Airport.[337] It is Europe's biggest construction project, with a £15 billion projected cost.[338][339]
Although rail freight levels are far down compared to their height, significant quantities of cargo are also carried into and out of London by rail; chiefly building materials and landfill waste.[343] As a major hub of the British railway network, London's tracks also carry large amounts of freight for the other regions, such as container freight from the Channel Tunnel and English Channel ports, and nuclear waste for reprocessing at Sellafield.[343]
London's bus network is one of the largest in the world, running 24 hours a day, with about 8,500 buses, more than 700 bus routes and around 19,500 bus stops.[344] In 2013, the network had more than 2 billion commuter trips per annum, more than the Underground.[344] Around £850 million is taken in revenue each year. London has the largest wheelchair accessible network in the world[345] and, from the 3rd quarter of 2007, became more accessible to hearing and visually impaired passengers as audio-visual announcements were introduced. The distinctive red double-decker buses are an internationally recognised trademark of London transport along with black cabs and the Tube.[346][347]
London has a modern tram network, known as Tramlink, centred on Croydon in South London. The network has 39 stops and four routes, and carried 28 million people in 2013.[348] Since June 2008 Transport for London has completely owned Tramlink, and it plans to spend £54m by 2015 on maintenance, renewals, upgrades and capacity enhancements.[349]
Cable car
London's first and only cable car, known as the Emirates Air Line, opened in June 2012. Crossing the River Thames, linking Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks in the east of the city, the cable car is integrated with London's Oyster Card ticketing system, although special fares are charged. Costing £60 million to build, it carries over 3,500 passengers every day, although this is very much lower than its capacity. Similar to the Santander Cycles bike hire scheme, the cable car is sponsored in a 10-year deal by the airline Emirates.
Santander Cycle Hire near Victoria in Central London
Segregated cycle lanes are being implemented across London. Cycle Superhighway 2 in Stratford
In the whole Greater London Area, around 650,000 people use a bike everyday.[350] But out of a total population of
around 8.8 million,[351] this means that just around 7% of Greater London's population use a bike on an average day. This is a small proportion, when compared to many other cities in the world [352] A reason may well be the poor investments for cycling in London of about £110 million per year,[353] equating to around £12 per person, which can be compared to £22 in the Netherlands.[354]
From being the largest port in the world, the Port of London is now only the second-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 45 million tonnes of cargo each year.[294] Most of this actually passes through the Port of Tilbury, outside the boundary of Greater London.
London has frequent river boat services on the Thames known as Thames Clippers. These run up to every 20 minutes between Embankment Pier and North Greenwich Pier. The Woolwich Ferry, with 2.5 million passengers every year,[356] is a frequent service linking the North and South Circular Roads. Other operators run both commuter and tourist boat services in London.
Roads
Although the majority of journeys involving central London are made by public transport, car travel is common in the suburbs. The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs), and the outer orbital motorway (the M25, outside the built-up area) encircle the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes—but very few motorways penetrate into inner London. A plan for a comprehensive network of motorways throughout the city (the Ringways Plan) was prepared in the 1960s but was mostly cancelled in the early 1970s. The M25 is the second-longest ring-road motorway in Europe at 117 mi (188 km) long.[357] The A1 and M1 connect London to Leeds, and Newcastle and Edinburgh.
London is notorious for its traffic congestion, the average speed of a car in the rush hour being 10.6 mph (17.1 km/h).[358]
In 2003, a congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay £10 per day to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of central London.[359][360] Motorists who are residents of the defined zone can buy a greatly reduced season pass.[361] London government initially expected the Congestion Charge Zone to increase daily peak period Underground and bus users by 20,000 people, reduce road traffic by 10 to 15 per cent, increase traffic speeds by 10 to 15 per cent, and reduce queues by 20 to 30 per cent.[362] Over the course of several years, the average number of cars entering the centre of London on a weekday was reduced from 195,000 to 125,000 cars – a 35-per-cent reduction of vehicles driven per day.[363]
London is a major global centre of higher education teaching and research and has the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe.[49] According to the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, London has the greatest concentration of top class universities in the world[364][365] and its international student population of around 110,000 is larger than any other city in the world.[366] A 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers report termed London the global capital of higher education.[367]
Leisure is a major part of the London economy, with a 2003 report attributing a quarter of the entire UK leisure economy to London[377] at 25.6 events per 1000 people.[378] Globally, the city is amongst the big four fashion capitals of the world, and according to official statistics, London is the world's third busiest film production centre, presents more live comedy than any other city,[379] and has the biggest theatre audience of any city in the world.[380]
Islington's 1 mile (1.6 km) long Upper Street, extending northwards from Angel, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the United Kingdom.[384] Europe's busiest shopping area is Oxford Street, a shopping street nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long, making it the longest shopping street in the UK. Oxford Street is home to vast numbers of retailers and department stores, including the world-famous Selfridgesflagship store.[385]Knightsbridge, home to the equally renowned Harrodsdepartment store, lies to the south-west.
London is home to designers Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, Stella McCartney, Manolo Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo, among others; its renowned art and fashion schools make it an international centre of fashion alongside Paris, Milan, and New York City. London offers a great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Gastronomic centres include the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane and the Chinese restaurants of Chinatown.[386]
The literary centres of London have traditionally been hilly Hampstead and (since the early 20th century) Bloomsbury. Writers closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, noted for his eyewitness account of the Great Fire, Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of street sweepers and pickpockets has been a major influence on people's vision of early Victorian London, and Virginia Woolf, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century.[389]
Later important depictions of London from the 19th and early 20th centuries are Dickens' novels, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.[389] Also of significance is Letitia Elizabeth Landon's Calendar of the London Seasons (1834). Modern writers pervasively influenced by the city include Peter Ackroyd, author of a "biography" of London, and Iain Sinclair, who writes in the genre of psychogeography.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
London is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The first of these to be established was the British Museum in Bloomsbury, in 1753. Originally containing antiquities, natural history specimens, and the national library, the museum now has 7 million artefacts from around the globe. In 1824, the National Gallery was founded to house the British national collection of Western paintings; this now occupies a prominent position in Trafalgar Square.
In the latter half of the 19th century the locale of South Kensington was developed as "Albertopolis", a cultural and scientific quarter. Three major national museums are there: the Victoria and Albert Museum (for the applied arts), the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum. The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to house depictions of figures from British history; its holdings now comprise the world's most extensive collection of portraits.[392] The national gallery of British art is at Tate Britain, originally established as an annexe of the National Gallery in 1897. The Tate Gallery, as it was formerly known, also became a major centre for modern art; in 2000, this collection moved to Tate Modern, a new gallery housed in the former Bankside Power Station.
A 2013 report by the City of London Corporation said that London is the "greenest city" in Europe with 35,000 acres of public parks, woodlands and gardens.[400] The largest parks in the central area of London are three of the eight Royal Parks, namely Hyde Park and its neighbour Kensington Gardens in the west, and Regent's Park to the north.[401] Hyde Park in particular is popular for sports and sometimes hosts open-air concerts. Regent's Park contains London Zoo, the world's oldest scientific zoo, and is near Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.[402][403]Primrose Hill, immediately to the north of Regent's Park, at 256 feet (78 m)[404] is a popular spot from which to view the city skyline.
Close to Richmond Park is Kew Gardens which has the world's largest collection of living plants. In 2003, the gardens were put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.[410] There are also parks administered by London's borough Councils, including Victoria Park in the East End and Battersea Park in the centre. Some more informal, semi-natural open spaces also exist, including the 320-hectare (790-acre) Hampstead Heath of North London,[411] and Epping Forest, which covers 2,476 hectares (6,118 acres)[412] in the east. Both are controlled by the City of London Corporation.[413][414] Hampstead Heath incorporates Kenwood House, a former stately home and a popular location in the summer months when classical musical concerts are held by the lake, attracting thousands of people every weekend to enjoy the music, scenery and fireworks.[415]
Epping Forest is a popular venue for various outdoor activities, including mountain biking, walking, horse riding, golf, angling, and orienteering.[416]
One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon.[430] Played in late June to early July, it is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious.[431][432][433]
^Rankings of cities by metropolitan area GDP can vary as a result of differences in the definition of the boundaries and population sizes of the areas compared, exchange rate fluctuations and the method used to calculate output. London and Paris are of broadly similar size in terms of total economic output which can result in third party sources varying as to which is the fifth-largest city GDP in the world. A report by the McKinsey Global Institute published in 2012 estimated that London had a city GDP of US$751.8 billion in 2010, compared to US$764.2 billion for Paris, making them respectively the sixth- and fifth-largest in the world. A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers published in November 2009 estimated that London had a city GDP measured in purchasing power parity of US$565 billion in 2008, compared to US$564 billion for Paris, making them respectively the fifth- and sixth-largest in the world. The McKinsey Global Institute study used a metropolitan area with a population of 14.9 million for London compared to 11.8 million for Paris, whilst the PricewaterhouseCoopers study used a metropolitan area with a population of 8.59 million for London compared to 9.92 million for Paris.
^According to the European Statistical Agency (Eurostat), London has the largest Larger Urban Zone in the EU. Eurostat uses the sum of the populations of the contiguous urban core and the surrounding commuting zone as its definition.
^London is not a city in the sense that the word applies in the United Kingdom, that of having city status granted by the Crown.
^According to the Collins English Dictionary definition of 'the seat of government',[177] London is not the capital of England, as England does not have its own government. According to the Oxford English Reference Dictionary definition of 'the most important town'[178] and many other authorities.[179]
^ abTheodora Bynon, 'London's Name', Transactions of the Philological Society, 114:3 (2016), 281–97, doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12064.
^Coates, Richard (1998). "A new explanation of the name of London". Transactions of the Philological Society. 96 (2): 203–229. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.00027.
^Peter Schrijver, Language Contact and the Origins of the Germanic Languages, Routledge Studies in Linguistics, 13 (New York: Routledge, 2014), p. 57.
^Vince, Alan (2001). "London". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.). The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell. ISBN978-0-631-22492-1.
^Blair, John (2001). "Westminster". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.). The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Blackwell. ISBN978-0-631-22492-1.
^J. G. Pounds (1976). "An Historical Geography of Europe 450 B.C.-A.D. 1330, Part 1330". p. 430. CUP Archive
^Ramsay, George Daniel (1986). The Queen's Merchants and the Revolt of the Netherlands: The End of the Antwerp Mart. Volume 2, pp. 1 and 62–63. Manchester University Press. ISBN978-0-7190-1849-7
^The life and times of Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange: including notices of many of his contemporaries. With illustrations, Volume 2, pp. 80–81, John William Burgon, E. Wilson, 1839.
^Doolittle, Ian (2014) ‘The Great Refusal’: Why Does the City of London Corporation Only Govern the Square Mile?, The London Journal, 39:1, 21-36, doi:10.1179/0305803413Z.00000000038.
^Gregory Byrne Bracken (2011). Walking Tour London: Sketches of the city's architectural treasures... Journey Through London's Urban Landscapes. Marshall Cavendish International. p. 10.
^Schofield, John (June 1999). "British Archaeology" (45). British Archaeology. ISSN1357-4442. Archived from the original on 25 April 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"London Central Mosque Trust Ltd". London Central Mosque Trust Ltd. & The Islamic Cultural Centre. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
^"Charging Zone". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 4 May 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2008. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"Who pays what". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
^"Residents". Transport for London. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
^Santos, Georgina; Button, Kenneth; Noll, Roger G. "London Congestion Charging/Comments." Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs. 15287084 (2008): 177,177–234.
^Table 3 in Santos, Georgina; Button, Kenneth; Noll, Roger G. "London Congestion Charging/Comments." Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs.15287084 (2008): 177,177–234.
^Clarey, Christopher (7 May 2008). "Traditional Final: It's Nadal and Federer". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 July 2008. Federer said[:] 'I love playing with him, especially here at Wimbledon, the most prestigious tournament we have.'
^Will Kaufman & Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson, ed. (2005). "Tennis". Britain and the Americas. 1 : Culture, Politics, and History. ABC-CLIO. p. 958. ISBN978-1-85109-431-8. this first tennis championship, which later evolved into the Wimbledon Tournament ... continues as the world's most prestigious event.
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England. The county town is the city of Winchester. Its two largest cities, Southampton and Portsmouth, are administered separately as unitary authorities; the rest of the county is governed by Hampshire County Council.
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. As of 2018, the population of Liverpool is approximately 494,814. Liverpool is the ninth-largest English district by population, and the largest in Merseyside and the Liverpool City Region. It lies within the United Kingdom's sixth-most populous urban area. Liverpool's metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.24 million.
Manchester
Manchester is a major city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 534,982 as of 2018. It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.9 million, and third-most populous metropolitan area, with a population of 3.3 million. It is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation. The local authority for the city is Manchester City Council.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the northwestern coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea separates Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom's 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi) were home to an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.
Bristol
Bristol is a city and county in South West England with a population of 463,400. The wider district has the 10th-largest population in England. The urban area population of 724,000 is the 8th-largest in the UK. The city borders North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, with the cities of Bath and Gloucester to the south-east and north-east, respectively. South Wales lies across the Severn estuary.
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large historic university and minster town in Berkshire, England, of which it is now the county town. It is in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway. Reading is 70 miles (110 km) east of Bristol, 24 miles (39 km) south of Oxford, 40 miles (64 km) west of London, 14 miles (23 km) north of Basingstoke, 12 miles (19 km) south-west of Maidenhead and 15 miles (24 km) east of Newbury as the crow flies.
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; the third largest in England after Greater London and the West Midlands. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Manchester and Salford. Greater Manchester was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, and designated a functional city region on 1 April 2011.
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough located in East London; it covers much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar and Bethnal Green. The new authority's unusual name comes from an alternative title for the Tower Division; the area of south-east Middlesex, focused on the area of the modern borough, which owed military service to the Tower of London.
London metropolitan area
The London metropolitan area includes London and its surrounding commuter zone. It is also known as the London commuter belt, or Southeast metropolitan area.
Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve
Rainham Marshes is an RSPB nature reserve in the east of London, adjacent to the Thames Estuary in Purfleet, Thurrock and the London Borough of Havering. In 2000, the area of land was bought from the Ministry of Defence, who used it as a test firing range. With no activity for several years, the nature reserve was officially opened to the public in 2006. It has maintained much of its Medieval landscape, and is the largest area of wetland on the upper parts of the Thames Estuary.
Transport in London
London has an extensive and developed transport network which includes both private and public services. Journeys made by public transport systems account for 37% of London's journeys while private services accounted for 36% of journeys, walking 24% and cycling 2%. London's public transport network serves as the central hub for the United Kingdom in rail, air and road transport.
Economy of London
The economy of London is dominated by service industries, particularly financial services and associated professional services, which have strong links with the economy in other parts of the United Kingdom (UK) and internationally. In addition to being the capital city of the United Kingdom, London is one of the world's leading financial centres for international business and commerce and is one of the "command centres" for the global economy.
Economy of Manchester
The economy of Manchester is among the largest in England. Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester. It lies within the United Kingdom's second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.55 million. Manchester's commercial centre is in Manchester city centre, focused on Spinningfields, Mosley Street, Deansgate, King Street and Piccadilly Gardens.
Birmingham
Birmingham ( BUR-ming-əm, is a major city in the West Midlands, England. It is the second-largest city and metropolitan area in England and the United Kingdom, with roughly 1.1 million inhabitants within the city area and 3.8 million inhabitants within the metropolitan area. This also makes Birmingham the 17th largest city and 8th largest metropolitan area in the European Union. Birmingham is commonly referred to as the nation's "second city".
Greater London
Greater London is a ceremonial county of England that makes up the majority of the London region. This region forms the administrative boundaries of London and is organised into 33 local government districts—the 32 London boroughs and the City of London, which is located within the region but is separate from the county. The Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The City of London Corporation is the principal local authority for the City of London, with a similar role to that of the 32 London borough councils.