London (Listeni/ˈlʌndən/[3]) is the capital city of
England and the
United Kingdom.[4] It is the most populous city in the United Kingdom with a metropolitan area of over 13 million inhabitants. Standing 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 1.12-square-mile (2.9 km2) mediaeval boundaries and in
2011 had a resident population of 7,375, making it the smallest city in England. Since at least the
19th century, the term London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core.[6] The bulk of this conurbation forms the
Greater London administrative area (coterminous with the
London region),[7][8][note 1] governed by the
Mayor of London and the
London Assembly.[9][note 2]
London is a leading global city,[10][11] 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.[12] It is one of the world's leading financial centres[13][14][15] and has the fifth-or sixth-largest metropolitan area
GDP in the world depending on measurement.[note 3][16][17] London is a world cultural capital.[18][19][20][21] It is the world's most-visited city as 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 institutes 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
Greater London.[26] The region had an official population of 8,416,535 in
2013,[2] making it the most populous municipality in the
European Union,[27] and accounting for 12.5% of the
UK population.[28]
London's urban area is the second-largest in the EU with a population of 9,787,426 according to the
2011 census.[29] London's metropolitan area is the largest in the EU with a total population of 13,614,
409,[note 4][30] while the
Greater London Authority puts the population of London metropolitan region at 21 million.[31] London was the world's most populous city from around 1831 to 1925.[32]
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, Greenwich marks the
Prime Meridian,
0° longitude, and
GMT).[33] 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 and 40
West End theatres.[34]
The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.[35][36]
Toponymy
Main article:
Etymology of London
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.[37]
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;[39] 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
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- published: 04 Dec 2014
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