Nowadays it is difficult to find a person who does not have at least a general idea of London. Being the capital of Great Britain and England, it can rightfully be called one of the world capitals of politics, economy, finance, culture and art. Greater London (one of the nine administrative regions in the south-east of England) is the largest metropolis in Europe, spreading over 1,579 thousand km 2 , with a population of almost 9 million people. (2018 year). It is here that the Greenwich region is located (the full name of Green village is the Green Village), along which the zero meridian passes, which serves as the conditional border between the Eastern and Western hemispheres of our planet.
External borders of the jurisdiction of the capital of the United Kingdom
Most people know very well which city is the capital of Great Britain, but not everyone clearly understands the borders of the state itself. Some confusion may arise due to the fact that most of the United Kingdom is located on one island, which itself is part of the British Isles, located in the northwestern part of continental Europe. They include the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Isles of Scilly, the Channel Islands, as well as more than 6,000 other small islands.
The United Kingdom is a sovereign state consisting of four separate countries: England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. But there are also British overseas territories, some of which are still subordinate to British rule. Being the largest both in terms of territory and population, England took on the role of the foundation in creating a single state, and its main city, London, is the capital of Great Britain. Therefore, often (though erroneously) the name England is used as a term to describe all subjects of the English crown.
Italian roots of English greatness
The history of the capital of Great Britain dates back to the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD. e., where at the mouth of the River Thames they founded the city of Londinium. Covering an area of approximately 2.6 km 2 (one square mile) surrounded by a stone wall around the perimeter, it still forms the oldest district of London, called the City.
Here are located the major financial institutions of London, including the Bank of England and the world's most influential London Stock Exchange.
By the middle of the third century, Londinius became the largest city in Britain with a population of about 50 thousand inhabitants, and its borders almost corresponded to the historical central part of the modern capital of Great Britain. In the V century, the Romans, besieged by the German invaders, left Londinius. The city has come a long period of decline. It was reborn only in 878 after the Danish invasion, already like Londontown, when King Alfred of Wessex conquered and began its restoration, significantly expanding the city’s borders to the north.
Royal residence
The Thorny Island, which was surrounded by marshy lands at that time, also began to develop upstream of the Thames to the west of the original center of London . For King Edward the Confessor (1003–1066), a palace was built here, where he lived during the construction of the abbey of the “Western Church” (West Minster).
This was the beginning of the history of Westminster, as the home of royalty, and then the British Parliament and the residence of the Prime Minister. With the development of Greater London, this area became part of it and for several centuries it has the status of a City, implying the existence of a municipality and police independent of the city government. Since then, the question of which city is the capital of Great Britain has received a definite answer. Absolutely all the kings of England, and subsequently of Britain, ruled from London, and Westminster along the Thames became the political center of the state.
The path from a small fortress to a huge metropolis
London can be divided into three concentric regions that reflect the growth of the city over time. It is based on the historic City of London. It was part of a larger adjoining area known as Inner London. This part developed from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. He, in turn, is surrounded by external areas, consisting of residential suburbs, built in the middle of the last century, and forming a modern view of Greater London.
The main landmark in Inner London is the River Thames, which divides the city north and south. Another important feature of the city is the contrast between east and west: the richer and more prestigious parts of the metropolis are located in the west, and in the east there are industrial enterprises, delivery services and sleeping areas, where workers and maintenance personnel mostly live.
London - it's always like that ... London
The inhabitants of England themselves often magnify their capital, The Big Smoke ("Big Smoke"), thanks to London smog that has become a classic. Also, the local population has the definition of The Great Wen, which does not have a literal Russian translation and means roughly “a crowded city”. During the hegemony of the British Empire, London was unofficially called the “Capital of the World”, and during the cultural revolution of the sixties of the last century, the city was called Swinging London (“swinging London”).
Forever alive and always young
London is a city with a thousand-year history, giving the world a galaxy of the greatest personalities from legendary conquerors and politicians to brilliant writers and musicians. The capital of Great Britain almost completely died from the “black death” (a pandemic of the plague in the 14th century), or kept the primacy of the most populous city on the planet (1825 - 1925). Having become the center of the industrial revolution in the middle of the 18th century, London struck the whole world with the wonders of technological progress and the severe social disasters that it created at the dawn of its formation. In the XX century, the city rebuilt and resumed itself after the devastating bombing (1939 - 1945), opened a new chapter as a post-imperial, multi-ethnic metropolis.
The capital of Great Britain entered the new century (and the third millennium of its history), not a decrepit and prim old man, savoring past victories, but an active, rich and ambitious dandy, forcing everyone around him to reckon with himself and listen to his opinion.