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London. London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union. London has a diverse range of peoples, cultures and religions, and more than 300 languages are spoken within its boundaries.
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London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union.
London has a diverse range of peoples, cultures and religions, and more than 300 languages are spoken within its boundaries. It has a population of 7,556,900 within the boundaries of Greater London. • London is made up of two ancient cities which are now joined together: • the City of London, know simply as 'the City' which is the business and financial heart of the United Kingdom. It is also known as the Square Mile (2.59 sq km=1 sq mi). It was the original Roman settlement (ancient Londinium), making it the oldest part of London and already 1,000 years old when the Tower of London was built. • the City of Westminster, where Parliament and most of the government offices are located. Also Buckingham Palace, the official London residence of the Queen and the Royal family are located there too. Together they all make up a region known as Greater London.
Thousands of years ago, Great Britain was joined to Europe and was covered with ice. About 15,000 years ago, the weather became warmer. The ice melted and the sea level rose. Great Britain became an island about 8000 years ago. People have lived in the London area for more than 5,000 years, but instead of a city, there used to be forests and marshes.
Roman London The Romans arrived in England about about 2,000 years ago. They called London 'Londinium'. The Romans invaded England in AD 43. They knew it was important to control a crossing point at the river Thames, so they decided to build a settlement on the north bank. They built a bridge over the Thames, “ London Bridge”. (AD Anno Domini -después de Cristo) The Romans laid out buildings, streets and a port. They called the settlement Londinium. The Romans built a wall around the city to protect it from further invasion. There is still evidence of Roman London. Parts of the Roman wall can still be seen.
The population of Roman London was between 12,000 and 20,000. In Roman times, the River Thames was 300 metres wide ( today it is 100 metres wide).
The Romans ruled in Britain until AD 410, when they left Britain and London.
Anglo- saxon AD 550 The Anglo-saxon who followed lived outside the walls in the Aldwych area but in the Medieval period people moved back and rebuilt the walls for defence. From the 17th century as London grew the walls were incorporated into buildings or used to provide materials. Anglo-saxons settled just west and and upriver of the Roman city Londinium. They established their own city of Lundenwic (where Covent Garden, Charing Cross and the Strand are today).
Saxon London consisted of many wooden huts with thatched roofs.
In AD 597 Christian missionairies arrived bringing with them a new faith. Christianity grew stronger in Anglo-Saxon Britain. In 604 AD a cathedral was founded in London and named after the apostle, Saint Paul. There is still a cathedral on the site.
Viking London AD 842 Disaster struck London in AD 842 when the Danish Vikings looted London and burned a large part of the town. In 871, King Alfred the Great became ruler of the southern kingdom of Wessex – the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom to at that time remain independent from the invading Danes. King Alfred totally defeated the Danes in AD 878 and the country was split between the Vikings and the Saxons . The Danes took eastern England including London while Alfred took the South and West. 8 years later Alfred recaptured London, repaired the walls of the old Roman town, deciding it was far safer to re-start the city inside the Roman walls. There was a great fire in 961, followed by a plague and then another fire 20 years later.
King Æthelred II became king of England in 978 and ruled until 1016 AD. His nickname was King Æthelred the Unready In 1013-1014 the Danes, entered in London, causing Æthelred the Unready to flee to Normandy. Æthelred returned in the spring of 1014, backed by his ally King Olaf of Norway, and together they drove their common enemy out of England.
the last Saxon King Edward the Confessor - the last Saxon King The Vikings and Saxons ruled jointly England until 1042, when Edward the Confessor became King of both the Vikings and the Saxons. He built a wooden palace at Westminster just a stone's throw from his new abbey, where all kings and queens of England have been crowned ever since. When the Saxon King Edward the Confessor died in 1066, he left no heirs, kicking off a three way battle for the English crown. William, Duke of Normandy, won the fight for the crown and was crowned king at Westminster Abbey on 25 December 1066.
Medieval London Normans William built three military camps on London, to keep control of the city. One eventually became known as the Tower of London. William and his successor built the White Tower. A ring of monastries, nunneries, priories and hospitals grew up on the outside of the old Roman city, and in 1176 the first stone bridge was built across the Thames. After a fire in 1087, a new cathedral, St Pauls, was built. William II started on the great hall at the Palace of Westminster.
By the 13th century London had a population of 80,000, making it one of the largest cities in Europe. The Church was London's biggest landowner and its biggest employer. London experience one disaster after another with the most deadly being the Black Death, brought over by rats on ships from Europe. This bubonic plague wiped out half of all Londerners in just 18 months, and it took 150 years for the population to recover.
Tudor London Henry VII became King in 1485, followed by Henry VIII. They were the first Tudor kings (Tudor was their family name). London grew in importance under the Tudor rule. It became the centre of trade and government. By the end of the Tudor era there were about 200,000 people living in London. King Henry VIII created palaces such as St James. He is also famous for closing the cities monasteries in 1536, after the Roman Catholic church refused to grant him a divorce.
During the reign of Elizabeth l, London was wealthy and successful city. Theatre became popular, helped by the arrival of playwright William Shakespeare sometime between 1585 and 1593. The most famous theatre is The Globe, in which Shakespeare owned a share. His plays were performed there. The original theatre was burnt down in 1613 and immediately rebuilt, but closed by the Puritans in 1642. In the 1990s a new Globe Theatre was built, as close to the original as possible, and thrives* with constant productions of Shakespeare’s plays. To thrive : prosperar
The Great Fire On the night of September 2nd 1666 a small fire started on a bakeshop. At this time, most London houses were of wood and pitch* construction, dangerously flammable, and it did not take long for the fire to expand. The strong wind that blew that night sent sparks that next ignited the Church of St. Margaret, and then spread to Thames Street, with its riverside warehouses* fed the flames: oil, hay*, timber*, coal and spirits* along with other combustibles. The citizen firefighting brigades had little success in containing the fire with their buckets of water from the river. By eight o'clock in the morning, the fire had spread halfway across London Bridge. Pitch : brea Warehouse: almacén Hay : heno Timber : madera Coal : carbón Spirits : Licores
Victorian London In 1837, Victoria became Queen at the age of 18. The time while she was Queen is called the Victorian era. During the reign of Victoria, London expanded enormously as industry came to Britain and railways were built linking much of Britain to the capital. London was the centre of world trade and had a large, powerful Empire. Many of the buildings in London today were built in Victorian times The most famous is probably the Houses of Parliament, built in 1834 after a fire destroyed the original buildings.
By the 1840's gas lights were being used to light streets all over London. Electric light was first used in Holborn in 1883. By the 1840's there were also horse drawn buses and from the 1870's horse drawn trams.
The World first underground railway ('The Tube') opened in 1862. At first carriages were pulled by steam trains. The system was electrified in 1890-1905.
Street .- Henry I stipulated that a street could not be named as such unless it was paved and wide enough for 16 knights to ride abreast ( en columnas de 16) Lane .- (callejón) the width of a beer barrell rolled by two men. (Alley , back street) Mall .- paseo , bulevar Mews .- (Sing) Originally a row of stables (usually with carriage houses below and living quarters above) built along a street behind large city houses, such as those in London, during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today most mews stables have been converted into dwellings, some greatly modernised and considered highly desirable residences.
Baker street( City of Westminster) famousforitsconnectionwithSherlock Holmes -fictional detective- lived at 221B Baker st The builder William Baker Mayfair.- namedaftertheannualfortnight-longfairthattook place in ShepherdMarket (smallsquarebetweenPiccadilly & CurzonStreet) . Itwas a fashionableresidentialdistrict, landlords, Duke of Westminster, theGrosvenorfamily. Now – mainlycommercial- offices – embassyoffices..
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 Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) andGMT • Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, 30 St Mary Axe ("The Gherkin"), St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square. • London is home to numerous museums, galleries, libraries, sporting events and other cultural institutions including the British Museum, National Gallery, British Library, Wimbledon and 40 theatres. • London's Chinatown is the largest in Europe. • TheLondon Underground network is the oldest underground railway network in the world] and the most extensive after the Shanghai Metro.
