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National capital and major metropolitan area, with 32 boroughs plus the City of London itself spreading over 1580 km2 (610 sq miles) on both banks of the River Thames. The Romans founded Londinium in AD 43, in what is now the 'square mile' of the City, the business heart of the capital.
They also built the first London Bridge, on a site where, until 1749, stood London's sole bridge across the Thames. In the 11th century a royal palace and then a Minster (abbey church) were built some 3 km (2 miles) to the west at what became known as Westminster. Thus were created twin cities that grew in parallel and did not really merge until the 17th century: the City itself the commercial capital, Westminster the centre of royal and later political power. The movement westwards was greatly accelerated by the Great Fire of 1666, which devastated most of the City.
2. Main article
The western part of central London now contains the Houses of Parliament, government departments, Buckingham Palace and other royal homes, the main national museums, concert halls and art galleries, and - in the 'West End' - the major theaters, restaurants and shops. In the west too are the principal parks, of which Hyde Park with Kensington Gardens is the largest. The City, developed over the centuries as an international centre of banking and commerce, had to its east the roots of its wealth: the docks from which ships traded all over the world. The active docks have now moved downriver, to be replaced by modern industrial, leisure and tourist developments, but the City retains its role, if not its appearance; redevelopment after the bombing of the Second World War has all but submerged its greatest glory - Sir Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral, built after the Great Fire between 1675 and 1710- in a sea of office blocks.
3. References
The Thames snakes through London in graceful, sweeping curves and is spanned by six road bridges between the Tower of London - built next to the City by William the Conqueror after 1066 - and the Houses of Parliament alone. It was the capital's main transport artery, for local as well as international trade, before the railways arrived. It has long posed a threat to London of surge-tide flooding. This risk was eliminated only in 1984 with the completion of a movable barrier downstream at Woolwich. Today travelers in London have the choice of moving on often congested streets, many of them rather narrow compared with those of other major cities, or of using one the world's most comprehensive networks of surface and underground railways; the river is hardly used at all for personal transport.
The rail network was built to serve an ever-growing capital from the mid- 19th century, and in turn encouraged urban growth as workers moved out to commuter suburbs. As it grew, London swallowed communities that were once outlying country towns and villages. Many, such as Greenwich (with the old Royal Observatory buildings, the Royal Naval College, National Maritime Museum and Cutty Sark clipper ship), are full of historic interest. Many have become dormitory suburbs, distinguishable only by their shopping centres. But other former villages - many with literary or artistic associations, such as Chelsea, Hampstead and Highgate - have retained their local identity.
Few major capitals so dominate the cultural and commercial life of their nation as does London, and this helps to explain the vast influx of visitors - tourists and business people alike -who arrive each year. In 1985, with 9 million overseas visitors, London topped the international tourist league table, and another 14 million Britons visited the capital.
Visitors discover a population that is cosmopolitan and lively to a degree - who are pleased to help strangers but not afraid to tell the world their opinions from atop a soapbox at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. They find traditions that have changed little in centuries - from the pageantry of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace to the humble street markets - alongside a vitality that keeps London a trendsetter in fashion and the arts.
They observe a cultural life that has few equals, including one of the world's great Opera Houses at Covent Garden, over 40 major theaters and many smaller ones, and concerts by five full-time symphony orchestras and countless other groups performing music from madrigals to Pop.
Above all, however, they view London's physical heritage: the great buildings, art collections and museums. They include great religious buildings - St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral - Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament, and those associated with the royal family: the Tower of London (where, among many other things, the crown jewels can be seen), St. James's Palace (1532), Kensington Palace (1605) and the 19th-century Buckingham Palace (where the Queen's Gallery and royal stables are opened to the public).
Major museums include the British Museum (with its superb collection of antiquities and associated British Library), Victoria and Albert Museum (fine and applied arts of all kinds), Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood and the specialized museums of Science, Natural History and Geology. There are numerous art galleries, of which the most famous are the National Gallery, Tate Gallery (emphasizing modern art), National Portrait Gallery, Royal Academy, Wallace Collection and Courtauld Institute (with many Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works). And there are countless lesser buildings of note: churches, houses, and even street furniture.
