Glasgow (redirected from Glasgow, Scotland)

Glasgow, city, Scotland

Glasgow (glăs`gō, –kō, glăz`gō), city (1991 pop. 688,500) and council area, S central Scotland, on the river Clyde. Glasgow is Scotland's leading seaport and largest city and is the center of the great Clydeside industrial belt. Once known for its large shipyards, metalworks, and engineering works, Glasgow's manufactured products now include electronic equipment, computers, chemicals, carpets, textiles, tobacco, and machine tools. Printing, engineering, and tourism are also important. Plagued by widespread slums, the city began a rebuilding program in the late 1950s. Many small companies have moved into industrial parks in surrounding new towns, which has decreased congestion in the inner city. It is connected to London and Edinburgh by rail and has bus and subway systems and an international airport.

Glasgow was founded in the late 6th cent. by St. Mungo (St. Kentigern), who is remembered in the city's arms and motto. The battle of Langside (1568) was fought in what is now a suburb. Glasgow's modern commercial growth began with the American tobacco trade in the 18th cent. and the cotton trade in the early 19th cent. Its proximity to the Lanarkshire coal fields and location on the Clyde (first deepened at Glasgow in 1768) aided its development as an industrial center during the mid-19th cent. By the 1990s Glasgow had largely rid itself of its image as a slum-ridden, unpleasant city by emphasizing its cultural attributes.

Points of interest include St. Mungo's Cathedral (mostly 13th cent.); Kelvingrove Art Galleries and Museum; the Hunterian Art Gallery (at Glasgow Univ., est. 1807); the Provand's Lordship (Glasgow's oldest house, built 1471); the Museum of Transport; the Burrell Museum; the Lighthouse, an architecture, design, and urban planning center; and Norman Foster's Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (1984), popularly known as the "armadillo." Glasgow was the center of a school of realistic art in the late 19th cent. and the home of the architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who designed the Glasgow School of Art and Queen's Cross Church. Educational institutions include the Univ. of Glasgow (1451), the Univ. of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian Univ., and a 17th-century public school.

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Glasgow, city, United States

Glasgow, city (1990 pop. 12,351), seat of Barren co., S central Ky.; inc. 1799. It is an agricultural trade center that relies on dairy, livestock, tobacco, timber, and light manufactured products. The area's oil and gas fields add to Glasgow's economy. The Spotswood home, built there in 1795 under the direction of George Washington for his niece, is still occupied. A state fish hatchery is nearby.

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Glasgow

City and council area (pop., 2004 est.: city, 577,670; 2001: urban agglom., 1,168,270), western Scotland. Located on the River Clyde 20 mi (32 km) from its mouth on the Atlantic coast, Glasgow forms an independent council area that lies entirely within the historic county of Lanarkshire. The largest city in Scotland, Glasgow began to develop with the arrival (c. AD 550) of St. Kentigern (St. Mungo), who established a religious community. The present cathedral (13th century) was built on the site of the chapel. Glasgow was made a royal burgh in 1450 and prospered in the 18th century, when American produce (tobacco, sugar, and rum) made fortunes for Glasgow merchants. Its economy wavered as the tobacco trade was cut off by the American Revolution and the cotton industry by the American Civil War. With the Industrial Revolution came coal mining, iron founding, and, especially, shipbuilding. Manufactures now include textiles, food and beverages, and chemicals. A notable education centre, Glasgow has many cultural amenities, including the Scottish Opera, the Scottish Ballet, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The Glasgow Science Centre includes the 459-ft- (140-m-) high Glasgow Tower, the tallest freestanding structure in Scotland and the only structure of its height in the world that revolves 360° from its base.