London, city, Canada
London, city (1991 pop. 303,165), SE Ont., Canada, on the Thames River. The site was chosen in 1792 by Governor Simcoe to be the capital of Upper Canada, but York was made capital instead. London was settled in 1826. Its streets and bridges are named for those of old London in England. Surrounded by one of Canada's richest agricultural districts, it has become a notable industrial, commercial, service, and financial center. Electrical goods and locomotive and automobile parts are among the products made. The Univ. of Western Ontario (coeducational; 1878) and the affiliated Ursuline and Huron colleges are in the city.London, city, England
London, capital of Great Britain, SE England, on both sides of the Thames River.Greater London (1991 pop. 6,378,600), c.620 sq mi (1,610 sq km), consists of the Corporation of the City of London (1991 pop. 4,000), usually called the City, plus 32 boroughs. The City is the old city of London and is the modern city's commercial center; it is also referred to as the "Square Mile" because of its area. The 12 inner boroughs that surround the City are Westminster Westminster, City of, inner borough (1991 pop. 181,500) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River. Westminster is the location of the principal offices and residences of Great Britain's national government.
..... Click the link for more information. , Camden Camden, inner borough (1991 pop. 170,500) of Greater London, SE England. Within the borough, residential Hampstead is popular with writers and artists. John Keats, John Constable, George Du Maurier, Kate Greenaway, and Karl Marx lived there.
..... Click the link for more information. , Islington Islington (ĭz`lĭngtən), inner borough (1991 pop. 155,200) of Greater London, SE England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hackney Hackney, inner borough (1991 pop. 164,200) of Greater London, SE England, on the Lea River. Clothing manufacture (in Hackney) and printing and furniture making (in Shoreditch) are the borough's chief industries. London's first theater was built in Shoreditch (c.1575).
..... Click the link for more information. , Tower Hamlets Tower Hamlets, inner borough (1991 pop. 153,500), of Greater London, SE England. Tower Hamlets was formed in 1965 by the merger of the metropolitan boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar, and Stepney.
..... Click the link for more information. , Greenwich Greenwich (grĭn`īj, grĕn`–), outer borough (1991 pop. 200,800) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River.
..... Click the link for more information. , Lewisham Lewisham (l
`əshəm), inner borough (1991 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. , Southwark Southwark (sŭth`ərk, south`wərk), inner borough (1991 pop. 196,500) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River.
..... Click the link for more information. , Lambeth Lambeth (lăm`bəth), inner borough (1991 pop. 220,100) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River.
..... Click the link for more information. , Wandsworth Wandsworth, inner borough (1991 pop. 237,500) of Greater London, SE London, on the Thames River. An area along the Thames is industrialized, with gasworks, breweries, and candle and paint manufacture.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hammersmith and Fulham Hammersmith and Fulham, inner borough (1991 pop. 136,500) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River. It has various industries (such as wharves and pottery kilns) and is the principal television center of the British Broadcasting Corp.
..... Click the link for more information. , Kensington and Chelsea Kensington and Chelsea, inner borough (1991 pop. 127,600) of Greater London, SE England. Kensington is largely residential with fashionable shopping streets and several luxurious hotels. Portobello Road is a well-known street market.
..... Click the link for more information. . The 20 outer boroughs are Waltham Forest Waltham Forest (wôl`təm, –thəm), outer borough (1991 pop. 203,400) of Greater London, SE England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Redbridge Redbridge, outer borough (1991 pop. 220,600) of Greater London, SE England. Primarily residential, Redbridge is also an important shopping and commercial center.
..... Click the link for more information. , Havering Havering (hā`vərĭng), outer borough (1991 pop. 117,400) of Greater London, SE England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Barking and Dagenham Barking and Dagenham (bär'kĭng ən dăg`nəm, bô'–), outer borough (1991 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. , Newham Newham (ny`əm, n
..... Click the link for more information. , Bexley Bexley, outer borough (1991 pop. 211,200) of Greater London, SE England. Bexley has many parks and open areas. Within the borough, Erith and Crayford are industrial centers.
..... Click the link for more information. , Bromley Bromley (brŏm`lē), outer borough (1991 pop. 281,700) of Greater London, SE England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Croydon Croydon, outer borough (1991 pop. 299,600) of Greater London, SE England. It is London's second largest shopping and cultural center after West End. London's first airport, the Croydon Aerodrome, was constructed there in 1915 but closed in 1959 after Heathrow was
..... Click the link for more information. , Sutton Sutton, outer borough (1991 pop. 164,300) of Greater London, SE England. It is mainly residential, but plastics, chemicals, radio components, and paper goods are produced. The areas of Sutton were mentioned in the Domesday Book .
..... Click the link for more information. , Merton Merton, outer borough (1991 pop. 161,800) of Greater London, SE England. The area is largely residential with some industry, including tanning and the manufacture of silk and calico prints, varnish and paint, and toys.
..... Click the link for more information. , Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, outer borough (1991 pop. 130,300) of Greater London, SE England. Mainly residential, it has light engineering works and manufactures electronic equipment. It also contains one of the largest shopping centers in outer London. In the 10th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , Richmond upon Thames Richmond upon Thames, outer borough (1991 pop. 154,600) of Greater London, SE England. The borough was created in 1965 by the merger of the municipal boroughs of Barnes, Richmond, and Twickenham.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hounslow Hounslow (hounz`lō), outer borough (1991 pop. 194,100) of Greater London, SE England, on the Thames River.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hillingdon Hillingdon, outer borough (1991 pop. 225,800) of Greater London, SE England. Industries include printing, motion-picture production, and the manufacture of aircraft, food products, and electrical and musical instruments.
..... Click the link for more information. , Ealing Ealing (ē`lĭng), outer borough (1991 pop. 263,600) of Greater London, SE England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Brent Brent, outer borough (1991 pop. 226,100) of Greater London, SE England. The area is a rail and industrial center. Its manufactures include automobile parts, clocks and watches, and electrical equipment.
..... Click the link for more information. , Harrow Harrow, outer borough (1991 pop. 194,300) of Greater London, SE England. For centuries Harrow grew foodstuffs for London. It is mainly residential and contains parts of the Green Belt, areas set aside as parkland.
..... Click the link for more information. , Barnet Barnet (bär`nət), outer borough (1991 pop. 283,000) of Greater London, SE England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Haringey Haringey (hâr`ĭng-gā'), inner borough (1991 pop. 187,300) of Greater London, SE England. It is primarily residential.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Enfield Enfield, outer borough (1991 pop. 249,100) of Greater London, SE England. It is residential, with important concentrations of industry. Rifles, electrical products, boilers, chemicals, cables, textiles, and cement are the leading manufactures.
..... Click the link for more information. . Greater London includes the area of the former county of London, most of the former county of Middlesex, and areas that were formerly in Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire. Each of the boroughs of Greater London elects a council.
The Greater London Council administered the larger London area until 1986, when it was abolished by the Thatcher government, making London unique as a world metropolis without a central governing unit. In 1999 the Greater London Authority Act reestablished a single local governing body for the Greater London area, consisting of an elected mayor and the London Assembly. Elections were held in 2000, and Ken Livingstone Livingstone, Ken, 1945–, British politician. Elected to the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1973 as a Labour member, he became GLC leader in 1981. His use of the local office to promote leftist policies earned him the nickname "Red Ken" and were a major factor
..... Click the link for more information. became London's first elected mayor.
Economy
London is one of the world's foremost financial, commercial, industrial, and cultural centers. The Bank of England Bank of England, central bank and note-issuing institution of Great Britain. Popularly known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, its main office stands on the street of that name in London.
..... Click the link for more information. , Lloyd's Lloyd's, London insurance underwriting corporation of many separate syndicates; often called Lloyd's of London. Founded in the late 17th cent. by a group of merchants, shipowners, and insurance brokers at the coffeehouse of Edward Lloyd, the association is now
..... Click the link for more information. , the stock exchange, and numerous other banks and investment companies have their headquarters there, primarily in the City, but increasingly at Canary Wharf. The financial services sector is a major source of overall employment in London.
London still remains one of the world's greatest ports. It exports manufactured goods and imports petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter, metals, and meat. Consumer goods, clothing, precision instruments, jewelry, and stationery are produced, but manufacturing has lost a number of jobs in the once-dominant textile, furniture, printing, and chemical-processing industries as firms have moved outside the area. Engineering and scientific research are also important to the economy, as is tourism. The city is a hub for road, rail, and air (its airports include Heathrow and Gatwick), and it is now linked to the Continent by a high-speed rail line under the English Channel.
Points of Interest
The best-known streets of London are Fleet Street Fleet Street, street in the City of London, England. It was formerly the center of English journalism.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Strand Strand, street in London, England, roughly parallel with the Thames River, running from the Temple to Trafalgar Square. It is a street of law courts, hotels, theaters, and office buildings and is the main artery between the City and the West End.
..... Click the link for more information. , Piccadilly Piccadilly (pĭk'ədĭl`ē), street of the City of Westminster borough, London, England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Whitehall Whitehall, street in Westminster borough, London, England. Because of the many British government offices on the street, Whitehall has become a synonym for the government. The name derives from Whitehall Palace, first built for Hubert de Burgh in the 13th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , Pall Mall Pall Mall (pĕl mĕl, păl măl), street in the City of Westminster borough, London, England.
..... Click the link for more information. , Downing Street, and Lombard Street Lombard Street, in London, England. It is a street of banks and financial houses that takes its name from the Lombard merchants and moneylenders who settled there in the 13th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. . Bond and Regent streets and Covent Garden are noted for their shops. Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace (bŭk`ĭng-əm)
..... Click the link for more information. is the royal family's London residence. Municipal parks include Hyde Park Hyde Park, 615 acres (249 hectares) in Westminster borough, London, England. Once the manor of Hyde, a part of the old Westminster Abbey property, it became a deer park under Henry VIII. Races were held there in the 17th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park (which houses the London Zoo), and St. James's and Green parks. Museums include the British Museum British Museum, the national repository in London for treasures in science and art. Located in the Bloomsbury section of the city, it has departments of antiquities, prints and drawings, coins and medals, and ethnography.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Victoria and Albert Museum Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, opened in 1852 as the Museum of Manufacturers at Marlborough House. It originally contained a nucleus of contemporary objects of applied art bought from the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the instigation of the
..... Click the link for more information. , the National Gallery National Gallery, London, one of the permanent national art collections of Great Britain. Its building, in Greek style, stands in Trafalgar Square. It was designed and erected (1832–38) by William Wilkins and was shared for 30 years with the Royal Academy of
..... Click the link for more information. , the Tate Gallery Tate Gallery, London, originally the National Gallery of British Art. The original building (in Millbank on the former site of Millbank Prison), with a collection of 65 modern British paintings, was given by Sir Henry Tate and was opened in 1897.
..... Click the link for more information. , the Wallace Collection, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Saachi Gallery. London also has numerous commercial art galleries and plays a major role in the international art market.
The British Library, one of the world's great reference resources, is located in London. The city is rich in other artistic and cultural activities. Its approximately 100 theater companies reflect the importance of drama, and it has several world-class orchestras, a well-known opera house, performance halls, and clubs. A working replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Globe Theatre, London playhouse, built in 1598, where most of Shakespeare's plays were first presented. It burned in 1613, was rebuilt in 1614, and was destroyed by the Puritans in 1644. A working replica opened in 1997.
Bibliography
See J. C.
..... Click the link for more information. opened in 1997. The Univ. of London is the largest in Great Britain, and there are other universities and colleges in the city. The state-owned BBC (British Broadcasting Company) is headquartered in London, and most of the country's national newspapers are published there. The New Scotland Yard, synonymous with criminal investigation, is located in the city. Sporting events draw large support from Londoners who follow cricket, soccer (at Wimbley Stadium), and tennis (including the Wimbledon championship).
History
Little is known of London prior to A.D. 61, when, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, the followers of Queen Boadicea Boadicea (bō'ədĭsē`ə), d. A.D. 61, British queen of the Iceni (of Norfolk), properly called Boudicca.
..... Click the link for more information. rebelled and slaughtered the inhabitants of the Roman fort Londinium. Roman authority was soon restored, and the first city walls were built, remnants of which still exist. After the final withdrawal of the Roman legions in the 5th cent., London was lost in obscurity. Celts, Saxons, and Danes contested the general area, and it was not until 886 that London again emerged as an important town under the firm control of King Alfred Alfred, 849–99, king of Wessex (871–99), sometimes called Alfred the Great, b. Wantage, Berkshire.
Early Life
The youngest son of King Æthelwulf, he was sent in 853 to Rome, where the pope gave him the title of Roman consul.
..... Click the link for more information. , who rebuilt the defenses against the Danes and gave the city a government.
London put up some resistance to William I William I or William the Conqueror, 1027?–1087, king of England (1066–87). Earnest and resourceful, William was not only one of the greatest of English monarchs but a pivotal figure in European history as well.
..... Click the link for more information. in 1066, but he subsequently treated the city well. During his reign the White Tower, the nucleus of the Tower of London Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it was a royal residence in the Middle Ages.
..... Click the link for more information. , was built just east of the city wall. Under the Normans and Plantagenets (see Great Britain Great Britain, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 60,441,000), 94,226 sq mi (244,044 sq km), on the British Isles, off W Europe. The country is often referred to simply as Britain.
..... Click the link for more information. ), the city grew commercially and politically and during the reign of Richard I (1189–99) obtained a form of municipal government from which the modern City Corporation developed. In 1215, King John granted the city the right to elect a mayor annually.
The guilds guilds or gilds, economic and social associations of persons engaging in the same business or craft, typical of Western Europe in the Middle Ages.
..... Click the link for more information. of the Middle Ages gained control of civic affairs and grew sufficiently strong to restrict trade to freemen of the city. The guilds survive today in 80 livery companies livery companies, London trade guilds incorporated by royal charter, deriving their name from the assumption of distinctive dress (livery) by their members. Edward III granted the first charters in the 14th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. , of which members were once the voters in London's municipal elections. Medieval London saw the foundation of the Inns of Court Inns of Court, collective name of the four legal societies in London that have the exclusive right of admission to the bar . These societies—Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, the Inner Temple, and the Middle Temple (see also Temple, the )—date from before the
..... Click the link for more information. and the construction of Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, originally the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery (closed in 1539) in London. One of England's most important Gothic structures, it is also a national shrine. The first church on the site is believed to date from early in the 7th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. . By the 14th cent. London had become the political capital of England. It played no active role in the Wars of the Roses (15th cent.).
The reign of Elizabeth I brought London to a level of great wealth, power, and influence as the undisputed center of England's Renaissance culture. This was the time of Shakespeare (and the Globe Theatre) and the beginnings of overseas trading companies such as the Muscovy Company Muscovy Company (mŭs`kəvē) or Russia Company, first major English joint-stock trading company.
..... Click the link for more information. . With the advent (1603) of the Stuarts to the throne, the city became involved in struggles with the crown on behalf of its democratic privileges, culminating in the English civil war.
In 1665, the great plague plague, any contagious, malignant, epidemic disease, in particular the bubonic plague and the black plague (or Black Death), both forms of the same infection.
..... Click the link for more information. took some 75,000 lives. A great fire in Sept., 1666, lasted five days and virtually destroyed the city. Sir Christopher Wren Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford.
..... Click the link for more information. played a large role in rebuilding the city. He designed more than 51 churches, notably the rebuilt St. Paul's Cathedral Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren and one of the finest church designs of the English baroque. It stands at the head of Ludgate Hill, where, according to tradition, a Roman temple once stood. In the early 7th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. . Other notable churches include the gothic Southwark Cathedral, St. Paul's Church (1633; designed by Inigo Jones Jones, Inigo (ĭn`ĭgō'), 1573–1652, one of England's first great architects.
..... Click the link for more information. ), St. Martin-in-the-Fields (18th cent.), and Westminster Cathedral. Much of the business of London as well as literary and political discussion was transacted in coffeehouses, forerunners of the modern club. Until 1750, when Westminster Bridge was opened, London Bridge London Bridge, granite, five-arched bridge formerly over the Thames, in London, England. It is 928 ft (283 m) long and was designed by John Rennie and built between 1824 and 1831.
..... Click the link for more information. , first built in the 10th cent., was the only bridge to span the Thames. Since the 18th cent., several other bridges have been constructed; the Tower Bridge was completed in 1894.
In the 19th cent., London began a period of extraordinary growth. The area of present-day Greater London had about 1.1 million people in 1801; by 1851, the population had increased to 2.7 million, and by 1901 to 6.6 million. During the Victorian era, London acquired tremendous prestige as the capital of the British Empire British Empire, overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primarily from commercial and political motives and emigration movements
..... Click the link for more information. and as a cultural and intellectual center. Britain's free political institutions and intellectual atmosphere made London a haven for persons unsafe in their own countries. The Italian Giuseppe Mazzini Mazzini, Giuseppe (j
..... Click the link for more information. , the Russian Aleksandr Herzen Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich (əlyĭksän`dər ēvä`nəvĭch hâr`tsĭn)
..... Click the link for more information. , and the German Karl Marx Marx, Karl, 1818–83, German social philosopher, the chief theorist of modern socialism and communism .
Early Life
Marx's father, a lawyer, converted from Judaism to Lutheranism in 1824.
..... Click the link for more information. were among many politically controversial figures who lived for long periods in London.
Many buildings of central London were destroyed or damaged in air raids during World War II. These include the Guildhall (scene of the lord mayor's banquets and other public functions); No. 10 Downing Street Downing Street, Westminster, London, England. On the street are the British Foreign Office and, at No. 10, the residence of the first lord of the Treasury, who is usually (although not necessarily) the prime minister of Great Britain.
..... Click the link for more information. , the prime minister's residence; the Inns of Court; Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament; St. George's Cathedral; and many of the great halls of the ancient livery companies. Today there are numerous blocks of new office buildings and districts of apartment dwellings constructed by government authorities. The growth of London in the 20th cent. has been extensively planned. One notable feature has been the concept of a "Green Belt" to save certain areas from intensive urban development. In 1982, a tax-free zone in the Docklands in the East End's Tower Hamlets borough was created to stimulate development. Although the Canary Wharf financial center (with Lloyd's futuristic building, opened in 1986) was initially slow to fill, it now rivals the City.
London has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, with large groups of immigrants from Commonwealth nations. South Asian, West Indian, African, and Middle Eastern peoples account for much of the immigrant population. The city is the site of one of the largest Hindu temple complexes and the largest Sikh temple outside India; there also are many mosques, including one of the largest in Europe. With the reestablishment of the city's central government (2000), London built its egg-shaped City Hall (2002), on the south bank of the Thames opposite the Tower of London. The city was the site of the 1908 and 1948 summer Olympic games and will be the site of the 2012 summer games.
Bibliography
See C. Hibbert and B. Weinreb, ed., The London Encyclopedia (2d ed., 1993); S. Inwood, A History of London (1999); P. Ackroyd, London: The Biography (2001).
London
officially Greater LondonCapital and largest city (pop., 2001: 7,172,036) of the United Kingdom, situated in southeastern England on the River Thames. It is the political, industrial, cultural, and financial centre of the country. Formally known as the metropolitan county of Greater London (established 1965), it has an area of 659 sq mi (1,706 sq km) and consists of two regions: Inner London comprises 14 of London's 33 boroughs (including the original City of London), and Outer London encompasses the other 19 boroughs. Greater London is an administrative entity, with an elected mayor and assembly. Founded by the Romans as Londinium in the 1st century AD, it passed to the Saxons in the 5th–6th century. The Danes invaded England and London in 865. Following the Norman Conquest (1066),William I (the Conqueror) established the central stronghold of the fortress known as the Tower of London. Norman kings selected Westminster as their seat of government. The church known as Westminster Abbey had been built earlier by Edward the Confessor. The largest city in Europe north of the Alps by 1085, it was struck by the Black Death in 1348–49. Trade grew significantly in the mid-16th century, fueled by the establishment of Britain's overseas empire. In 1664–65 the plague killed about 70,000 Londoners, and in 1666 the Great Fire of London consumed five-sixths of the City of London; it was afterward rebuilt (see Christopher Wren). London was the centre of world trade from the late 18th century to 1914. It opened the world's first electric underground railway in 1890. Severely damaged by German bombs in the Battle of Britain during World War II, it was again rebuilt and grew rapidly in the postwar period. Among its sites of interest are Buckingham Palace, the Tate galleries, the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
London
City (pop., 2001: metro area, 432,451), southeastern Ontario. It lies on the Thames River, near several of the Great Lakes. Its name and site were chosen in 1792 for the location of a capital of Upper Canada, but the plans failed to materialize. First settled in 1826, it was incorporated as a city in 1855. It became an important transportation and industrial centre as a result of its interlake location. It is the seat of the University of Western Ontario.
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