History Of London
Pre 20th Century History
Although there is some evidence of speckled pre-Roman settlement in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans in AD 43, subsequent to the Roman invasion of Britain. Although it was a Celtic community that settled in the area surrounding a ford across the River Thames, it was the Romans who first urbanized the square mile now called the City of London.
They constructed a bridge and a remarkable city wall, and made Londinium a central port and the hub of their road system. This settlement was known as Londinium, commonly believed to be the origin of the present-day name, even though a Celtic line of origin is also possible.
In spite of the Romans leaving London, trade continued. The city endured the plunder of both the Saxons and Vikings. As such, few traces of London dating from the period of the Dark Ages can be found even now. The Danish king Canute took control of the English throne in 1017, managing the city and country until 1042. His death led to a decline in the Anglo-Saxon control under his virtuous step-son Edward the Confessor, who built Westminster Abbey and the adjacent Palace of Westminster. By this time, London had become the leading and most affluent city in England, although the official seat of government was still located at Winchester.
Following a triumph at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, the then Duke of Normandy, was declared and crowned King of England in the newly finished Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. During the supremacy of Elizabeth I, the capital began to develop rapidly. Over a period of forty years the population increased twofold to reach 200,000.
By 1720 it contained 750,000 people, and as the seat of Parliament and focal point for a growing empire, it was becoming more affluent and more significant. Georgian architects substituted the last of medieval London with their striking symmetrical architecture and residential squares. The population burst out and increased at a rapid pace again in the 19th century, creating a vast expanse of Victorian suburbs. Because of the Industrial Revolution and rapidly growing commerce, the population further shot from 2.7 million in 1851 to 6.6 million in 1901.
Modern History
The war destroyed many of the gains achieved the city of London in the previous century. During the World War II the German aircrafts destroyed Georgian and Victorian London. Huge sections of the center and the east end were totally crushed. Post war period saw a rapid increase in ugly housing and low-cost developments that were thrown up on the bombsites.
The docks never recovered as a result of which shipping moved to Tilbury, and the Docklands declined to the point of neglect. A boost in the economy from 1980 onwards re-established London's position as an important trading center. The cost of living in London outdoes itself year after year. Its stylish quotient continues to grow thus increasing the gap between the haves and the have-nots. However, as the seat of government and the most significant city in the UK, it has been subjected to spells of terrorism. A series of pre-determined terrorist bomb attacks targeting London's massive transport network in July 2005 cast a pall over the city's optimism.
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