London (listen/ˈlʌndən/) is the
capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom, as well as
the most populous municipality in the European Union. Standing on the River
Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain, London has been a
major settlement for two millennia. It was founded by the Romans, who named it
Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its
1.12-square-mile (2.9 km2) medieval boundaries. Since at least the 19th
century, "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this
core, historically split between Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and
Hertfordshire, which today largely makes up Greater London, governed by the
Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
London is a leading global city in
the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare,
media, professional services, research and development, tourism, and
transportation. It is crowned as the world's largest financial center and has
the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world. London is a world
cultural capital. It is the world's most-visited city as measured by
international arrivals and has the world's largest city airport system measured
by passenger traffic. London is the world's leading investment destination,
hosting more international retailers and ultra-high-net-worth individuals than
any other city. London's universities form the largest concentration of higher
education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have
hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
London has a diverse range of
people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its
estimated mid-2015 municipal population (corresponding to Greater London) was
8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, and accounting for
12.5% of the UK population. London's urban area is the second most populous in
the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The city's
metropolitan area is one of the most populous in Europe with 13,879,757
inhabitants, while the Greater London Authority states the population of the
city-region (covering a large part of the south east) as 22.7 million. The
city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New
York metropolitan area. London was the world's most populous city from around
1831 to 1925.
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, Greenwich
marks the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, and GMT). Other famous landmarks
include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's
Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. London is home to numerous
museums, galleries, libraries, sporting events, and other cultural
institutions, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History
Museum, Tate Modern, British Library, and West End theatres. The London
Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.
