History

It was those trusty Italian conquerors, the Romans, who established Londinium in 43 CE. They built a wall around their settlement and a bridge over the river Thames to set the city up as an important trade center. However, the locals were not happy about it. Boudicca (or Boadicea), the tribal queen of the Iceni Celts and a fearsome chariot-driver, struck a blow for the Britons in 60 CE, burning much of the city to the ground. The Romans were undeterred and stayed around for another 350 years. By the end of the 1st Century CE, London was the capital of Roman Britain.

The Romans' departure was not good news for London: the city was deserted, sacked, burned (again), occupied, captured, and generally slapped around by the Scandinavian Vikings and the Germanic Saxons for the next 550 years. The first incarnation of St. Paul's Cathedral was built in the 7th Century. Two centuries after the Saxon King Alfred the Great occupied London, the Normans arrived. It was 1066 and William the Conqueror was in charge. He decided London was the most impressive city of his newly acquired kingdom, stayed, and was the first English king crowned at Westminster Abbey. He also began to build the White Tower — the first part of what is now the Tower of London.

The Middle Ages saw London grow, despite fires sweeping through the city and a massive bout of Black Death in 1348, which wiped out nearly half of the city's 60,000 inhabitants.

The Tudors took over in 1485, and the infamous Henry VIII became a major player in the radical transformation of the country. He wanted a son, which meant divorcing his then spouse and getting a younger wife, which the Pope would not allow. So, he had his chancellor Thomas More establish the Church of England and thereby outlawing Catholicism. This meant that all the land previously owned by the Church was now his. He set about carving it up and giving large chunks to his friends (and more importantly to his potential enemies). Convent Garden became Covent Garden, and the land previously owned by Westminster Abbey, covering much of what is now the West End, was released for private development. In short, a new London was born.

The Globe Theatre was built in 1598, entertaining bawdy crowds with the classic plays penned by Shakespeare. Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. Around this time, there were approximately 220,000 people in London and the population was continuing to expand rapidly.

The Great Plague in 1665 and the Fire of London in 1666 wiped out much of the population along with most of medieval and Tudor London, but it meant that there was an opportunity to start anew architecturally. Christopher Wren took full advantage of this — designing and building 51 London churches, including the rest of St Paul's Cathedral.

The City's population expansion continued to snowball to 750,000 people by 1720 and the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century saw it explode to 2.5 million. The author Charles Dickens depicts the London of this time as a grimy, smoggy, poor and crime-ridden city.

During World War II much of London was destroyed due to the Blitzkrieg. Rebuilding began in 1945 and one result of this was the South Bank Centre. It was designed as a centerpiece for the arts, and its functional rather than beautiful buildings draw crowds from all over.

Meanwhile, back in the "Swinging Sixties" London gained a reputation for being at fashion's forefront. It was an era epitomized by Twiggy, the very first supermodel, and Carnaby Street, with its Mary Quant Colour Shop and Quadrophenia vibe. London is now recognized as one of the top international centers for fashion; it has also become world-renowned for its cutting-edge art.