In the 2nd century Roman London, which was another of its settlements, the population had grown to 60,000. This was due to its location and the use of the river Thames (as it is known today). By the 7th century the Anglo-Saxons created a new settlement which was 2 miles upstream from the old Roman London, called Lundenwic. That Saxon settlement is now part of London and is known as Covent Garden.
Trading in London grew over the next few hundreds of years. There was a harbor in the mouth of the river Fleet which was used for fishing and trading. The flourishing of London continued until the city was overcome by Vikings and forced to move eastwards, back to the original Roman location of their Londinium, using the stone walls that the Romans built for protection. The Viking raiders continued to lay siege to Londinium, until 886AD, when Alfred the Great recaptured London and agreed to a peace treaty with the Guthrun, their Danish Viking leader. Now Lundenwic, the original Saxon settlement which was just on the outskirts, became known as Ealdwic or commonly known as “old city”. This name still is used in present day London; we know it as Aldwych, located in the City of Westminster.
In 1016AD, Canute took control of the English throne and with it, the control of the city and country till his death in 1035AD. His death resulted in the return to Saxon control under Edward the Confessor. Edward was the original founder of Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster, which are both iconic buildings today. They are two of the most visited tourist attractions today.
By now, London had become the most populated and wealthiest city in England. Even with its size and wealth, Winchester was the official seat of the English government. Winchester is to the south-west of London and is around near one of the old ports in England, Southampton.
William the Conqueror who was the then Duke of Normandy, won the Battle of Hastings and took the English crown with it. On Christmas day in 1066AD, William was crowned the King of England at the newly finished Westminster Abbey, starting the long tradition of all English monarchy being coroneted there, which is still in practice today. Westminster Abbey has seen every single English coronation from 1308 till today. William was also the originator of the Tower of London in the south-east corner of the city. This was his way of keeping the unruly citizens and even heads of states in good stead.
By 1097AD, his successor William II decided to build Westminster Hall, which very close to Westminster Abbey both in location and name. Westminster Hall became the seat of power and the new Palace of Westminster, the main residence of the monarchy throughout the rest of the Middle Ages. Westminster, as it is commonly know today became the royal court and the seat of government, while the City of London, its neighboring district was the centre of trade and commerce. Westminster is still the seat of power for the UK today, housing the House of Commons and the House of Lords there. All UK laws and regulations are derived there and all decisions concerning the country are talked and discussed there before being acted upon. It is the most iconic site of UK and London, due to its construction and the famous clock tower – Big Ben. At a height of 96.3meters it is world renowned, just like the Eiffel Tower or the Empire State Building. Big Ben was constructed at a much later date - 31st may 1859.
The city of London flourished in its wealth through its own unique administration by the Corporation of London, which is the today’s City of London governing body and the office of the Mayor of London.
By 1100 the population was 18,000 and in only 200 years, it rocketed to 100,000.
One of the explanations of the increase in the population was the large increase of Jews, which ended in 1290 when the current King Edward I expelled them from England.
For the rest of the Middle Ages, London’s population remained relatively constant, with one major incident. This big change was when it was struck by the plague the “Black Death” in the mid 14th century, reaching its peak in England and Europe in the 1348-1350. Most of Europe had lost 30%-60% of its population. It is estimated that around 100 million people died in Europe due to the plague.
There was also an invasion of London in 1381, during the Peasants Revolt, which was due to the government’s funding of its 100 year war with the French, through the Poll Tax. Poll Tax was extremely unpopular with the lower and working classes of the time. During the Peasants Revolt, they were able to storm the Tower of London killing anyone hiding there.
During the Tudor period, there was a change in power and land ownership. Much of London was previously owned by the church, which was now being bought out by private individuals. As trading grew, so did the companies. Companies like the legendary British East India Company were being created and in turn creating monopolies with regard to trade with the New World. London became the main sea port for trade and migration. By 1605 its population rose to 225,000.
By the end of the Tudor period, which was 1603, the size of London was still very compact geographically. Due to this compaction issue and the levels of personal and general hygene, London was constantly plagued by disease. In 1665-1666, it was struck by the Great Plague, which at that point in time killed 1/5 of London’s entire population, over 100,000 inhabitants.
Also in 1666, the Great Fire of London broke out, in Pudding Lane. It swept throughout the city extremely quickly due the massive majority of buildings being built from wood. It destroyed majority of the buildings inside the Roman walled City the London. In total, it destroyed some 13,000 homes and nearly 90 churches. Although, it never reached the district of Westminster. The rebuild after the devastating fire was supervised by the then Surveyor of London - Robert Hooke, taking over ten years to complete.
St. Paul’s Cathedral was completed in 1708.
During the Georgian era, most of the districts we know today we starting to take shape. Mayfair was formed in the west, South London was being encouraged in development, with the building of many bridges and the port of London was expanded further east and further downstream.
George III bought Buckingham House in 1762 and decides to expand and enlarge it over the duration of the next 75 years. It is now, one of the current residences of the ruling monarch, Queen Elizabeth.
Also in the 18th Century, the previously privately funded Bow Street Runners, who were a form of a detective agency, working of private individuals were established as a professional police force by 1750, due to the massive outbreak of crime that London was being haunted by. Crime levels were high due to the large scale unemployment and the return of warring soldiers back to the city.
At that time, with the scale of crime dogging London, more than 200 offenses were given the death penalty. Even petty theft was an offense punishable by death. The courts did not even distinguish between women and children, who were as regularly hanged as their male counterparts.
At that time, over 74% of children born in London, did not get to see their fifth birthday, due the price and punishment, hygiene and the levels of medical care.
During this period, there was much debate and arguments over the issues plaguing London, resulting in many coffee houses becoming the place for debate. This in turn led to the rise in literacy and the birth of the newspaper. The home of the printing press, back then and even today is Fleet Street.
By 1831 London became the center of the world and was the most populated city. This lasted till 1925. Due to this massive overpopulation and overcrowding there were many outbreaks of disease, like cholera which claimed around 30,000 victims between 1848 and 1866. Overcrowding did not only lead to bad things. Due to the rise it traffic congestion, the world’s first local urban rail network was created. We all know it as the London Underground. The first section of the underground was opened in 1863, with the northern line. At that time, around 55% of the underground was actually above ground. By the 1890, from using coal driven underground trains, it had released its first electric train, which is still used today. The works to the underground were overseen by Metropolitan Board of Works, being eventually replaced by a city elected administration the London County Council in 1889.
London underground was a bigger life saver, then anyone ever thought, especially when world war two broke out. A large part of the population hid in the underground as a form of bunker when the German air force decided to pop London, killing over 30,000 inhabitants and destroying large parts of London.
After the war, morning and the attempted recovery from the war and the German Blitz, to bring the city back to life and place a smile on its face, the 1948 Olympics were held at the famous Wembley Stadium. Not long after the Olympics, the Festival of Britain was held at the South Bank. It was attended by nearly every Londoner.
By 1939 London had a population of 8.6 million people living and working there.
If you watch any movie from the 60’s or before, about London, you will see that they all have one thing in common. Smog. Everyone associates fog with London. This was due to the heavily industrialized south bank and Canary Wharf areas. There were many industries which were contributing the “Great Smog of 1952”. This in turn led to Westminster passing the clean air act of 1956, forcing heavy regulations on the industrial emissions.
From the 1950s and onwards, London became one of the most diverse cities in the world due to the variety of the people who lived there. This was due to the large immigration of former Colonial countries which the British Empire had once ruled over. Most of the immigrants were from Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, which all belonged to the Commonwealth at that time.
A decade later, the youth culture hit the city. It became known as the Swinging London. It was the birthplace of the Swinging 60’s. A lot of this happened at the trendy location of Carnaby Street. The punk era was round the corner and coming fast.
The creation of Greater London Council followed soon after in 1965. This action was forced, due to the expansion of the city in its urban area growth. At this time, London was experiencing massive grown and development in council housing and living areas. In 1981 the Brixton riot happened. Racial inequality was the spark to such a violent and brutal riot.
By the 1980’s the population of the city has dropped to 6.8 million inhabitants. To re-entice people back to the city, especially after the relocation of the former London ports to Felixstowe and Tilbury, the government passed the bill and supported the regeneration of the docklands area, which had suffered a lot due to the clean air bill, competition from former commonwealth countries and European competitors.
Not long after the started regeneration of the Docklands, the Thames Barrier was build to protect the city from the North sea’s tidal surges.
Also the Tory party, under Margaret Thatcher (the only female Prime Minister Britain has ever had) in 1986 abolished the Greater London Council, which was the administration body of London, making the city the only metropolis without a central administration in the whole world. This did not last long. In 2000 Tony Blaire and the New Labor party brought central administration for the city back in the form of Greater London Authority.
With the help of the London Council which was under the supervision of Ken Livingstone and the current Mayor of London Boris Johnson, new developments have taken place to earmark the city for the next century, such as Millennium Dome (which is now know as the O2 arena and host a large number of concerts and events throughout the year), London Eye (which is one of the few that has been as successful as originally planned) and the Millennium Bridge (which leads to Tate Modern).
