London History

London history is fascinating and filled with a series of conquests, disasters, wars, and victories. From the time the Romans first settled what would become London in 43 AD (as Londinium), this city has been one of the centers of growth and development in this part of western Europe. The latter part of the first century saw a series of sackings before London became the center of Roman Britannia in 100 AD. The history of London England shows that by the seventh century the Anglo Saxons had established a new settlement called Ludenwic, close to where Londinium was situated.

In the year 1016 Canute the Great, a Viking king of England, Denmark, and several other countries, assumed control of the English throne. After his death in 1035 Edward the Confessor led a reversion back to Anglo Saxon control. Edward the Confessor, who was known as a pious king, established Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster at this time in London. William the Conqueror, at the time the Duke of Normandy, ultimately took over the throne in 1066 after a victory at the Battle of Hastings. The oldest part of the Tower of London, the White Tower, was constructed in 1078 at William's request, both to protect London from outsiders and to protect the Normans from the London residents.

London facts are filled with amazing accounts of battles and regular warring for the development of whole nations. Europe was being carved up quite literally at the time. The history of London England was directly impacted by the continuous exchanges of power in the greater country as a whole. The middle ages saw disaster strike especially in the middle part of the fourteenth century when the Black Death, or Plague, struck, impacting London history and the history of the young empire as a whole in a staggering way. England lost one third of its population as a result of the Plague.

The Tudor period in England brought a decided turn to Protestantism. The obvious result was a wide-scale shift from church ownership to private ownership of land. Around this time London began to flourish as a center for commerce and trade. For the first time massive companies including the British East India Company began to sail the high seas opening up whole new channels of trade and opportunities for the exploration of the new world in North America and beyond. Some of the most interesting London facts are those that point to how culture and civilization was impacted by the commercial development of the city.

London once again was afflicted by a plague in the early seventeenth century. The history of London England tells a sad story of the Great Plague of 1665 and 1666 claiming up to 100,000 lives. The Great Fire of London was the last of a series of disasters that beset the city. London, which by this time had become the main northern seaport in England, began to rebuild and recover from the fire which had claimed so many of the city’s wooden buildings. Design and architecture became a central focus and what has become modern London fully began to be conceived. There are volumes of London facts on how World War II not only affected London and England, but also the entirety of Europe and the world as a whole. All of Europe was in a position of needing to rebuild much of their infrastructure form the ground up.

London is currently the largest metropolitan area in the entire European Union. It is a global center for finance, arts, culture, fashion, and entertainment. London will host the 2010 Summer Olympics. There are nearly eight million people in the greater London area. Its biggest airport, London Heathrow, is the busiest airport for international traffic in the world.