London is a leading global city

• London

• London  is the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom. With an estimated 8,308,369 residents in 2012, London is the most populous region, urban zone and metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and is the largest city in the European Union. Standing on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding 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) mediaeval boundaries and in 2011 had a resident population of 7,375, making it the smallest city in England. Since at least the 19th century, the term London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region  and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly

 

• London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence

• Toponymy[
• Main article: Etymology of London
• The name London may derive from theRiver Thames
• The etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name and can be found in sources from the 2nd century. It is recorded c. asLondinium, which points to Romano-British origin. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae.This had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud.[
• From 1898, it was commonly accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos; this explanation has since been rejected. Richard Coates put forward an explanation in 1998 that it is derived from the pre-Celtic Old European *(p)lowonida, meaning 'river too wide to ford', and suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London; from this, the settlement gained the Celtic form of its name, *Lowonidonjon;[ this requires quite a serious amendment however. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin formLondinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *(h)lōndinion (as opposed to *londīnion), from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name.
• Until 1889, the name "London" officially only applied to the City of London but since then it has also referred to the County of London and now Greater London.

 

• National government
• London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom, which is located around the Palace of Westminster. Many government departments are located close to Parliament, particularly along Whitehall, including the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street. The British Parliament is often referred to as the "Mother of Parliaments" (although this sobriquet was first applied to England itself by John Bright) because it has been the model for most other parliamentary systems, and its Acts have created many other parliaments.

 

• Topography
• Panoramic view of London fromPrimrose Hill
• Primrose Hill.
• Greater London encompasses a total area of 1,583 square kilometres (611 sq mi), an area which had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 4,542 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,760 /sq mi). The extended area known as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration, comprises a total area of 8,382 square kilometres (3,236 sq mi) has a population of 13,709,000 and a population density of 1,510 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,900 /sq mi).[105] Modern London stands on the Thames, its primary geographical feature, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east.

• Museums and art galleries
• The British Museum
• London is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The first of these to be established was the British Museum in Bloomsbury, in 1753. Originally containing antiquities, natural history specimens and the national library, the museum now has 7 million artefacts from around the globe. In 1824 the National Gallery was founded to house the British national collection of Western paintings; this now occupies a prominent position in Trafalgar Square. In the latter half of the 19th century the locale of South Kensington was developed as "Albertopolis", a cultural and scientific quarter. Three major national museums are located there: the Victoria and Albert Museum (for the applied arts), the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1856 to house depictions of figures from British history; its holdings now comprise the world's most extensive collection of portraits. The national gallery of British art is at Tate Britain, originally established as an annexe of the National Gallery in 1897. The Tate Gallery, as it was formerly known, also became a major centre for modern art; in 2000 this collection moved to Tate Modern, a new gallery housed in the formerBankside Power Station.

 

British Museum

• Sports
• Centre Court at the All England Clubhosting a Wimbledon Championships match in 2010.
• London has hosted the Summer Olympics three times: in 1908, 1948, and 2012.London was chosen in July 2005 to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, making it the first city to host the modern Games three times. London was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934.London will host the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.
• Wembley Stadium viewed from Wembley Way
• London's most popular sport is football and it has fourteen League football clubs, including six in the Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham,Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United. In May 2012 Chelsea become the first London club to win the UEFA Champions League.

 

Centre Court at the All England Club hosting a Wimbledon Championships match in 2010.                                          

From 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team, and served as the venue for the FA Cup final as well asrugby league's Challenge Cup final.The new Wembley Stadium serves exactly the same purposes and has a capacity of 90,000. Twickenham Stadium in south-west London is the national rugby union stadium, and has a capacity of 84,000 now that the new south stand has been completed.

• Three icons: Big Ben clock tower with ared telephone box and London double-decker bus in front

• The red double-decker bus is an iconic symbol of London

• Status
• Within London, both the City of London and the City of Westminster have city status and both the City of London and the remainder of Greater London are the ceremonial counties.The area of Greater London has incorporated areas that were once part of the historic counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey,Essex and Hertfordshire.
• London's status as the capital of England, and later the United Kingdom, has never been granted or confirmed officially—by statute or in written form.
• Its position was formed through constitutional convention, making its status as de facto capital a part of the UK's unwritten constitution. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the royal court, and thus the political capital of the nation.[104] More recently, Greater London has been defined as a region of England and in this context is known as London.

 

 

• Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the British monarch

• This article is part of a series on the 
  politics and government of 
  London