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City Signposts
What is a city? In the UK, the status is awarded by the crown with a second defining element of having a cathedral. Worldwide the term is less formally based, except by size and importance. Strategically, because of communication, cities will often be on a river.
Most scholars regard the city of Urak, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as the world's first city, built about 6,000 years ago in what is now southern Iraq. The Sumerian kings commissioned grand buildings, stamping their names in the bricks, so that they would live forever in the memories of the populace. It was colonised by the Persians and the Romans before falling into disuse in the 4th century.
In ancient times cities were also states. In Greece, for example, loyalty was owed first to the state then to the nation. Homer's Iliad describes how Greeks from many city states, including Argos, Athens, Sparta and Thebes united their forces to fight Troy, an alliance for the military venture only.
In the early Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) cities were the seats of bishops.
Growth of cities in the UK was driven by trade and industrialisation. The capital city, London, with a current population of around eight million, developed from the joining of the former Saxon religious settlement, which became Westminster, and the walled Roman settlement of Londinium beside the River Thames, founded in about 43CE. It became the capital in the 1st century.
In 1666, much of the city, which had become a bustling commercial area and port, was destroyed in the Great Fire which razed some 13,000 mainly wooden buildings. The event is evocatively described in the diary of Samuel Pepys. Subsequently the massive building programme gave birth to architectural gems such as St Paul's Cathedral.
Like most cities, the capital has thrived as a magnet for waves of immigrants fleeing destitution and persecution, such as the Huguenots, Italians, Irish and Jews. Within the last 50 years there have been further waves of immigration from countries such as Pakistan, India, Jamaica, Nigeria and, most recently, Kosovo and former communist states.
The UK's second city Birmingham saw its population treble between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, thanks to its excellence in manufacturing. It is now home to about one million people. Liverpool, on the River Mersey, with its current population of around 500,000, was initially a fishing port and expanded quickly in the 18th century as a conduit for the sugar, spice, tobacco and slave trades. Of a similar population size is Manchester, accessed by ships on the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The city was a village until as late as 1750, after which it grew fast due in large part to its cotton mills.
Slightly smaller is Bristol, on the River Avon. From a medieval port, it became the second city to London in the Georgian era, thanks to trades in slaves, rum and tobacco.
Edinburgh, Scotland's capital on the Firth of Forth, grew to prominence from royal patronage and various industries. Cardiff, Wales' capital since 1955, sits on the site of a former Roman fort on the mouth of the River Severn. The turning point for the small fishing port was the coal mining industry, which triggered a population explosion from 1,000 to nearly 200,000 between 1800 and 1900. The population now is about 300,000.
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