4 capitals of Great Britain
n 1762 George III acquired Buckingham Palace (then known as "house") from the Duke of Buckingham. It was enlarged over the next 75 years by architects such as John Nash. It would not be until the 19th century, however, that the palace would become the principle London royal residence.A phenomenon of 18th century London was the coffee house, which became a popular place to debate ideas. Growing literacy and the development of the printing press meant that news became widely available. Fleet Street became the centre of the embryonic British press during the century.18th century London was dogged by crime, the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750 as a professional police force. Penalties for crime were harsh, with the death penalty being applied for fairly minor crimes. Public hangings were common in London, and were popular public events.In 1780 London was rocked by the Gordon Riots, an uprising by Protestants against Roman Catholic emancipation led by Lord George Gordon. Severe damage was caused to Catholic churches and homes, and 285 rioters were killed.In the year 1787, freed slaves from London, America, and many of Britain's colonies founded Freetown in modern-day Sierra Leone.Up until 1750, London Bridge was the only crossing over the Thames, but in that year Westminster Bridge was opened and, for the first time in history, London Bridge, in a sense, had a rival.The 18th century saw the breakaway of the American colonies and many other unfortunate events in London, but also great change and Enlightenment. This all led into the beginning of modern times, the 19th century.During the 19th century the number of crimes punishable by death rose to about 200. Some, such as treason or murder, were serious crimes. The death sentence could be passed for picking pockets, stealing bread or cutting down a tree. Minor crime was punished by being sent to prisons, sometimes transported abroad for theft, whipped in public.And nowadays there are few places that offer such a variety of sights, entertainments, educational and business opportunities, world- famous museums and theatres, and superb shopping. London draws people from all over the world. Some come to study, to work or on holiday. London is naturally a very English city, yet it is the least typical of Britain as it is very cosmopolitan, containing goods, food and entertainment, as well as people, from many countries of the world. EdinburghDuring its prehistory in the Iron and Bronze Ages, man existed in the area around Holyrood, Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentlands, leaving traces of primitive stone settlements. At the time of its actual foundation, it was a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, an Anglian kingdom on the east side of Great Britain, spanning from the River Humber to the Firth of Forth. The area surrounding Castle Rock, then known as "Lookout Hill" become the foundation point. On the hill Edwin of Northumbria a powerful Christian king founded the fortress to secure the northern part of his territory against invasion. This fortress was known in the Brythonic language as Din Eidyn, which means "Edwin's fort" after the king. As the fortess grew, many houses were re-located towards the ridge of castlehill. A layout began to form, when householders would be given the option to be granted a "toft" or stretch of garden behind the ridge. The name eventually developed through the English language into first Edwinesburch and then into Edinburgh, the name it is known by today. After the murder of St. Oswald King of Northumbria, Edinburgh fell under the control of the Danelaw.
Battles between the Scots and various invaders for the custody of Edinburgh Castle are a recurring theme in the history of Edinburgh. Castle Rock, a volcanic crag now crowned by Edinburgh Castle, was created some 340 millions years ago during the Paleozoic Era. With three vertical sides, the rock is a natural fortification. It is believed to have been used as a stronghold as early as the first centuries of the first millennium.
When Agricola, the Roman Governor of Britain, advanced north in AD 79 he encountered the Celtic tribe of Votadinii, who controlled the Forth River valley and are thought to have based themselves around site of Edinburgh castle. There is archaeological evidence that the Roman army had a base near Edinburgh too, and that they mixed with the locals on a daily basis. But the Romans never really mastered Caledonia and by 211 they had retreated behind Hadrian's wall, about a hundred miles to the south of the city, and by 410 they had left Britain for good.
In the 7th century an English King, Edwin of Northumbria, pushed north and won control of much of lowland Scotland. He built a fort on the strategic castle rock and called it Dun Eadain meaning 'Fortress-on-a-Hill'. This fort may have later become known as either Edwin's Burgh or Eadain's Burgh (there has been much debate as to whether this is actually true) and later, obviously, Edinburgh.
Hereford Mappa Mundi, featuring Edinburgh in 1300
In the 10th century, with the collapse of the Danelaw the Scots captured the position. Then in the 12th century a small town flourished at the base of the castle known as Edinburgh, along side which another community rose up to the East around the Abbey of Holyrood, known as Holyrood, together in the 13th century these became Royal Burghs. In consequence to Edinburgh's earlier Anglo-Saxon rule, Edinburgh and the Border counties lay in a disputed zone between England and Scotland, England claiming all Anglo-Saxon Domains as English territory, and Scotland claiming all territory as far south as Hadrians Wall, the result being a long series of border wars and clashes, which often left Edinburgh Castle under English control. It was not until the 15th century when Edinburgh remained for the most firmly under Scottish control, that King James IV of Scotland undertook, to move the Royal Court from Stirling to Holyrood, making Edinburgh by proxy Scotland's capital.
As Edinburgh remained under Scottish Rule, with the nearby port and Royal Burgh of Leith, Edinburgh flourished both economically and culturally. In 1603, following King James VI's accession to the English and Irish Thrones, James VI instituted the first executive Parliament of Scotland which met in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle, later finding a home in the Tolbooth, before moving to purpose-built Parliament House, Edinburgh, which is now home to the Supreme Courts of Scotland[citation needed]. In 1639 disputes over the planned merger, between the Presbyterian Church and the Anglican Church, and the demands by Charles I, to reunify the divided St. Giles' Cathedral, led to the Bishops Wars, which in turn led to the English Civil War, and the eventual the occupation of Edinburgh by Commonwealth forces of Oliver Cromwell. In the 1670s King Charles II commissioned the rebuilding of Holyrood Palace.
An 1802 illustration of Edinburgh from the West
During the last Jacobite rebellion Edinburgh was occupied by Jacobite forces, after the retreat of Jacobite forces from Derby it was re-occupied by British forces under the command of the Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. Following the defeat of Jacobites there was a long period of reprisals and pacification. At this time, the Hanoverian Monarch wished to stamp his identity on Edinburgh and new developments to the North of the castle were named in honour of the King and his Family; George Street, Frederick Street, Hanover Street, Queen Street, Prince's Street, Castle Street and with control of the `Rose' of England and the `Thistle' of Scotland these names were also allocated to Streets. The original plan for this build was to be constructed in the form of King James VI's Union Flag and this shape can be detected when viewing the layout of the aforementioned streets from above.
Out of the mess left behind by the consequences of the Jacobite rebellion came a number of Scottish Intellectuals, many from Edinburgh, including Adam Smith, who felt it was time to put the history of the Clans of Scotland behind them and that this was a time for Scotland to modernise. They promoted the idea of Britishness, and led Great Britain and the British Empire into a golden age of economic and social reform and prosperity. It was during this period, that Edinburgh expanded beyond the limits of its city walls, with the creation of the New Town, following the draining of the Nor Loch, which has since become Princes Street Gardens. Edinburgh became a major cultural centre, earning it the nickname Athens of the North because of the Greco-Roman style of the New Towns' architecture, as well as the rise of the Scottish/British intellectual elite in the city, who were increasingly leading both British and European intellectual thought. Edinburgh is particularly noted for its fine architecture, especially from the Georgian period. In 17th-century Edinburgh, a defensive city wall defined the boundaries of the city. Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories,[citation needed] and thus are thought to be the pioneers for the modern-day skyscraper. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the old town of Edinburgh.
In the 19th century Edinburgh like many cities industrialised, but most of this was undertaken in Leith, which meant that Edinburgh as a whole did not grow greatly in size. Glasgow soon replaced it as the largest and most prosperous city in Scotland, becoming the industrial, commercial and trade centre, while Edinburgh remained almost purely Scotland's intellectual and cultural centre, which it remains to this day as one of the greatest cultural centres of the UK.
