Plan

I Great Britain

1. London

2. Birmingham

3. Liverpool

4. Manchester

II Sights of London

1. Westminster Palace or Houses of Parliament

2. Buckingham Palace

3. Saint James`s Palace

4. National Gallery

5. Hyde Park

III Kazakhstan

1. The new capital

2. The Commercial capital

3. Nuclear zone

4. Space center

5. Caviar capital

6. Jewel of the Caspian Sea

7. The heart of Kazakhstan

I Great Britain

1. London

London is the capital of Great Britain, SE England, on both sides of the Thames River. Greater London (1991 pop. 6,378,600), c.620 sq mi (1,610 sq km), consists of the Corporation of the City of London and the following 32 boroughs: Westminster, Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea (the inner boroughs); Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Ealing, Brent, Harrow, Barnet, Haringey, and Enfield (the outer boroughs). Greater London includes the area of the former county of London, most of the former county of Middlesex, and areas that were formerly in Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire. Each of the boroughs of Greater London elects a council. The Corporation of the City (1991 pop. 4,000), 1 sq mi (2.6 sq km), the core of London historically and commercially, elects a lord mayor, aldermen, and councilmen.

Economy

London is one of the world's foremost financial, commercial, industrial, and cultural centers. The Bank of England, Lloyd's, and numerous banks and investment companies have their headquarters there, primarily in the City. It is a center for international finance, especially for large investment houses looking for a strong foothold in the European Community. London is one of the world's greatest ports. It exports manufactured goods and imports petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter, metals, and meat. London is also a great manufacturing city. Many London area workers are employed in manufacturing. Clothing, furniture, precision instruments, jewelry, cement, chemicals, and stationery are produced. Engineering and scientific research are also important. London is rich in artistic and cultural activity with numerous theaters, cinemas, museums, galleries, and opera and concert halls. London also has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, with large groups of immigrants from Commonwealth nations.

Points of Interest

The best-known streets of London are Fleet Street, the Strand, Piccadilly, Whitehall, Pall Mall, Downing Street, Lombard Street, and Bond and Regent streets (noted for their shops). Municipal parks include Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and Regent's Park. Besides the British Museum, the art galleries and museums of London include the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery, and the Tate Gallery. The Univ. of London is the largest in Great Britain. The new Lloyd's building was opened in 1986. Among the more recent developments is the Canary Wharf office complex, which is only partially completed.

History

Little is known of London prior to A.D. 61, when, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, the followers of Queen Boadicea rebelled and slaughtered the inhabitants of the Roman fort Londinium. Roman authority was soon restored, and the first city walls were built, remnants of which still exist. After the final withdrawal of the Roman legions in the 5th cent., London was lost in obscurity. Celts, Saxons, and Danes contested the general area, and it was not until 886 that London again emerged as an important town under the firm control of King Alfred, who rebuilt the defenses against the Danes and gave the city a government.

London put up some resistance to William I in 1066, but he subsequently treated the city well. During his reign the White Tower, the nucleus of the Tower of London, was built just east of the city wall. Under the Normans and Plantagenets (see Great Britain), the city grew commercially and politically and during the reign of Richard I (1189–99) obtained a form of municipal government from which the modern City Corporation developed. In 1215, King John granted the city the right to elect a mayor annually.

The guilds of the Middle Ages gained control of civic affairs and grew sufficiently strong to restrict trade to freemen of the city. The guilds survive today in 80 livery companies, of which members were once the voters in London's municipal elections. Medieval London saw the foundation of the Inns of Court and the construction of Westminster Abbey. By the 14th cent. London had become the political capital of England. It played no active role in the Wars of the Roses (15th cent.).

In the 16th cent. many monastical buildings were destroyed or converted to other uses by Henry VIII, who founded several grammar schools for the poor. The reign of Elizabeth I brought London to a level of great wealth, power, and influence as the undisputed center of England's Renaissance culture. This was the time of Shakespeare and the beginnings of overseas trading companies such as the Muscovy Company. With the advent (1603) of the Stuarts to the throne, the city became involved in struggles with the crown on behalf of its democratic privileges, culminating in the English Civil War.

In 1665 the great plague took some 75,000 lives. A great fire in Sept., 1666, lasted five days and virtually destroyed the city. Sir Christopher Wren played a large role in rebuilding the city. He designed more than 51 churches, notably the rebuilt Saint Paul's Cathedral. Much of the business as well as literary and political discussion was transacted in coffeehouses, forerunners of the modern club. Until 1750, when Westminster Bridge was opened, London Bridge, first built in the 10th cent., was the only bridge to span the Thames. Since the 18th cent. several other bridges have been constructed.

In the 19th cent. London began a period of extraordinary growth. The area of present-day Greater London had about 1.1 million people in 1801; by 1851 the population had increased to 2.7 million, and by 1901 to 6.6 million. During the Victorian era London acquired tremendous prestige as the capital of the British Empire and as a cultural and intellectual center. Britain's free political institutions and intellectual atmosphere continued to make London a haven for persons unsafe in their own countries. The Italian Giuseppe Mazzini, the Russian Alexander Herzen, and the German Karl Marx were among many politically controversial figures who lived for long periods in London.

Many buildings of central London were completely destroyed or partially damaged in air raids during World War II. These include the Guildhall (scene of the lord mayor's banquets and other public functions); No. 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Minister's residence; the Inns of Court; Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament; St. George's Cathedral; and many of the great halls of the ancient livery companies. Today there are numerous blocks of new office buildings and districts of apartment dwellings constructed by the government authorities. The growth of London in the 20th cent. has been extensively planned. One notable feature has been the concept of a “Green Belt” to save certain areas from intensive urban development.