London Central London skyline, Buckingham Palace, and Palace of WestminsterLondon From Wikipedia, the free encyclo pedia London( i /ˈlʌndәn/) [3] is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. [4] It is the most populous city in the United Kingdom, with a metropolitan area of over 13 million i nhabitants. Standing on the RiverThames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. [5] London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1.12-squa re-mile (2.9 km 2 ) mediaeval boundaries and in 2011 had a resident po pulation of 7,375, making it the smallest city in England. Since at least the 19th century, the termLondonhas also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. [6] The bulk ofthis conurbation forms the Greater London administrative area (coterminous with the London region), [7][8][ note 1] governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. [9][note 2] London isa leadingglobal city, [10][11] with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism, and transport all contributing to its preeminence. [12] It is one of the world's leading financial centres [13][14][15] and has the fifth-or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDPin theworld depending on measurement. [note 3][16][17] London is a world cultural capital. [18][19][20][21] It is the world's most-visited city as measured by international arri vals [22] and has the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic. [23] London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe. [24] In 2012, London became the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times. [25] London has a diverse range of peoples and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken within Greater London. [26] The region had an official population of 8,416,535 in 2013, [2] making it the most populous municipality in the European Coordinates: 51°30′26″N 0°7′39″W
