The name London comes from the Latin name Londinium, as London was founded by the Romans during their reign over the island  although there is some slight evidence of pre-Roman settlement. The BBC History website, however, claims that the name Londinium is actually “Celtic, not Latin, and may originally have referred to a previous farmstead on the site”.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Londinium was abandoned and a Saxon town named Lundenwic was established approximately one mile to the west in what is now Aldwych, in the 7th century. The old Roman city was then re-occupied during the late 9th or early 10th century.

Westminster was once a distinct town, and has been the seat of the English royal court and government since the medieval era. Eventually, Westminster and London grew together and formed the basis of London, becoming England’s largest  though not capital  city. (Winchester was the capital city of England until the 12th century.)

London has grown steadily over centuries, surrounding and making suburbs of neighbouring villages and towns, farmland, countryside, meadows and woodlands, spreading in every direction. From the 16th to the early 20th centuries, London flourished as the capital of the British Empire.

In 1666, the Great Fire of London swept through and destroyed a large part of the City of London. Re-building took over 10 years, but London’s growth accelerated in the 18th century and by the early 19th century it was the largest city in the world.

London’s local government system struggled to cope with this rapid growth, especially in providing the city with adequate infrastructure. In 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works was created to provide London with infrastructure to cope with its growth. In 1889 the MBW was abolished, and the County of London was created. It was administered by the London County Council, the first elected London-wide administrative body.

On July 7, 2005, there was a series of coordinated bomb attacks on three underground stations and a bus. The explosions came less than 24 hours after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics and as the G-8 summit was underway in Gleneagles, Scotland. A series of explosions also took place on July 21 2005. However in the latter incident there were no fatalities.

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