London

lONDON

"By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show."
Samuel Johnson.

The history of London
Have you ever heard about Londinium? It is what the Romans called today`s London. Of course, the city was much, much smaller when the Romans came and founded Londinium back in AD43. And it was built by the river Thames.

The history of London is long and quite complicated. Many different people have ruled the city, first it was the Romans who founded the city by the river Thames and called it Londinium, this was in AD 43. Then, in AD 60 an Iceni tribe queen, known as Queen Boudicca kicked the Romans out of Londinium and burned the city down. However, the Romans managed to get the city back and made it a little bit bigger than it was before. They also made a wall around the city to protect it from future invasions. Later, when the Roman empire crumbled, London was left almost deserted. That was when the Anglo- Saxons invaded England, and although we don`t know much about London history from that time, we know that, by the 7th Century, London had become important enough to justify the building of a cathedral, St. Pauls. This was a big thing! It was the Anglo - Saxons who united England into one country. London was not the first capital, but by the 12th century London had become the capital of England.

One of the most important events in the history of London is the Great fire Of London in 1666, almost the whole town burned down and many people died.

London today
Today, London is one of the words most important economic, political and cultural centres. It is the largest city in Europe with its 8,6 million people (February 2015). It is also one of the worlds most visited cities.
Tourists come from all over the world to look at Westminster Abby, Tower of London, London Eye, the Tower Bridge and Buckingham palace.

It is said that London`s public transport system is one of the biggest and busiest in Europe. To get around London you can take the double-decker bus, taxi, pram or the "Tube". The Tube is perhaps the easiest way to get around, but the underground system is quite difficult to understand for first time visitors.