10 Topics for exams - topic5.


                                     13.


                           The history of London.


      More than two thousand years ago the early Britons established a
settlement on the north bank of the Thames. The site had many advantages.
It was defended on two sides by rivers. It lay in the center of the most
fertile region. The old Britons gave the town its name, Lyndin, the Romans
made it the center of their colony, the Germanic invaders tied to burn and
destroy it, the victorious Normans made it the capital of the country. So
the physical layout of contemporary London is the end product of complex
historical events and growth forces.
      The fort of Londinium, founded by the Romans in the 1st century AD,
and the administrative center established at Westminster 1000 years later
served as the nuclei for following development in Central London.
      At the time of the Roman occupation of Britain in the 1st century AD,
London was already a town of considerable importance, in the 2th century
King Alfred made London the capital of his kingdom. After William the
Conqueror established himself in England, he began construction of the
Tower of London, intending it as a citadel to overawe the populace. Many
Normans settled in London and erected imposing edifices.
     Throughout the Middle Ages the development of London was slow and was
repeatedly arrested by wars, epidemics and commercial crises. The opening
by Queen Elizabeth 1 of the Royal Exchange in 1566 marked the growth of the
city expanded it might become too powerful. Queen Elizabeth 1 issued a
proclamation prohibiting the construction of any new building within a
radius of 4,8 km outside the city gates.
    In 1665, during the Great Plague, nearly 70,000 Londoners died of to
the disease with a period of a year. The epidemic was followed by the Great
Fire of 1666, which destroyed most of the walled section of the city.
Because the Rebuilding Act of 1667 stipulated that only stone and brick be
used, the new buildings that rose from the ruins bore little resemblance to
the quaint wooden dwellings of old London.
    During the 19th century many suburbs were incorporated into Greater
London, all the bridges in the city were rebuilt in  stone, and the streets
were furnished first with gas, and later with electric, illumination.
    During World War 1 London was the object of frequent raids by German
airplanes and zeppelins. The city was heavily bombed during World War 2.
About 10,000 persons wee killed. Among the celebrated buildings either
damaged or destroyed were the Tower of London, the British Museum, Houses
of Parliament, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham palace, many railway
stations also were severely damaged.
     After the war, by the end of the 1950s most of the war damage in
London was repaired. As a result of the reconstruction the skyline of the
city began changing. Tall buildings were built, such as The London
StockExchange, the General Post Office. Homes, shops, schools and a
cultural center were built, and important landmarks were preserved.
     Considerable controversy followed the demolition of several historical
or architecturally interesting  areas sacrificed for the construction of
high-rise office and apartment buildings.

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