. History of London

The exact time of the first settlements in the territory of modern London is not known. Nor is it clear how it got its name (attempts to link the word "London" with Celtic roots not argued). Authentic history of the town starts with 43 years after the invasion to Britain's legions of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Where is closest to the sea, the Roman engineers managed to build a wooden bridge across the Thames, the city was founded. The Romans built Londinium in the image of their city, erecting a wall around Pego, earthen first, and then, in the 4th century, a stone, which took place almost on the border of this area the City. For the history of London's Roman period, was of great importance. Even then, a combination of good roads and major land waterway - the Thames - has made the city's most important trading center, not just Britain but all over northern Europe, largely by defining it further. The first buildings appeared on the hill, Corn Hill, then spread to the city lying west of the hill of Saint Paul Hill. Londinium quickly became the largest center of Britain, and in '51 the historian Tacitus mentions it as''a city full of merchants, known as a center of commerce. "Quarters near the center were built with brick and stone houses of rich citizens. They were placed Highlanders to the streets, forming a rectangular grid . The houses here are very comfortable: the excavations revealed not only the fragments of frescoes and mosaics, but also the remains of baths and air-heating devices. At first the city was protected by a small fort, situated north-west of the settlement. Traces of its rectangular layout, typical for the Roman military camp, keep the direction of modern streets south Grippls-gate. As soon as the Roman Empire fell into decay and its legions grew weaker, Londinium getting more and more powerful fortifications. In the 2nd century, was started which lasted several decades, building walls around the city. Folded from Kent limestone and had a thickness of about 3 meters, it is many centuries renovate and add to, but kept its general shape and structure of the value of an essential element of the city. In the 4th century Londinium was increasingly subject to attacks of barbarians from northern Europe. Trade has declined, the population decreased. Finally , in 410, Emperor Honorius withdrew the Roman legions from Britain and for many decades Londinium was abandoned. And yet, a fortified castle Tower, occupying a position dominating London. Based on this focal point, he controlled the city and its surroundings. At this time, England completed the formation of feudal relations, isolated areas were united into one state, thus accelerating its economic development. In the 12th century among the settlements, side by side with London, stands the town of Westminster, had grown around the 7th century founded a monastery. On the south bank of the Thames to London Bridge, in the years 1176-1209 rebuilt in stone, began to develop a fortified suburb of Southwark, defended the approach to the bridge and ferry. By this time the Londoners had the government, elected judge and sheriff. By the 14th century city dwellers, and especially the emerging merchant elite, have become a significant social force to be willy-nilly had to be considered and royal power. The city wall of London is never tolerated. When the city was becoming too closely at some distance from it there were new settlements. The cause of the hard constraints have been the territory of the City the exclusive right, which made the town. Urban tip did not want to share them with the new citizens, and the king sought to prevent the expansion of the privileged. But in the Middle Ages, the history of London ceased to be a history of only one City. The functions of governance focused at Westminster, where settled Supreme Court, Parliament, the royal treasury. The Tudors in the 16th century brought back his seat, making the Tower into a political prison. Building Westminster grouped around the palace and abbey. The rapid industrial development in the 16th century led to extensive construction so that the scope of his seemed menacing the city's population has reached 123 thousand, the number of those unprecedented times. In 1580 was published the first law regulating the construction of the city, but a law in 1592 in London, construction was prohibited. By the end of the 16th century new industrial areas have already been formed in the complex of the East End, where the docks were established first, and the hereditary nobility settlement grouped around the royal palace at Whitehall, gave rise to the West Endu. By the mid-16th century, the city's population reached 400 thousand, and London in terms of population caught up with Paris, while the largest city in the world. But most of the buildings in London remains wooden. Houses four to five floors with steep roofs to form a continuous building of narrow streets. Even the sides but rose five-story London Bridge construction. Overcrowding and poor neighborhoods in the mud created the conditions for epidemics of

plague claimed tens of thousands of lives.