August 1st, 2009 by eShop600

London is the capital and largest urban area to be found in England and the United Kingdom. Its history goes back about 2000 years, when it was founded by the Romans as Londinium in 43AD, and it has been at the centre of many important events throughout the ages. Alongside Tokyo and New York is it one of the world’s three largest financial centers and including itself is comprised of 33 distinct areas. If you had a car rental it would take you some time to drive around London let alone see but a fraction of the major attractions.

The ‘first’ London lasted only 17 years before it was burned to the ground by the Celts. The second London lasted a little longer – about 500 years – before it fell into decline and was abandoned. By 600AD, near what is now Covent Garden, the Anglo-Saxons created a new settlement, but in 851AD it too was destroyed in a Viking raid. Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings and re-took the old city; it is now known as Aldwych, from the old ‘Ealdwic’, meaning ‘old town’.

London prospered, but in the late 900s Vikings again began raiding the city, and in 1013 Danish King Canute took the city from English King Ethelred the Unready. Ethelred soon regained control, by demolishing London bridge with the Danish army on top. Canute again took London back, from 1017 to 1042, where upon his death his sympathetic step-son Edward the Confessor re-founded Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster.

In 1666 a Great Fire swept through London which, although it put end to the plague, caused such damage that it took 10 years to rebuild the city. As the fire destroyed many old wooden buildings, the city was rebuilt in stone – take a drive around in your rental car and see the examples of beautiful stonework lining many of London’s streets. Or maybe ditch the car rental for the day and simply catch one of the famous double-decker buses for a tourists’ view of the city.

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