London Listeni/'l?nd?

n/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the

United Kingdom.[5][6] Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the isl
and of Great Britain, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. It w
as founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium.[7] London's ancient core, the
City of London, largely retains its 1.12-square-mile (2.9 km2) medieval boundari
es. Since at least the 19th century, "London" has also referred to the metropoli
s around this core, historically split between Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, a
nd Hertfordshire,[8][9][10] which today largely makes up Greater London,[11][12]
[note 1] governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.[13][note 2][14
]
London is a leading global city,[15][16] in the arts, commerce, education, enter
tainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research a
nd development, tourism, and transport.[17][18][19] It is one of the world's lea
ding financial centres[20][21][22] and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropoli
tan area GDP in the world.[note 3][23][24] London is a world cultural capital.[2
5][26][27] It is the world's most-visited city as measured by international arri
vals[28] and has the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger t
raffic.[29] London is the world's leading investment destination,[30][31][32] ho
sting more international retailers[33][34] and ultra high-net-worth individuals[
35][36] than any other city. London's universities form the largest concentratio
n of higher education institutes in Europe,[37] and a 2014 report placed it firs
t in the world university rankings. According to the report London also ranks fi
rst in the world in software, multimedia development and design, and shares firs
t position in technology readiness.[38] In 2012, London became the only city to
have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.[39]
London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages a
re spoken in the region.[40] Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population (corres
ponding to Greater London) was 8,673,713,[2] the largest of any city in the Euro
pean Union,[41] and accounting for 12.5 per cent of the UK population.[42] Londo
n's urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,42
6 inhabitants at the 2011 census.[43] The city's metropolitan area is one of the
most populous in Europe with 13,879,757 inhabitants,[note 4][44] while the Grea
ter London Authority states the population of the city-region (covering a large
part of the south east) as 22.7 million.[45] London was the world's most populou
s city from around 1831 to 1925.[46]
London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the
site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret's
Church; and the historic settlement of Greenwich (in which the Royal Observator
y, Greenwich marks the Prime Meridian, 0 longitude, and GMT).[47] Other famous la
ndmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's
Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. London is home to nume
rous museums, galleries, libraries, sporting events and other cultural instituti
ons, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tat
e Modern, British Library and West End theatres.[48] The London Underground is t
he oldest underground railway network in the world.