London City Guide - History

AD43-50 Romans establish a stronghold on the River Thames
AD60 Queen Boudicca's revolt destroys the Roman settlement of Londinium
By AD100 Londinium replaces Colchester (Camulodunum) as the capital of the province of Britannia
604 St Paul's Cathedral is founded by the first Saxon Bishop, Mellitus
1050-65 Edward the Confessor constructs Westminster Abbey
1067 William the Conqueror begins construction of three fortresses, including the Tower of London
1215 City of London is given the right to elect its own mayor
1319 Edward II recognises the city's autonomy
1327 Completion of St Paul's Cathedral
1348-75 The Black Death kills half the city's population
1381 Peasant's Revolt led by Watt Tyler
1397-1420 Dick Whittington is Mayor of London
1587 The Rose Theatre is built on Bankside
1599 The Globe Theatre opens on Bankside
1600 The East India Company is founded
1605 Guy Fawkes tries and fails to blow up the Houses of Parliament
1649 Execution of Charles I
1665-66 Plague kills more than 110,000 Londoners
1666 Great Fire of London
1683-84 River Thames freezes over in what is now known as the Great Freeze
1694 Founding of the Bank of England
1700 Population stands at 600,000
1750 Street lighting is introduced
1780 Anti-Catholic Gordon riots
1801 Population stands at 900,000
1834 Opening of the capital's first railway – a local passenger line between London and Greenwich
1837 Opening of the first intercity rail route, London to Birmingham
1851 Great Exhibition is housed in Crystal Palace and Hyde Park and attracts six million visitors
1863 London Underground opens
1889 First major strike called at the docks
1901 Death of Queen Victoria. Population reaches 6.5 million
1918-39 Population of Greater London grows to 8.7 million, but the number of people living in the City shrinks
1926 General Strike
Aug-Sep 1940 Battle of Britain
1940-41 The Blitz
1944-45 Nazi rocket attacks destroy parts of the City, Westminster, the Docks and the East End
1951 Festival of Britain
1960-80 Closure of many London docks
1965 First Notting Hill Carnival takes place
1980 Mrs Thatcher disbands the Greater London Council under Ken Livingstone
1980 Brixton riots
1990 Poll Tax riots in Trafalgar Square
2000 Millennium Dome and the BA London Eye are among many projects that promote London as the 'Millennium City'. Ken Livingstone elected new major of London
2003 Demonstrators take to the streets for the Stop the War in Iraq march (Feb). President George W Bush's official visit to the capital (Nov).
July 2005 London wins the bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012
July 2005 Suicide bombings by terrorists kill 56