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Period: 4800 BCE to 1275 BCE
Prehistoric findings
During the end of the last century, many different remains of what were probably bridges were found on the shores of the Thames river. These remains, which date from before 1285 to 4800 BC, are made of timber. -
47
The first large settlements
After the invasion of Romans in the year 43, a settlement called “Londinium” was established where London lies nowadays. These people were later pushed away by local tribes during the year 61, until the Romans came back and took the place back, increasing the size of the population up to 60 thousand people. At that time, the city was sorrounded by a wall. -
500
Anglo-Saxon settlement
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Londinium became abandoned, and an Anglo-Saxon settlement calles Lundenwic was created a bit west of that. By the 7th century it became a great port city again, but it suffered repeated Viking attacks during the 9th century. Around 886, Alfred the Great, the king of Wessex, refounded London where the Romans had built it. -
1066
London and the Middle Ages
After the battle of the Hasting and the crowning of William I, London saw great constructions being made. The Tower of London was built, and the base of what today is the Palace of Westminster was constructed. By the 14th century, the population had reached nearly 100 thousand, but the Black Death hit the city in the middle of the century, decimating it’s population. London was also the center of revolts. -
Jan 1, 1485
The begining of the Tudor Period in London
During the beginning of the modern ages, and in England, the Tudor Period, London saw a great increase in trade and business, and property wasn't from church anymore, but from private owners. -
1565
The importance of the port
There was a burst in commerce closely related to the reopening of the Netherlands to English ships. This brought lots of prosperity to the city and it’s population. -
The Great Fire
On the 2nd of September 1666, the Great Fire of London started, which lasted until the 6th and it destroyed everything down it’s path, but the most affected were the poor people, as their houses were made out of wood. The fire also came right after the Great Plague, which reduced London’s population by a fifth. -
How did the industrial revolution affect London? 2
The Industrial Revolution would turn London into one of the world’s first megacities as it grew the swallow up several parishes and areas that had once been farmland and created new demands on city services thanks to overcrowding. -
How did the industrial revolution affect London? 1
The Industrial Revolution changed the world forever. The coming of mechanized production marked a shift from a mostly agrarian society to a technological one. That shift also brought a population migration from the country to urban areas, resulting in an explosion in city populations and a strain on infrastructure. This was most evident in London, which was arguably the first city affected by the Industrial Revolution as this worldwide event originated in the United Kingdom. -
London becomes brighter at night 1
From the mid-18th Century to the early 19th Century, another major innovation brought to London by the Industrial Revolution was city lighting. Oil lamps were the first to be used in London and by the 1790s, William Murdoch was developing a system to use coal gas in lighting his factory, which eventually led to coal gas street lamps installed at Pall Mall by Federick Albert Winsor in 1807. -
London keeps improving
By the end of 1813, Westminster Bridge was the first in the city to be lit by gas. At the same time, the invention and proliferation of the steam engine brought railways to London, first with metropolitan railways of above-ground trains taking suburbanites into the city for work and back, then with the underground trains that would come to form the Tube. -
London, the world's biggest city
From 1831 to 1925, London was considered as the world’s largest city, to a peak of 8.6 million and a population density of 325. London was the place for the construction of the first metropolitan rail network, so as to alleviate traffic in the city's roads. -
The 2nd industrial revolution in London
The Second Industrial Revolution was another great leap forward in technology and society. New innovations in steel production, petroleum and electricity led to the introduction of public automobiles and airplanes.
The Second Industrial Revolution began in the middle of the 19th century. It was a period of growth for pre-existing industries and new ones such as the steel or oil. New technologies led to the introduction of two things that would change the world: public transport and planes. -
London's evacuation
Two days before declaring war on Germany in September 1939, the national government put into effect its recently developed evacuation plans designed to remove most of the children, teachers and babysitters, to safe towns and country districts. There was no bombing in 1939, and most of the evacuees soon returned. -
The Blitz
The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War.
The Germans conducted mass air attacks against industrial targets, towns, and cities, beginning with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940. It lasted until the 21st of May 1941. -
The V-1, a new weapon.
The V-1 flying bomb was an early cruise missile. Towards the end of the war, during 1944/45 London came under heavy attack again by pilotless V-1 rockets, which were fired from Nazi occupied Europe. The first V-1 was launched at London on 13 June 1944. The attacks ended when the launching sites were captured in October. Approximately 10,000 were fired at England; 2,419 reached London, killing about 6,184 people and injuring 17,981. -
The V-2 creates more panic on London
The V-2 was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. It created havoc on London, as it was far more precise than the previous V-1 flying bomb. V-2 attacks began on 8 September 1944, killing 2,754 civilians in London with another 6,523 injured. -
Mid 20th Century
London began a decrease in population after WWII, but it didn't mean that it stopped being a great center for the young and one of the economical centers of Europe and the world.