Aberdeen (The Granite City) - A City Guide
Aberdeen (The Granite City) is Scotland’s third largest city. Aberdeen
is the chief commercial centre and seaport in the north-east of
Scotland. It boasts the title of Oil Capital of Europe thanks to the
plentiful supply of crude oil in the North Sea, and stands on a bay of
the North Sea, between the mouths of the rivers Don and Dee.
Aberdeen grew up as two separate burghs - Old Aberdeen at the mouth of
the Don and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement where the
Denburn entered the Dee estuary. The earliest charter was granted by
King William the Lion about 1179, confirming the corporate rights
granted by David I. The city received other royal charters later. In
1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a
property owning and financially independent community. The city was
burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was soon rebuilt and
extended, and called New Aberdeen.
For many centuries the city was
subject to attacks by the neighbouring lords, and was strongly
fortified, but the gates were all removed by 1770. In the 18th century
a new Town Hall was built, elegantly furnished with a marble fireplace
from Holland and a set of fine crystal chandeliers and sconces. The
19th century was a time of considerable expansion. By 1901 the
population was 153,000 and the city covered more than 6,000 acres (24
km
This entry (Permalink) was posted
on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 1:09 am and is filed under Travel Insurance.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0
feed.
You can leave a response
, or trackback
from your own site.
Leave a Reply