London, city, capital of the United Kingdom. It is among the oldest of the populace ’ s great cities—its history spanning about two millennia—and one of the most cosmopolitan. By far Britain ’ second largest city, it is besides the state ’ second economic, transportation, and cultural kernel.
London is situated in southeast England, lying astride the River Thames some 50 miles ( 80 kilometer ) upstream from its estuary on the North Sea. In satellite photograph the city can be seen to sit succinctly in a green Belt of open nation, with its principal ring highway ( the M25 expressway ) threaded around it at a radius of about 20 miles ( 30 kilometer ) from the city center. The emergence of the built-up sphere was halted by nonindulgent town planning controls in the mid-1950s. Its physical limits more or less represent to the administrative and statistical boundaries separating the metropolitan county of Greater London from the “ dwelling counties ” of Kent, Surrey, and Berkshire ( in clockwise order ) to the south of the river and Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Essex to the north. The historic counties of Kent, Hertfordshire, and Essex extend in area beyond the stream administrative counties with the same names to include substantial parts of the metropolitan county of Greater London, which was formed in 1965. Most of Greater London south of the Thames belongs to the historic county of Surrey, while most of Greater London north of the Thames belongs historically to the county of Middlesex. Area Greater London, 607 square miles ( 1,572 squarely kilometer ). Pop. ( 2001 ) Greater London, 7,172,091 ; ( 2011 preliminary examination. ) Greater London, 8,173,941.
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Big Ben big Ben, London .© Digital Vision/Getty Images