London

London (/ˈlʌndən/ LUN-dən)[6] is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022.[2] The wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million.[7][c] London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years.[8] Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries.[d][9] The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of the national government and parliament. London grew rapidly in the 19th century, becoming the world's largest city at the time. Since the 19th century,[10][11] the name "London" has referred to the metropolis around the City of London, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire,[12] which since 1965 has largely comprised the administrative area of Greater London, governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority.[e][13] As one of the world's major global cities,[14][15] London exerts a strong influence on world art, entertainment, fashion, commerce, finance, education, healthcare, media, science, technology, tourism, transport, and communications.[16][17] Despite a post-Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange,[18] London remains Europe's most economically powerful city[19] and one of the world's major financial centres. It hosts Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions,[20] some of which are the highest-ranked academic institutions in the world: Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, the London School of Economics in social sciences, and the comprehensive University College London.[21][22] It is the most visited city in Europe and has the world's busiest city airport system.[23] The London Underground is the world's oldest rapid transit system.[24]