LONDON (PRONOUNCED /ˈLʌNDƏN/) IS THE CAPITAL OF ENGLAND AND THE

UNITED KINGDOM. IT HAS BEEN A MAJOR SETTLEMENT FOR TWO MILLENNIA,

AND THE HISTORY OF LONDON GOES BACK TO ITS FOUNDING BY THE R OMANS,
WHEN IT WAS NAMED L ONDINIUM .[6] L ONDON ' S CORE , THE ANCIENT CITY OF
LONDON, THE 'SQUARE MILE', RETAINS ITS MEDIEVAL BOUNDARIES. SINCE AT
LEAST THE NINETEENTH CENTURY , THE NAME "LONDON " HAS ALSO REFERRED TO
THE METROPOLIS DEVELOPED AROUND IT . TODAY , THE BULK OF THIS
CONURBATION FORMS THE LONDON REGION AND THE G REATER LONDON
ADMINISTRATIVE AREA, WITH ITS OWN ELECTED MAYOR AND ASSEMBLY .

LONDON IS A MAJOR GLOBAL CITY AND ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST

FINANCIAL CENTRES. CENTRAL LONDON IS HOME TO THE HEADQUARTERS OF
MORE THAN HALF OF THE UK'S TOP 100 LISTED COMPANIES ( THE FTSE
100) AND MORE THAN 100 OF EUROPE'S 500 LARGEST. LONDON'S
INFLUENCE IN POLITICS , FINANCE, EDUCATION , ENTERTAINMENT , MEDIA ,
FASHION , THE ARTS AND CULTURE IN GENERAL CONTRIBUTES TO ITS GLOBAL
POSITION . IT IS A MAJOR TOURIST DESTINATION FOR BOTH DOMESTIC AND
OVERSEAS VISITORS . L ONDON HOSTED THE 1908 AND 1948 SUMMER
OLYMPICS AND WILL HOST THE 2012 SUMMER OLYMPICS.
LONDON CONTAINS FOUR WORLD HERITAGE SITES: THE TOWER OF LONDON;
THE HISTORIC SETTLEMENT OF G REENWICH ; THE R OYAL BOTANIC GARDENS,
KEW; AND THE SITE COMPRISING THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER,
WESTMINSTER ABBEY AND ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH.
LONDON HAS A WIDE RANGE OF PEOPLES, CULTURES, AND RELIGIONS, AND
MORE THAN 300 LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN WITHIN ITS BOUNDARIES. IN JULY
2007, IT HAD AN OFFICIAL POPULATION OF 7,556,900 WITHIN THE
BOUNDARIES OF G REATER LONDON , MAKING IT THE MOST POPULOUS
MUNICIPALITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION . THE GREATER L ONDON URBAN A REA
(THE SECOND LARGEST IN THE EU) HAS A POPULATION OF 8,278,251.
WHILE THE METROPOLITAN AREA ( THE LARGEST IN THE EU) HAS AN ESTIMATED
TOTAL POPULATION OF BETWEEN 12 MILLION AND 14 MILLION . THE L ONDON
UNDERGROUND NETWORK, ADMINISTERED BY TRANSPORT FOR LONDON, IS THE
MOST EXTENSIVE SUBWAY NETWORK IN THE WORLD, L ONDON HEATHROW
AIRPORT IS THE WORLD'S BUSIEST AIRPORT BY NUMBER OF INTERNATIONAL
PASSENGERS AND THE AIRSPACE IS THE BUSIEST OF ANY URBAN CENTRE IN THE
.WORLD