The history of London

London is where the invading Romans first crossed the River Thames. They built a city a square mile in size, surrounded it with a wall and called it Londinium. This original site of London is now called the City of London and is Britain's main financial centre.

The City is only a very small part of London. In the eleventh century, London began to expand beyond the City walls when King Edward the Confessor built a huge abbey at Westminster. Even today, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, as well as all the shops, cafés, theatres and cinemas of the West End, are in the City of Westminster and not in the City of London.

- Tower Bridge was built in 1894. It is next to the Tower of London. The Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror about 1,000 years ago.

- The Monument was erected in 1677 in memory of the Great Fire of London which destroyed almost all the old city in 1666. The column is near the bakery where the fire started.

- Saint Paul's Cathedral was designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren to replace the church which had been destroyed in the Great Fire of London.

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain; Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 76