In March 2004 Cardiff was designated as the world's first FairTrade Capital City in recognition of its support for the scheme. To gain this status Cardiff Council had to ensure that FairTrade products are available in a number of cafes, stores and supermarkets in Cardiff, as well as serving FairTrade teas and coffees in its own canteens and meetings.
Famous sons and daughters
Cardiff has produced many famous names in the last century. Children's author Roald Dahl was born in Cardiff in 1916, and the Norwegian Church where he was christened is now used as an arts centre and cafй. In the sports world Ryan Giggs, Colin Jackson and Dame Tanni Grey Thompson often fill the headlines, and Shirley Bassey and Charlotte Church are the city's home grown musical divas.
Captain Scott and the South Pole
In 1910 Captain Robert Scott set off from Cardiff in the ship the `Terra Nova' on his ill-fated trip to the South Pole. Cardiff connections to Scott include a memorial sculpture in Cardiff Bay, a memorial lighthouse erected in Roath Park and the Discovery pub in Lakeside, home to photos from the expedition. The Captain Scott room in the Royal Hotel, where he ate his farewell dinner, was also reopened earlier this year.
Sporting history
Cardiff has a long association with sport. In 1958 the city hosted the Britsh Empire and Commonwealth Games, now better known as the Commonwealth Games. The Empire swimming pool, however, was demolished to make way for the Millennium Stadium - which hosted the Rugby World Cup final in 1999. The stadium again made sporting history in 2005, when Wales won the Six Nations Grand Slam Championship for the first time in over 20 years. Cardiff will also host an Ashes cricket Test match in 2009, and football matches during the 2012 London Olympic Games.
So, in keeping with its dynamic character, Cardiff is noted for visionary architecture. Dip into the past at its two most extraordinary landmarks, Cardiff Castle in the centre and Castell Coch just outside the city. Both were transformed in the 19th century into Gothic dream palaces. The gleaming white Civic Centre with its domed City Hall is an early 20th-century classic. Then for the shape of the future, head for Cardiff Bay, one of the world's largest regeneration projects dominated by the new and innovative Wales Millennium Centre. Victorian edifices have been joined by chic restaurants, stylish clubs and shops beside a newly created freshwater lake, making it the most exciting place to hang out, day or night.
The history of Belfast as a settlement goes back to the Bronze Age, but its status as a major urban centre dates to the eighteenth century. Belfast today is the capital of Northern Ireland. Belfast was, throughout its modern history, a major commercial and industrial centre. It suffered in the late twentieth century from a decline in its traditional industries, particularly shipbuilding. The city's history has been marked by violent conflict between Catholic and Protestant communities which has caused many parts of the city to be split into 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' areas. In recent years the city has been relatively peaceful and major redevelopment has occurred, especially the inner-city and dock areas.
The city of Belfast began in the early 17th century. The name Belfast is a corruption of the Gaelic words Beal Feirste meaning mouth of the sandy ford.
In 1177 an Englishman called John de Courcy built a castle there. However the actual town of Belfast grew up after 1609 when king James began his policy of settling Englishmen and Scots in Ulster. Sir Arthur Chichester was granted land in Ulster including Belfast Castle, which he rebuilt in 1611. A small town soon grew up in its shadow.
By 1611 there were Englishmen, Scots and Manxmen living in the thriving community of Belfast. In 1613 Belfast was made a corporation and afterwards it sent 2 MPs to parliament. However the corporation was partly controlled by the Chichester family, the lords of the manor. Belfast was run by an official called a sovereign assisted by 12 burgesses (merchants). Each year the burgesses drew up a short list of 3 of themselves and Chichester chose one to be the sovereign. Chichester's consent was required for new by laws. Ordinary people had no part in the government of the town.
In the early 17th century Belfast was a small town with a population of only about 1,000 but it was busy. Wool, hides, grain, butter and salted meat were exported from Belfast to England, Scotland and France. Wine and fruit were imported into Belfast from France and Spain.
Later in the 17th century Belfast traded with the North American colonies. Tobacco was imported from there. Sugar was imported from the West Indies and refined in Belfast.
By the late 17th century Belfast probably had a population of about 1,500-2,000. It was swelled by French Protestants, fleeing religious persecution in their own country, who introduced linen weaving to Belfast. Other industries in Belfast were brewing, rope making and sail making.
In 1680 Belfast gained a piped water supply (using wooden pipes). After 1686 each householder was supposed to hang a lantern outside his house at night during the winter months. The first bridge over the Lagan was erected after 1682.
Belfast gained its first newspaper in 1737. Belfast gained its first bank in 1752 and its first theatre by 1768.
During the 18th century increasing amounts of linen were exported from Belfast. (The linen was woven in people's homes in the surrounding countryside not woven in factories). In 1701 less than 200,000 yards of linen was exported from Belfast. By 1773 the figure had risen to 17 million yards. The White Linen Hall was built in 1788. Cotton spinning was introduced into Belfast in 1777. However it never had the same importance as linen.
In 1785 a Harbour Board was formed with responsibility for the upkeep of the harbour. Shipbuilding in Belfast began in 1791.
Belfast thrived in the 18th century as a merchant town, importing goods from Great Britain and exporting the produce of the linen trade. Linen at the time was made by small producers in rural areas. The town was also a centre of radical politics, partly because its predominantly Presbyterian population was discriminated against under the penal laws, and also because of the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment. Belfast saw the founding of the Irish Volunteers in 1778 and the Society of the United Irishmen in 1791 - both dedicated to democratic reform, an end to religious discrimination and greater independence for Ireland. As a result of intense repression however, Belfast radicals played little or no role in the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Samson & Goliath
In the 19th century, Belfast became Ireland's pre-eminent industrial city with linen, heavy engineering, tobacco and shipbuilding dominating the economy. Belfast, located at the western end of Belfast Lough and at the mouth of the River Lagan, was an ideal location for the shipbuilding industry, which was dominated by the Harland and Wolff company which alone employed up to 35,000 workers and was one of the largest shipbuilders in the world[1]. The ill-fated RMS Titanic was built there in 1911. Migrants to Belfast came from across Ireland, Scotland and England, but particularly from rural Ulster, where sectarian tensions ran deep. The same period saw the first outbreaks of sectarian riots, which have recurred regularly since.
Originally a town in County Antrim, Belfast county borough was created when Belfast was granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1888.[2]
The City Hall during construction.
By 1901, Belfast was the largest city in Ireland. The city's importance was evidenced by the construction of the lavish City Hall, completed in 1906. Since around 1840 its population included many Catholics, who originally settled in the west of city, around the area of today's Barrack Street. West Belfast remains the centre of the city's Catholic population (in contrast with the east of the City which is predominantly Protestant). Other areas of Catholic settlement have included parts of the north of the city, especially Ardoyne and the Antrim Road and the Markets area immediately to the south of the city centre.
Conditions for the new working class were often squalid, with much of the population packed into overcrowded and unsanitary tenements. The city suffered from repeated cholera outbreaks in the mid-19th century. Conditions improved somewhat after a wholesale slum clearance programme in the 1900s.
Belfast saw a bitter strike by dock workers organised by radical trade unionist Jim Larkin, in 1907. The dispute saw 10,000 workers on strike and a mutiny by the police, who refused to disperse the striker's pickets. Eventually the Army had to be deployed to restore order. The strike was a rare instance of non-sectarian mobilisation in Ulster at the time.
Recent history
The city in general has seen significant redevelopment and investment since the Belfast Agreement. The formation of the Laganside Corporation in 1989 heralded the start of the regeneration of the River Lagan and its surrounding areas. Other areas that have been transformed include the Cathedral Quarter and the Victoria Square area. However communal segregation has continued since then, with occasional low level street violence in isolated flashpoints and the construction of new Peace Lines.
Belfast saw the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, there has been major redevelopment in the city including Victoria Square, the Titanic Quarter and Laganside as well as the Odyssey complex and the landmark Waterfront Hall. In the largely nationalist west of the city which bore the brunt of much of the social unrest a Sainsburys Super Market is opening.
Conclusion
It has occurred historically that four main nations have settled on the territory of the United Kingdom. They live in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Main cities of these areas are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. Telling of these cities shows us the national peculiarities of people living on the territory of Great Britain. Despite the existing national differences they are very connected culturally and economically. So, the English, the Scottish, the Welsh and the Irish are the citizens of the united state and they all are devoted to their queen.
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