Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Birmingham comes from the Old English Beormingaham, meaning the home or settlement of the Beormingas. This tribe took its name from a figure called Beorma, who may have been their leader at the time of Anglo-Saxon settlement.
Birmingham was established by the Beormingas around the 6th or 7th century as a small settlement in the then heavily forested Arden region in Mercia. Evidence suggests it existed by the early 7th century at the latest.
James Watt and Matthew Boulton developed the industrial steam engine in 1776. This invention freed manufacturing capacity from the limited availability of hand, water, and animal power.
The 2021 census recorded 1,144,900 people living in Birmingham. This represents an increase of around 6.7% from 2011 when 1,073,045 were recorded.
Pioneering metal bands from the late 1960s and 1970s included Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and half of Led Zeppelin. Other notable groups such as The Move, The Spencer Davis Group, The Moody Blues, Traffic, and the Electric Light Orchestra also emerged from the city.