Edinburgh
The name Edinburgh derives from Din Eidyn, a Brittonic stronghold located on Castle Rock. This ancient fortress served as the capital of the Gododdin kingdom during the Early Middle Ages. A siege by King Oswald of Northumbria in 638 marked three centuries of Germanic influence in southeast Scotland. The town was eventually subsumed by the kingdom known to the English as Scotland around 954. As language shifted from Cumbric to Scots, the word din became burh, producing the modern name Edinburgh. In Scottish Gaelic, din transforms into dùn, creating Dùn Èideann today. The district of Eidyn centred on this hillfort, which is now the site of Edinburgh Castle. Evidence suggests human habitation at Cramond dates back to approximately 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements exist on Arthur's Seat and Craiglockhart Hill.
King David I founded the royal burgh in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown. The first documentary evidence appears in a royal charter granting a toft to the Priory of Dunfermline. Edinburgh remained under English control from 1291 to 1314 and again from 1333 to 1341 during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Edward I of England passed by the city with his army when he invaded Scotland in 1298. A French chronicler named Jean Froissart described it as the capital of Scotland around 1365. James III referred to it in the 15th century as the principal burgh of our kingdom. The town council received a royal charter in 1482 confirming their office of Sheriff forever. Despite being burnt by the English in 1544, Edinburgh continued to develop and grow. It became the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant. In 1582 King James VI and I granted a charter permitting the establishment of Tounis College.
The Treaty of Union took effect on the 1st of May 1707, uniting the two kingdoms into Great Britain. By the first half of the 18th century, Edinburgh was one of Europe's most densely populated towns. Visitors noted that more people lived in so little room than anywhere else in the world. The High Street in Edinburgh housed a greater number of persons than any street in Europe during this period. Social classes shared the same urban space even while inhabiting the same tenement buildings. Shopkeepers occupied cheaper cellars and garrets while professional classes lived in expensive middle storeys. A major competition for urban planning was staged by the Town Council in 1766. James Craig won the design competition at age 27 with a rigid ordered grid plan. The principal street became George Street running along the natural ridge north of what is now known as the Old Town. Princes Street and Queen Street run to either side of it. The hollow between the Old and New Towns was formerly the Nor Loch which was drained by the 1820s. Soil excavated while laying foundations created The Mound connecting the two areas. Thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets.
Edinburgh became an industrial centre with traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continuing to grow in the 19th century. By 1821 Glasgow had overtaken Edinburgh as Scotland's largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial district after railways arrived in the 1840s. Improvements under Lord Provost William Chambers began transforming the area in the 1860s into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today. Relative economic stagnation during the world wars saw the Old Town deteriorate further before slum clearance in the 1960s reversed the process. Since the 1990s a new financial district has grown mainly on demolished railway property west of the castle. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city. In 1998 the Scotland Act came into force establishing a devolved Scottish Parliament based in Edinburgh. Both the Parliament and Scottish Executive are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters remain with London. In 2023 Edinburgh became the first capital city in Europe to sign the global Plant Based Treaty introduced at COP26 in 2021.
The city hosts festivals running between late July and early September each year. The Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival were both first held in 1947. The Edinburgh Fringe began as marginal acts alongside the official festival but is now the world's largest performing arts festival. Over 3700 different shows were staged in 300 venues across the city in 2023. Comedy has become one of the mainstays of the Fringe with many comedians receiving their first break there. The Edinburgh Military Tattoo occupies the Castle Esplanade every night for three weeks each August. Performances end with a short fireworks display. The annual Hogmanay celebration was originally an informal street party focused on the Tron Kirk in the Old Town's High Street. Since 1993 it has been officially organised with focus moved to Princes Street. Over 300,000 people attended in 1996 leading to ticketing limits up to 100,000 tickets. These events attract thousands of people from all over the world and generate over £400M for the local economy annually.
Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago led to creation of tough basalt volcanic plugs. One such example is the Castle Rock which forced advancing ice sheets to divide sheltering softer rock. This formed a tail of material to the east creating distinctive crag and tail formation. Glacial erosion on the north side gouged a deep valley later filled by the now drained Nor Loch. Arthur's Seat is the remains of a volcano dating from the Carboniferous period eroded by a glacier moving west to east during the ice age. Erosive action exposed rocky crags to the west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east. This process formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the early burgh location. The residential areas of Marchmont and Bruntsfield are built along drumlin ridges south of the city centre deposited as the glacier receded. Other prominent landforms like Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are also products of glacial erosion. Edinburgh lies at the heart of Scotland's Central Belt on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth.
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Common questions
What is the origin of the name Edinburgh?
The name Edinburgh derives from Din Eidyn, a Brittonic stronghold located on Castle Rock. The word din became burh as language shifted from Cumbric to Scots, producing the modern name Edinburgh.
When did King David I found the royal burgh in Edinburgh?
King David I founded the royal burgh in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown. The first documentary evidence appears in a royal charter granting a toft to the Priory of Dunfermline.
On what date did the Treaty of Union take effect for Edinburgh?
The Treaty of Union took effect on the 1st of May 1707, uniting the two kingdoms into Great Britain. This event established Edinburgh as part of the new political entity known as Great Britain.
Which year was the Scotland Act passed to establish the Parliament in Edinburgh?
In 1998 the Scotland Act came into force establishing a devolved Scottish Parliament based in Edinburgh. Both the Parliament and Scottish Executive are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters remain with London.
What geological process created the distinctive crag and tail formation at Edinburgh Castle?
Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago led to creation of tough basalt volcanic plugs. One such example is the Castle Rock which forced advancing ice sheets to divide sheltering softer rock.