Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it was a royal residence in the Middle Ages. Later it was a jail for illustrious prisoners. The Tower is enclosed by a dry moat, within which are double castellated walls surrounding the central White Tower. Although Roman foundations have been discovered, the White Tower was built c.1078 by Gundulf, bishop of Rochester; the exterior was restored by Sir Christopher Wren. Various towers subsequently built were used as prisons; one of them now houses a collection of medieval arms and armor. The crown jewels are displayed in the Waterloo Block, a former barracks. The Traitors' Gate (giving access by water from the Thames) and the Bloody Tower are associated with many historically noted persons, including Queen Elizabeth I (when still princess), Sir Thomas More, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, the 2d earl of Essex, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the duke of Monmouth. Many persons beheaded within the Tower precincts, or on the neighboring Tower Hill, were buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. The Yeomen of the Guard ("Beefeaters"), dressed in Tudor garb, still guard the Tower.

New London, city (1990 pop. 24,540), New London co., SE Conn., on the Thames River near its mouth on Long Island Sound; laid out 1646 by John Winthrop, inc. 1784. It is a deepwater port of entry, with shipbuilding, high-technology research and engineering, pharmaceutical research, building materials, fishing, tourism, and other industries. New London survived a partial burning by the British under Benedict Arnold in 1781 and a British blockade during the War of 1812. The city reached the height of its maritime prosperity in the 19th cent., when it flourished as a shipping, shipbuilding, and whaling port. The excellent harbor is used by the U.S. navy as a principal submarine base and by yachters and students of the United States Coast Guard Academy (located in the city). Annual Yale-Harvard boat races are held on the Thames. Connecticut College and Mitchell College are there. The city has a whaling museum, an art museum, and many old buildings, including the Hempsted House (1678) and the old town mill (1650). Old Fort Trumbull, built in 1849, is a state historical park.

London, University of, at London, England; founded 1836 as an examining and degree-giving body. Teaching functions were not added until 1898. It comprised at first University College (which had been founded in 1826 as the Univ. of London, a nonsectarian school) and King's College (founded 1829 by adherents of the Church of England). It is now a large aggregation of affiliated schools, colleges, institutes, and hospitals. Besides University and King's, its schools and colleges include Wye College (1447), Royal Veterinary College (1791), Birkbeck (1823), School of Pharmacy (1842), Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (1985; merging Bedford [1849] and Royal Holloway [1883] colleges for women), Queen Mary and Westfield College (1989; merging Queen Mary [1887] and Westfield [1882] colleges for women), London School of Economics and Political Science (1895), Goldsmith's College (1904), Imperial College (1907), and the School of Oriental and African Studies (1916); it also has several theological and medical schools. Among its famous institutes are the Warburg Institute, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Institute of Historical Research.

London, Jack (John Griffith London), 1876-1916, American author, b. San Francisco. The illegitimate son of an astrologer and a Welsh farm girl, he had a poverty-stricken childhood, brought up by his mother and her husband, John London. At 17, Jack London shipped as an able seaman to Japan and the Bering Sea. He was an oyster pirate, a gold-seeker in the first Klondike rush, a newspaper correspondent during the Russo-Japanese War, and in 1914 a war correspondent in Mexico. His stories, romantic adventures with realistic setting and character, began to appear first in the Overland Monthly. In 1900, The Son of the Wolf: Tales of the Far North was published. London's Klondike tales are exciting, vigorous, and brutal. The Call of the Wild (1903), about a tame dog who eventually leads a wolf pack, is one of the best animal stories ever written. Among his other works are The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1905), and Smoke Bellew (1912). Martin Eden (1909) and Burning Daylight (1910) are partly autobiographical. Although he was a highly paid writer of extremely popular fiction, London, a socialist, considered his social tracts—The People of the Abyss (1903) and The Iron Heel (1907)—as his most important work. The Cruise of the Snark (1911) is a vivid account of his interrupted voyage around the world in a 50-ft (15.2-m) ketch-rigged yacht, and John Barleycorn; or, Alcoholic Memoirs (1913) is autobiographical. Beset in his later years by alcoholism and financial difficulties, London died at the age of 40.

London, Declaration of, international code of maritime law, especially as related to war, proposed in 1909. The declaration grew largely out of the attempt at the second of the Hague Conferences to set up an international prize court with compulsory jurisdiction. Great Britain, then the chief naval power, felt that such a court should be governed by defined principles. At British invitation the leading European naval powers and the United States and Japan assembled at London in 1908. The Declaration of London that they issued comprised 71 articles dealing with many controversial points, including blockade, contraband, and prize. In general it was a restatement of the existing law, but in its high regard for the rights of neutrals it represented a distinct advance. Although the U.S. Senate ratified the declaration, unanimous ratification by the signatories did not follow, and the code never went into effect officially. In World War I a proposal of the United States that the belligerents voluntarily abide by the code was not adopted.

London School of Economics and Political Science, at London, England; founded 1895, recognized as a school of the Univ. of London (see London, Univ. of) in 1900. It publishes many periodicals, including the British Journal of Sociology, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, and the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. The Centre for Economic Performance and the Centre for International Studies are affiliated.

London Conference, several international conferences held at London, England, in the 19th and 20th cent. The following list includes only the most important of these meetings. At the London Conference of 1830-31 the chief powers of Europe met to discuss the status of Greece. It was decided that Greece should be a fully independent principality, instead of an autonomous state as had been provided in the London Protocol of 1829. The territory of Greece was, however, considerably reduced from that provided in the London Protocol, and the decision was rejected by the Greeks. A new protocol (1831) that restored the 1829 border but retained the sovereign status of Greece was accepted. While the Greek problem was under discussion, the Belgians revolted against the Dutch king. The matter was taken up at the conference, which ordered (Nov., 1830) an armistice between the Dutch and the Belgians. The first draft for a treaty of separation of Belgium and the Netherlands was rejected by the Belgians. A new draft (June, 1831) was rejected by William I of the Netherlands, who resumed hostilities. Franco-British intervention compelled the Dutch to evacuate their forces from Belgium late in 1831, and in 1833 an armistice of indefinite duration was concluded. William's designs to recover Luxembourg and Limburg led to renewed tension, and the London Conference of 1838-39 followed. This prepared the final Dutch-Belgian separation treaty of 1839 and divided Luxembourg and Limburg between the Dutch and Belgian crowns. The neutrality of Belgium was guaranteed. For the London Conference of 1852, see Schleswig-Holstein; for the London Conference of 1867, see Luxembourg, duchy; for the London Conference of 1908, see London, Declaration of. The London Conference of 1933 was the World Monetary and Economic Conference, which had as its object the checking of the world depression by means of currency stabilization and economic agreements. Unbridgeable disagreements among the participants and the attitude of the United States made the meeting a total failure; customs and currency restrictions instead became increasingly stringent throughout the world. After World War II several meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers took place at London. For the London Conference of 1954, see Paris Pacts.

London Company, corporation composed of stockholders residing in and about London, which, together with the Plymouth Company (see Virginia Company), was granted (1606) a charter by King James I to found colonies in America. The London Company was granted a tract of land fronting 100 mi (160 km) on the sea and extending 100 mi inland, somewhere between lat. 34°N and lat. 41°N. Government was vested in an English council, appointed by the king, which was to appoint a local council for the colony. The company's expedition, under the command of Capt. Christopher Newport, founded (1607) Jamestown in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. In May, 1609, the company received a new charter, extending its territory and enabling it to replace the local council with an absolute governor. Thomas West, Baron De la Warr, was the first to hold that office, with Sir Thomas Gates as his deputy. A third charter, granted in Mar., 1612, made the London Company a self-governing body. There was, however, dissension within the company over governing policies, and the governing council was soon divided into two parties. The court party, headed by Sir Robert Rich (later the 2d earl of Warwick) and Sir Thomas Smythe, favored prolongation of martial law in the colony. The country, or patriot, party, led by Sir Edwin Sandys, Sir John Danvers, and John and Nicholas Ferrar, favored discontinuance of the system of servitude. The country party was in the majority, but a liberal form of government was not established until after the appointment of Sir George Yeardley as governor of Virginia. Yeardley convened America's first legislative assembly at Jamestown in 1619. Although affairs in Virginia gradually improved, a petition was presented (1623) to the king calling for an investigation of conditions in the colony. Shortly afterward there appeared a paper, The Unmasked Face of Our Colony in Virginia. Already offended by the company, the king now took extreme measures. A report was made by an investigating commission, the case was tried before the King's Bench, and the unfavorable decision, rendered in May, 1624, resulted in the dissolution of the company. About £200,000 had been expended by the company and more than 10,000 emigrants sent to Virginia.

London Bridge, granite, five-arched bridge formerly over the Thames, in London, England. It is 928 ft (283 m) long and was designed by John Rennie and built between 1824 and 1831. The early wooden bridge (963-75) was replaced (1176-1209) by a stone bridge with houses and a chapel. The buildings were removed from 1756 to 1762. The bridge was many times damaged by fire and was finally removed in 1832 after the opening of a new bridge in 1831. In 1968, London Bridge was dismantled and purchased by Lake Havasu City, Ariz. In 1973 a new concrete bridge replaced the old one. London Bridge was the only bridge over the Thames in London until the construction (1739-50) of Westminster Bridge.

London, capital of Great Britain, SE England, on both sides of the Thames River. Greater London (1991 pop. 6,378,600), c.620 sq mi (1,610 sq km), consists of the Corporation of the City of London (1991 pop. 4,000), usually called the City, plus 32 boroughs. The City is the old city of London and is the modern city's commercial center; it is also referred to as the "Square Mile" because of its area. The 12 inner boroughs that surround the City are Westminster, Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea. The 20 outer boroughs are Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Ealing, Brent, Harrow, Barnet, Haringey, and Enfield. Greater London includes the area of the former county of London, most of the former county of Middlesex, and areas that were formerly in Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire. Each of the boroughs of Greater London elects a council.

The Greater London Council administered the larger London area until 1986, when it was abolished by the Thatcher government, making London unique as a world metropolis without a central governing unit. In 1999 the Greater London Authority Act reestablished a single local governing body for the Greater London area, consisting of an elected mayor and the London Assembly. Elections were held in 2000, and Ken Livingstone became London's first elected mayor.

Economy

London is one of the world's foremost financial, commercial, industrial, and cultural centers. The Bank of England, Lloyd's, the stock exchange, and numerous other banks and investment companies have their headquarters there, primarily in the City, but increasingly at Canary Wharf. The financial services sector is a major source of overall employment in London.

London still remains one of the world's greatest ports. It exports manufactured goods and imports petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter, metals, and meat. Consumer goods, clothing, precision instruments, jewelry, and stationery are produced, but manufacturing has lost a number of jobs in the once-dominant textile, furniture, printing, and chemical-processing industries as firms have moved outside the area. Engineering and scientific research are also important to the economy, as is tourism. The city is a hub for road, rail, and air (its airports include Heathrow and Gatwick), and it is now linked to the Continent by a high-speed rail line under the English Channel.

Points of Interest

The best-known streets of London are Fleet Street, the Strand, Piccadilly, Whitehall, Pall Mall, Downing Street, and Lombard Street. Bond and Regent streets and Covent Garden are noted for their shops. Buckingham Palace is the royal family's London residence. Municipal parks include Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park (which houses the London Zoo), and St. James's and Green parks. Museums include the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Saachi Gallery. London also has numerous commercial art galleries and plays a major role in the international art market.

The British Library, one of the world's great reference resources, is located in London. The city is rich in other artistic and cultural activities. Its approximately 100 theater companies reflect the importance of drama, and it has several world-class orchestras, a well-known opera house, performance halls, and clubs. A working replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre opened in 1997. The Univ. of London is the largest in Great Britain, and there are other universities and colleges in the city. The state-owned BBC (British Broadcasting Company) is headquartered in London, and most of the country's national newspapers are published there. The New Scotland Yard, synonymous with criminal investigation, is located in the city. Sporting events draw large support from Londoners who follow cricket, soccer (at Wimbley Stadium), and tennis (including the Wimbledon championship).

History

Little is known of London prior to A.D. 61, when, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, the followers of Queen Boadicea rebelled and slaughtered the inhabitants of the Roman fort Londinium. Roman authority was soon restored, and the first city walls were built, remnants of which still exist. After the final withdrawal of the Roman legions in the 5th cent., London was lost in obscurity. Celts, Saxons, and Danes contested the general area, and it was not until 886 that London again emerged as an important town under the firm control of King Alfred, who rebuilt the defenses against the Danes and gave the city a government.

London put up some resistance to William I in 1066, but he subsequently treated the city well. During his reign the White Tower, the nucleus of the Tower of London, was built just east of the city wall. Under the Normans and Plantagenets (see Great Britain), the city grew commercially and politically and during the reign of Richard I (1189-99) obtained a form of municipal government from which the modern City Corporation developed. In 1215, King John granted the city the right to elect a mayor annually.

The guilds of the Middle Ages gained control of civic affairs and grew sufficiently strong to restrict trade to freemen of the city. The guilds survive today in 80 livery companies, of which members were once the voters in London's municipal elections. Medieval London saw the foundation of the Inns of Court and the construction of Westminster Abbey. By the 14th cent. London had become the political capital of England. It played no active role in the Wars of the Roses (15th cent.).

The reign of Elizabeth I brought London to a level of great wealth, power, and influence as the undisputed center of England's Renaissance culture. This was the time of Shakespeare (and the Globe Theatre) and the beginnings of overseas trading companies such as the Muscovy Company. With the advent (1603) of the Stuarts to the throne, the city became involved in struggles with the crown on behalf of its democratic privileges, culminating in the English civil war.

In 1665, the great plague took some 75,000 lives. A great fire in Sept., 1666, lasted five days and virtually destroyed the city. Sir Christopher Wren played a large role in rebuilding the city. He designed more than 51 churches, notably the rebuilt St. Paul's Cathedral. Other notable churches include the gothic Southwark Cathedral, St. Paul's Church (1633; designed by Inigo Jones), St. Martin-in-the-Fields (18th cent.), and Westminster Cathedral. Much of the business of London as well as literary and political discussion was transacted in coffeehouses, forerunners of the modern club. Until 1750, when Westminster Bridge was opened, London Bridge, first built in the 10th cent., was the only bridge to span the Thames. Since the 18th cent., several other bridges have been constructed; the Tower Bridge was completed in 1894.

In the 19th cent., London began a period of extraordinary growth. The area of present-day Greater London had about 1.1 million people in 1801; by 1851, the population had increased to 2.7 million, and by 1901 to 6.6 million. During the Victorian era, London acquired tremendous prestige as the capital of the British Empire and as a cultural and intellectual center. Britain's free political institutions and intellectual atmosphere made London a haven for persons unsafe in their own countries. The Italian Giuseppe Mazzini, the Russian Aleksandr Herzen, and the German Karl Marx were among many politically controversial figures who lived for long periods in London.

Many buildings of central London were destroyed or damaged in air raids during World War II. These include the Guildhall (scene of the lord mayor's banquets and other public functions); No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence; the Inns of Court; Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament; St. George's Cathedral; and many of the great halls of the ancient livery companies. Today there are numerous blocks of new office buildings and districts of apartment dwellings constructed by government authorities. The growth of London in the 20th cent. has been extensively planned. One notable feature has been the concept of a "Green Belt" to save certain areas from intensive urban development. In 1982, a tax-free zone in the Docklands in the East End's Tower Hamlets borough was created to stimulate development. Although the Canary Wharf financial center (with Lloyd's futuristic building, opened in 1986) was initially slow to fill, it now rivals the City.

London has an ethnically and culturally diverse population, with large groups of immigrants from Commonwealth nations. South Asian, West Indian, African, and Middle Eastern peoples account for much of the immigrant population. The city is the site of one of the largest Hindu temple complexes and the largest Sikh temple outside India; there also are many mosques, including one of the largest in Europe. With the reestablishment of the city's central government (2000), London built its egg-shaped City Hall (2002), on the south bank of the Thames opposite the Tower of London. The city was the site of the 1908 and 1948 summer Olympic games and will be the site of the 2012 summer games.

London, city (1991 pop. 303,165), SE Ont., Canada, on the Thames River. The site was chosen in 1792 by Governor Simcoe to be the capital of Upper Canada, but York was made capital instead. London was settled in 1826. Its streets and bridges are named for those of old London in England. Surrounded by one of Canada's richest agricultural districts, it has become a notable industrial, commercial, service, and financial center. Electrical goods and locomotive and automobile parts are among the products made. The Univ. of Western Ontario (coeducational; 1878) and the affiliated Ursuline and Huron colleges are in the city.

Greater London: see London.

East London, city (1991 pop. 240,474), Eastern Cape, SE South Africa, on the Indian Ocean. The city grew around a British military post founded in 1847. Its harbor was developed from 1886, and today it is a leading South African port. The main exports are corn, wool, and fruit. East London's manufactures include automobiles, furniture, textiles, clothing, footwear, processed food, and glass. East London is a rail hub, providing a link to the goldfields of Free State. There is a large fishing industry. The city is also a popular seaside resort. East London Museum and a technical college are in the city.

Federation of British institutions of higher learning, located primarily in London. It was established by liberals and religious dissenters in 1828, and it accepted for enrollment Roman Catholics, Jews, and other non-Anglicans. The first two colleges were University College and King's College. From 1849 a student enrolled in any university in the British Empire could be awarded a University of London degree after examination. By the early 20th century many institutions had become affiliated with the university, including Bedford College, the first British institution to grant degrees to women, and the London School of Economics and Political Science, now an internationally renowned centre for the social sciences.

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Royal fortress on the northern bank of the River Thames. The central keep, or donjon, known as the White Tower because of its limestone, was begun circa 1078 by William I the Conqueror inside the Roman city wall. In the 12th–13th century the fortifications were extended beyond the wall, the White Tower becoming the nucleus of a series of concentric defenses. The only entrance from the land is at the southwestern corner; when the river was still a major highway, the 13th-century water gate was much used. Its nickname, Traitors' Gate, derives from the prisoners brought through it to the Tower, long used as a state prison; many were murdered or executed there.

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Leading scientific society in Britain and the oldest national scientific society in the world. Founded in 1660, its early members included Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, Isaac Newton, and Edmond Halley. It has long provided an impetus to scientific thought and research in the U.K., and its achievements have become internationally famous. The society's Philosophical Transactions, the oldest scientific periodical in continuous publication, has published papers since 1665. The society awards several prizes, the most prestigious being the Copley Medal. At the beginning of the 21st century, the society had some 1,300 fellows and 130 foreign members.

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Federation of British institutions of higher learning, located primarily in London. It was established by liberals and religious dissenters in 1828, and it accepted for enrollment Roman Catholics, Jews, and other non-Anglicans. The first two colleges were University College and King's College. From 1849 a student enrolled in any university in the British Empire could be awarded a University of London degree after examination. By the early 20th century many institutions had become affiliated with the university, including Bedford College, the first British institution to grant degrees to women, and the London School of Economics and Political Science, now an internationally renowned centre for the social sciences.

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orig. John Griffith Chaney

(born Jan. 12, 1876, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—died Nov. 22, 1916, Glen Ellen, Calif.) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Born to poverty, the largely self-educated London became a sailor, hobo, Alaskan gold miner, and militant socialist. He gained a wide audience with his first book, The Son of the Wolf (1900), and the story “To Build a Fire” (1908). Thereafter he wrote steadily; his 50 books of fiction and nonfiction, including many romantic depictions of elemental struggles for survival as well as socialist tracts, include The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906), The Iron Heel (1907), Martin Eden (1909), and Burning Daylight (1910).

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English trading company chartered by James I in 1606 to colonize the eastern coast of North America. Its shareholders were residents of London. Approximately 105 colonists in three ships reached Virginia in 1607 and founded Jamestown. The company expanded its territory with new charters (1609, 1612) and authorized a two-house legislature (1619), including a House of Burgesses. The colony survived many hardships, but the company was divided by internecine disputes and was dissolved in 1624, whereupon Virginia became a royal colony. Seealso Plymouth Company.

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City (pop., 2001: metro area, 432,451), southeastern Ontario. It lies on the Thames River, near several of the Great Lakes. Its name and site were chosen in 1792 for the location of a capital of Upper Canada, but the plans failed to materialize. First settled in 1826, it was incorporated as a city in 1855. It became an important transportation and industrial centre as a result of its interlake location. It is the seat of the University of Western Ontario.

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orig. John Griffith Chaney

(born Jan. 12, 1876, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—died Nov. 22, 1916, Glen Ellen, Calif.) U.S. novelist and short-story writer. Born to poverty, the largely self-educated London became a sailor, hobo, Alaskan gold miner, and militant socialist. He gained a wide audience with his first book, The Son of the Wolf (1900), and the story “To Build a Fire” (1908). Thereafter he wrote steadily; his 50 books of fiction and nonfiction, including many romantic depictions of elemental struggles for survival as well as socialist tracts, include The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906), The Iron Heel (1907), Martin Eden (1909), and Burning Daylight (1910).

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