Overview
Southampton is the largest city on the south coast of England. It is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest. The city lies roughly in the centre of the coast, at the northern-most point of Southampton Water where it is joined by the River Test and River Itchen, with the River Hamble joining to the south of the urban area. The city is situated approximately halfway between Bournemouth and Portsmouth.

The local authority is Southampton City Council, which is a unitary authority. The city is part of the ceremonial county of Hampshire.

Southampton has a number of important businesses and organisations based in it, such as the University of Southampton, a Ford Transit factory and in the docks, one of the largest container ports in Europe.

The city represents the core of the Greater Southampton region, with a population of 222,000. The city's name is sometimes abbreviated in writing to "So'ton" or "Soton", and a resident of Southampton is called a Sotonian.

Southampton is probably most famous for being the home of the RMS Titanic, the Spitfire and more recently a number of the largest cruise liners in the world

History
Although Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements are known to have existed in the area, the first permanent settlement was established by the Romans shortly after their invasion of Britain in AD43. Known as Clausentum, it was an important trading port for the large Roman towns of Winchester and Salisbury. The Romans abandoned the settlement circa AD410, and the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons eventually saw the formation of a new settlement circa AD700 across the Itchen centred around what is now the St Mary's area. The settlement was known as Hamwic, which evolved into Hamtun and then Hampton. The Viking King Canute the Great is supposed to have defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready here in 1014 and been crowned here, and his fabled attempt to "command" the tide to halt may have taken place in Southampton.Excavations have uncovered one of the best collections of Saxon artifacts in Europe.

Hamwic fell into decline in the 9th century, but there is evidence that by the 10th century, a new settlement, which became Medieval Southampton had already been established following the Norman Conquest in 1066. Southampton became the major port of transit between Winchester (then the capital of England) and Normandy. By the 13th Century, Southampton had become a leading port, and was particularly involved in the trade of French Wine in exchange for English cloth and wool. The Wool House was built in 1417 as a warehouse for the medieval wool trade with Flanders and Italy, the building surviving today as the Maritime Museum. During the Middle Ages, shipbuilding became an increasingly important industry, which was to remain for centuries to come.

The town was sacked in 1338 by the French, including the pirate Grimaldi, who used the plunder to help found the principality of Monaco. After this attack, the city's walls - part of which dates from 1175 - were extensively added to and reinforced. A large part of the town's walls remain today. Lacking proper finance for the construction of a full defensive wall, the townsfolk reached a compromise solution, which involved joining the existing exterior walls of existing merchant houses together to form part of the defensive structure. The city walls include God's House Tower, built in 1417, the first purpose-built artillery fortification in England. Over the years it has been used as home to the city's gunner, the Town Gaol and even as storage for the Southampton Harbour Board. Today, it is open as the Museum of Archaeology. The walls were finally completed in the 15th century.

The 12th century Red Lion pub on the High Street, within the old walls, is where in 1415, immediately prior to King Henry V of England's departure from Southampton to the Battle of Agincourt, the ringleaders of the "Southampton Plot", Richard, Earl of Cambridge, Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham and Sir Thomas Grey of Heton, were tried and found guilty of high treason, before being summarily executed outside the Bargate.

The port was the original point of departure for the Pilgrim Fathers aboard the Mayflower in 1623.[26] A memorial can be found on Town Quay. Since that time it has been the last port of call for millions of emigrants who left the Old World to start a new life in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and other parts of the world.

The memorial to the engineers of the RMS Titanic.In 1838, the docks were rebuilt and Southampton became known as The Gateway to the Empire. As was common with most of the luxury liners of the time, in 1912 the RMS Titanic sailed from here. The city contains several memorials and museum exhibitions related to the Titanic, most of crew having come from Southampton; 549 Sotonians died in the sinking.

The CenotaphThe city is home to Sir Edwin Lutyens' first permanent cenotaph, which was the basis for his design of the memorial in Whitehall, London. When it was unveiled on 6 November 1920, it was 1800 names, later raised to 2008. The Second World War hit Southampton particularly hard because of its strategic importance as the major industrial area on the South Coast. In particular, the Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft was invented and manufactured in Southampton, a result of 1930s experimentation in the city. Bombing in two days in September 1940 killed 130 workers at the Woolston aircraft factory. There were many aircraft companies based around Hamble, to the east of the city, from the 1930s to 1950s, including Folland Aviation, now part of British Aerospace, which built the Hawk and Harrier. BOAC had a flying boat base in the docks serving British colonial possessions in Africa and Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. It closed in 1950 when land based aircraft became dominant. Nearby, Calshot Spit was a base for the military flying boat services.

Pockets of Georgian architecture survived the war, but much of the city was levelled. The accuracy of the locally-based Ordnance Survey's maps did not go unrecognised by the Luftwaffe: the German bomber pilots used them to bomb Southampton.[31] One notable building to survive the bombings was Southampton's oldest, St. Michaels Church. Thought to have been commenced in 1070, the building has been added to many times over the centuries but its central tower dates from Norman times. The spire was an important navigation aid for the German pilots and consequently they were ordered to avoid bombing it.

Southampton became a county corporate in 1447. It was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The town became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888, being expanded by the addition of several parishes in 1894, 1920, 1925 and 1967. Southampton was awarded city status in 1964 by Letters Patent. The boundaries have been largely unchanged since then, despite the loss of county borough status in 1974, and subsequent regaining of unitary authority status in 1996.

Culture
Southampton is home to Southampton Football Club, nicknamed "The Saints", who play in the Football League Championship at St Mary's Stadium. The two local Sunday Leagues in the Southampton area are the City of Southampton Sunday Football League and the Southampton and District Sunday Football League. The City Of Southampton League is the oldest competition having been founded in 1949.[citation needed] Hampshire County Cricket Club play in the city, at the Rose Bowl in West End. The city is famous for yachting and water sports. From 1977 to 2001 the Whitbread Around the World Yacht Race (now known as the Volvo Ocean Race) was based in Southampton

Southampton has a vibrant nightlife, and has been voted one of the best places to live in the UK for single people aged 18 to 30, owing to its low cost of living, wide array of bars and club and cheap transport. Women voted it second best behind London, while men rated it as seventh. Music is an important aspect of the city and there are several music venues. The city is home to R'n'B soulstar Craig David, Coldplay drummer Will Champion, and was the birthplace of comedian Benny Hill.

The Mayflower TheatreThe main theatre in the city is the 2,300 capacity Mayflower Theatre, which hosts a number of West End shows, such as Les Miserables, The Rocky Horror Show and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The city is home to several art galleries, including the council run gallery at the Civic Centre.

Local media includes the Southern Daily Echo newspaper based in Redbridge and BBC South, which has its regional headquarters in the city centre. From there the BBC broadcasts the South Today, the local television news bulletin and BBC Radio Solent. The local ITV franchise is Meridian, which has its headquarters in Whitely, around four miles from the city. Until recently, the station's studios were located in the Northam area of the city. Commercial radio stations include Radio Hampshire - which until 2007 was run by Southampton F.C and known as The Saint - Power FM, Ocean FM and Original 106.

Southampton was named "fittest city in the UK" in 2006 by Men's Fitness magazine. The results were based on the incidence of heart disease, the amount of junk food and alcohol consumed, and the level of gym membership.[69] In 2007, it had slipped one place behind London, but was still ranked first when it came to the parks and green spaces available for exercise and the amount of television watched by Sotonians was the lowest in the country.

The city is home to the second longest medieval walls in England that are still standing, as well as a number of museums such as Tudor House, The Maritime Museum and Solent Sky, which focuses on aviation.

The annual Southampton Boat Show is held is September each year, with over 600 exhibitors present. It runs for just over a week at Mayflower Park on the city's waterfront, where it has been held since 1968. The Boat Show itself is the climax of Sea City, which runs from April to September each year to celebrate Southampton's links with the sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolton