Glasgow

Glasgow ( listen, GLAZ-goh, locally ; Scots: Glesga listen; Scottish Gaelic: Glaschu ( listen)) is the largest city in Scotland and fifth most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands. Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become one of the largest seaports in Britain. Expanding from the medieval bishopric of Glasgow and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow in the 15th century, it became a major centre of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. From the 18th century the city also grew as one of Britain's main hubs of transatlantic trade with British North America and the British West Indies.

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the population and economy of Glasgow and the surrounding region expanded exponentially to become one of the world's pre-eminent centres of heavy engineering; most notably in the shipbuilding and marine engineering industry, which produced many innovative and famous vessels. Glasgow was known as the "Second City of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period. Today it is one of Europe's top ten financial centres and is home to many of Scotland's leading businesses. Glasgow is also ranked as the 57th most liveable city in the world.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Glasgow grew in population, eventually reaching a peak of 1,128,473 in 1939, and was the fourth-largest city in Europe, after London, Paris and Berlin. In the 1960s, comprehensive urban renewal projects resulting in large-scale relocation of people to new towns and peripheral suburbs, followed by successive boundary changes, have reduced the current population of the City of Glasgow council area to 592,000, with 1,199,629 people living in the Greater Glasgow urban area. The entire region surrounding the conurbation covers approximately 2.3 million people, 41% of Scotland's population. Glasgow will host the 2014 Commonwealth Games and is currently bidding to host the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.