Edinburgh

Edinburgh Scots Gaelic: Dùn Èideann Inglis an Scots: Edinburgh
Capital city and council area
Ceety o Edinburgh
Clockwise frae tap-left: Skyline of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, Scott Monument, Holyrood Palace, Princes Street, The Scottish Parliament Building, Bute House, the Royal Mile
Banner Coat airms
Eik-name(s):  "Auld Reekie", "Athens o the North", "Edina", "Dunedin"
Edinburgh Location within Scotland Show map of Scotland Edinburgh Location within the Unitit Kinrick Show map of the Unitit Kinrick Edinburgh Location within Europe Show map of Europe
Coordinates: 55°57′11″N 3°11′20″W / 55.953°N 3.189°W / 55.953; -3.189Coordinates: 55°57′11″N 3°11′20″W / 55.953°N 3.189°W / 55.953; -3.189
Sovereign state	Unitit Kinrick
Country	Scotland
Council area	Ceety o Edinburgh
Lieutenancy area	Edinburgh
Admeen HQ	Edinburgh Ceety Centre
Founded	prior tae the 7t century
Burgh Charter	1125
City status	1633
Govrenment
• Teep	Unitary authority, Ceety
• Governin body	The Ceety o Edinburgh Cooncil
• Lord Provost of Edinburgh	Frank Ross
• MSPs	6   Ash Denham (SNP)   Ruth Davidson (Con)   Daniel Johnson (Lab)   Gordon MacDonald (SNP)   Ben Macpherson (SNP)   Alex Cole-Hamilton (LD)
• MPs	5   Joanna Cherry (SNP)   Tommy Sheppard (SNP)   Ian Murray (Lab)   Deidre Brock (SNP)   Christine Jardine (LD)
Area
• Capital city and council area	264 km2 (102 sq mi)
• Urban	119 km2 (46 sq mi)
Elevation [3]	47 m (154 ft)
Population  (mid-2016 est.)
• Capital city and council area	488,050 (ceety) 507,200 (Council area)[1]
• Density	1828/km2 (4,730/sq mi)
• Urban	512,150
• Metro	901,455[2]
• Language(s)	English Scots
Demonym(s)	Edinburgher[4][5]
Time zone	UTC±0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode areas	EH1-17, EH28-30
Area code(s)	0131
ISO 3166-2	GB-EDH
ONS code	S12000036
OS grid reference	NT275735
NUTS 3	UKM25
Primary Airport	Edinburgh Airport
GDP	$33 billion[6]
GDP per capita	$58,000[6]
Website	www.edinburgh.gov.uk
UNESCO Warld Heritage Steid
Offeecial name	Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
Criteria	Cultural: ii, iv
Reference	728
Inscription	1995 (19t Session)
UNESCO Warld Heritage Steid
Offeecial name	The Forth Bridge
Criteria	Cultural: i, iv
Reference	1485
Inscription	2015 (39t Session)

Edinburgh (Ulster Scots: Eedinburra, Scots Gaelic: Dùn Èideann; whiles cried Embra, Embro or Edinburrie an aw) is the caipital city o Scotland, an is the kintra's seicont mucklest city efter Glesga, that is 45 mile (72 km) tae the wast.^[7] It is the seivent mucklest city in the Unitit Kinrick.^{[citation needit]} Edinburgh is ane o Scotland's 32 local govrenment cooncil areas (see: City o Edinburgh) - this cooncil area includes urban Edinburgh an a 30 sq mile (78 sq km) landwaird area. In the census o 2011, thare wis 476,600 indwallers.^[8]

Locatit in the sooth-east o Scotland, Edinburgh is on the east coast o Scotland's Central Belt, alang the Firth o Forth, nearby the North Sea. It haes muckle gaitherin o stane Medieval an Georgian airchitectur.

It haes been the caipital city syne aboot 1437 (replacin Pairth),^[9] an is the hame o the Scots Pairlament. The city wis ane o the heidmaist centres o the Enlichtenment, led bi the Varsity o Edinburgh, an sic thinkers as Dauvit Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton an mony ithers, giein it the byname The Athens o the North.^[10] The Auld Toun an New Toun o Edinburgh wis leetit as a UNESCO Warld Heritage Steid in 1995.^[11] The city haes mair nor 4500 listit biggins.

The oreigin o ceety's name in Scots is unnerstuid tae come frae the Brythonic Din Eidyn (Fort o Eidyn) frae the time whan it wis a Gododdin braefort.^[12] In the first century the Romans recordit the Votadini as a Brythonic tribe or kinrick i the aurie, an aboot AD 600 the poem Y Gododdin, uisin the Brythonic mak o thon name, descreives werriours feastin "in Eidin's great haw."

It cam tae be kent bi the Bernician Angles as Edin-burgh. Sum fowk syne jaloused this wis taen frae the Anglo-Saxon for "Edwin's Fort", wi a reference tae the 7t century king Edwin o Northumbrie. Houane'er, syne the name appeiringly predates King Edwin, this isna gey likely ava. The burgh pairt means "fortress" or "wawed curn o biggins" - i.e. a toun or ceity, an is sib tae the German burg an the Laitin parcus. Burgh is jist an owersettin o the Brythonic Din; Edin is untranslatit.

The ceety haes the byname Auld Reekie acause whan the biggins wis heatit bi coal an wid ingles, lums wad boak oot muckle colums o thick black reek intae the air.^[13][14][15]

Sum haes cried Edinburgh the Athens o the North an Auld Greekie efter its intellectual history, an for its topography, wi the Auld Toun o Edinburgh performin a seimilar role tae the Athenian Acropolis.^[10] Edinburgh is an aa kent bi twa-thrie Laitin names; Aneda, Edina (that crops up in leeteratur, sic as that o Burns or Fergusson) or Edinensis (that can be seem on monie eddicational biggins).

Edinburgh haes an aa been kent as Dunedin, taen frae the Gaelic Dùn Èideann. Dunedin in New Zealand wis oreiginally cried "New Edinburgh" an is still gied the byname the "Edinburgh o the South".^[16] Ben Jonson descreivit it as Britain's ithir ee, an Walter Scott cried it yon Empress o the North.

Main airticle: Auld Toun, Edinburgh

The Auld Toun haes preservit its medieval lay-oot an monie Reformation-era biggins. Ane end is closed bi the Edinburgh Castle an the main gate, the Royal Mile, leads awa frae it (wee closes an wynds gang aff the Royal Mile dounhill on aither side o the main spine in a "herrinbane" patren). Lairge squares merk whaur merkets wis aince locate an surroond public biggins sic as Saunt Giles Cathedral an the Law Courts. Ithir notable places nearhaun include the Royal Museum o Scotland, Surgeons' Haw an the McEwan Haw. The street lay-oot is teipical o the aulder pairts o monie northren European ceities, an whuar the castle sits on the tap o a rocky crag (the remains o a deid volcano) the Royal Mile rins doun the crest o a rig frae it.

Due tae space restrictions gied bi the narraness o the "tail" (aidit bi the biggin o the Flodden Waw efter 1513), the Auld Toun becam hame tae sum o the eirliest "heich rise" residential biggins.^[17] Monie-flaired dwallins kent as lands wis ordinar frae the 1500s onwawrds wi ten an eleiven flairs bein teipical an ane e'en raxed tae fowerteen flairs. Eikit tae this, monie vaults ablo gate level wis bydit in bi the muckle influx o immigrants durin the Industrial Revolution. Thir still gie tift tae auld-threips o an unnergrun ceity.

Main airticle: New Toun o Edinburgh

The New Toun wis an 18t century solution tae the fyke o the mair an mair croudit Auld Toun. The ceity haed remainit gey compack, confinit tae the rig rinnin doun frae the castle. In 1766, a competeetion tae design the New Toun wis won bi James Craig, a 22 year auld airchitect.^[18] The plan that wis bigged creatit a rigid, reddit grid, that fittit weil wi enlichtenment norries o rationality. The heidmaist gate wis tae be George Street, that folloaes the naitural rig tae the north o the Auld Toun. Aither side o it is the ithir main gates o Princes Street an Queen Street. Princes Street haes synesen becam the heidmaist shoppin street in Edinburgh, an no monie Georgian biggins survive on it. Jynin thir gates thegithir is a series o perpendicular gates. At the eist an wast ends is St Andrew Sqaure an Charlotte Square respecteivly. The hinmaist wis designed bi Robert Adam an aften thocht o as ane o the brawest Georgian squares in the wurld. Bute Hous, the offeical dwallin o the First Meenister o Scotland, is on the north side o Charlotte Square.^[19]

Sittin in the glen atween the Auld an New Touns wis the Nor Loch, that wis maistly a place for horsin awa keich an ithir rubbish.^[20] Bi the 1820s it wis drained. Sum plans shaw that a canal wis ettled, but Princes Street Gairdens wis creatit insteid (1830-1876).^[20] Left ower eirth frae the makkin o the biggins wis horsed in the loch, makkin whit's nou The Mound.^[21] In the mid 19t century the Naitional Gallery o Scotland an the Royal Scottish Academy Building wis bigged on The Mound, an weems tae Waverley Station driven throu it.^[22]

The New Toun wis sae successfou that it wis extendit greaty. The grid patren wisna haudit tae, but raither a mair picturesque lay-oot wis creatit. The day the New Toun is thocht o bi monie tae be ane the best ensamples o Georgian airchitecture an plannin in the wurld.

A popular residential pairt o the ceity is its sooth side, made up o a nummer o airts includin St Leonards, Marchmont, Haymerket, Polwarth, Newington, Sciennes, The Grange, Bruntsfield, Morningside an Merchiston. "Sooth side" is braidly the samen as the aurie kivvered bi the Burgh Muir, an becam mair popular efter the apenin o the Sooth Brig. Thir auries is specially popular wi faimilies (monie weil-regairdit state an private schuills is locate thare), students (the Central Varsity o Edinburgh campus is based aroun George Square jist north o Marchmont an the Meadows, an Napier Varsity haes muckle campuses aroun Merchiston an Morningside), an wi festival-gaers.

Leith is the sea-port o Edinburgh. It still hauds a seperate identity frae Edinburgh, an it wisna weil thocht o thare whan, in 1920, the burgh o Leith wis jyned wi Edinburgh. E'en the day the pairlamentary seat at Westminster is kent as "Edinburgh North an Leith." Wi the redevelopin o Leith, Edinburgh haes won the business o a nummer o cruise liner companies that nou gie cruises tae Norrowey, Swaden, Denmark, Germany an the Netherlands. Leith an aa haes the Royal Yacht Britannia, berthit ahint the Ocean Terminal as weil as bein hame tae Hibernian Fitbaw Club.

Edinburgh is weil-kent for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a gaitherin o offeicial an unthirled festivals haulden ilka year ower aboot fower week in early August.^[23] The maist kenspeckle o thir events is the Edinburgh Frings (the lairgest performin airts festival in the wurld), the Edinburgh Comedy Festival (the lairgest comedy festival in the wurld), the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the Edinburgh Internaitional Film Festival an the Edinburgh Internaitional Beuk Festival.

Ithir notable events include the Hogmanay street pairty an Burns Nicht an St. Andra's Day an aa hae events merkin thaim. The ceety is ane Europe's heidmaist tourist destinations, breingin in 13 million veisitor ilka year, an efter Lunnon is the seicond maist veisatit tourist destination in the Unitit Kinrick.^[24]

Edinburgh Airport (Scots Gaelic: Port-adhair Dhùn Èideann) (IATA: EDI, ICAO: EGPH) is locatit in the Ingliston airt.

Kintra	Ceety or municipality	Subdiveesion	Date o greement
	Munich	Bavarie	1954
	Nice	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	1958
	Florence	Tuscany	1964
	Dunedin	Otago	1974
	Vancouver	Breetish Columbie	1977
	San Diego	Californie	1977
	Segovia	Castile an León	1985
	Xi'an	Shaanxi	1985
	Kiev	Kiev Ceety Municipality	1989
	Aalborg	Nordjylland	1991
	Kyoto Prefectur	Kansai	1994
	Kraków	Lesser Poland Voivodeship	1995

Wikimedia Commons haes media relatit tae Edinburgh.

Wikimedia Commons haes media relatit tae Edinburgh.