Southampton is the largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the South coast of England and the UK's largest urban centre South of London.
The city is a major port and is the busiest cruise port in Europe, as well as one of the UK's busiest freight ports.
Southampton has been an important place for Britain throughout its history, famous ships such as The Mayflower and Titanic both set sail from the city and it was designated No. 1 Military Embarkation port during the Great War.
The city is also famous for being the place where RJ Mitchell developed, tested and manufactured The Spitfire aeroplane, crucial to victory in the Battle of Britain against the Nazis in World War Two.
Throughout history Southampton has experienced enormous change, Starting as an Anglo saxon settlement and developing into a large walled town in medieval times which by the time of the Norman Conquest was one of the key ports and during the Middle Ages, shipbuilding became an important industry for the town. In the 18th century Southampton became a popular Spa Town resort.
With the onset of the industrial revolution, the town experienced major expansion during the Victorian era. The Southampton Docks company had formed in 1835.The structural and economic development of docks continued for the next few decades.The railway link to London was fully opened in May 1840.Southampton subsequently became known as ''The Gateway to the Empire''. After the Great War Cunard moved to Southampton and throughout the 20th century Southampton was the countries leading cruise port, home to ships such as Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary, as well as the ill fated Titanic.
Southampton was bombed heavily during the second world war due to being both a key location in the transportation of troops and being home to important industry such as the RJ Mitchell Spitfire Factory and the Vosper Thornycroft Shipyard. 630 people lost their lives as a result of the Luftwaffe air raids on Southampton and nearly 2,000 more were injured, over 4000 buildings were destroyed and 40,000 damaged.
Unlike other cities where docks have declined, Southampton still remains a key container port and the industry continues to grow, handling 45% of the UK's deep sea trade from major economies in the Far East and China.
Southampton has two large universities which feed a large underground music scene that has spawned the likes of Artful Dodger, Craig David, Delays, Foxes, Band of Skulls, Aqualung and members of Alt-J and Coldplay.
Southampton is sometimes considered together with Portsmouth and surrounding towns to form a single metropolitan area known as South Hampshire. This combined area has also been known as Solent City has a population of over 1.5 million making the region one of the United Kingdom's most populous metropolitan areas, Southampton and Portsmouth also have the highest population densities of any UK cities outside of London. .
