Bristol (pronunciation; ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.

With an approximate population of 410,950, and urban area of 550,200, it is England's sixth, and the United Kingdom's ninth most populous city, one of England's core cities and the most populous city in South West England. It received a royal charter in 1155 and was granted county status in 1373. For half a millennium it was the second or third largest English city, until the rapid rise of Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester in the Industrial Revolution during the latter part of the 18th century. It borders the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire, lying between the cities of Bath, Gloucester and Newport, and has a short coastline on the estuary of the River Severn, which flows into the Bristol Channel.

Bristol is the largest centre of culture, employment and education in the region. From its earliest days, its prosperity has been linked to that of the Port of Bristol, the commercial port, which was in the city centre but has now moved to the Severn Estuary coast at Avonmouth and Portbury, to the western extent of the city boundary. In more recent years the economy has been built on the aerospace industry and the city centre docks have been regenerated as a centre of heritage and culture.

There are a number of different ways in which Bristol's boundaries are defined, depending on whether the boundaries attempt to define the city, the built-up area, or the wider "Greater Bristol". The narrowest definition of the city is the city council boundary; although this definition does include a large portion of the Severn Estuary, west as far as the islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm. A slightly less narrow definition is used by the Office for National Statistics; this includes built-up areas which adjoin Bristol but are not within the city council boundary, such as Whitchurch village, Filton, Patchway, Bradley Stoke, and excludes non-built-up areas within the city council boundary. The ONS has also defined an area which it calls the "Bristol Urban Area" which includes Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford, Winterbourne, Frampton Cotterell, Almondsbury and Easton-in-Gordano. The term "Greater Bristol" (used for example by the Government Office of the South West is most usually used to refer to the area covered by the city and its three neighbouring local authorities

History

main: History of Bristol 60,000-year-old archaeological finds at Shirehampton and St Annes provide evidence of settlement in the Bristol area from the palaeolithic era. There are Iron Age hill forts near the city, at Leigh Woods and Clifton Down on the side of the Avon Gorge, and on Kingsweston Hill, near Henbury. During the Roman era there was a settlement, Abona, at what is now Sea Mills, connected to Bath by Roman road, and another settlement at what is now Inns Court. There were also isolated Roman villas and small Roman forts and settlements throughout the area. The town of Brycgstow (Old English, "the place at the bridge") was in existence by the beginning of the 11th century, and under Norman rule acquired one of the strongest castles in southern England.