Dundee ( ) ( ) is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and, fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It lies on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea.

Dundee and the surrounding area has been continuously occupied since the Mesolithic. The port developed initially on the back of the wool trade exporting wool from the Angus hinterland.Fact: date=March 2009 Once it was cheaper to produce linen, which had supplanted the wool trade and was itself under pressure from cotton abroad, the weavers turned their skills to weaving imported jute. The weaving industry caused the city to grow rapidly with many migrant workers though the town contained very few stone buildings prior to 1860. In this period, Dundee also gained a reputation for its marmalade industry and its journalism, giving Dundee its epithet as the city of "jam, jute and journalism".

In 2006, the population of Dundee City was estimated to be 141,930. Dundee's recorded population reached a peak of 182,204 in the 1971 census, but has since declined due to outward migration.

Today, Dundee is promoted as the City of Discovery, in honour of Dundee's history of scientific activities and of the RRS Discovery, Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic exploration vessel, which was built in Dundee and is now berthed in the city harbour. Biomedical and technological industries have arrived since the 1980s, and the city now accounts for 10% of the United Kingdom's digital-entertainment industry. Dundee has two universities—the University of Abertay Dundee and the University of Dundee.

History

main: History of Dundee

Toponymy

The name "Dundee" is of uncertain etymology. It incorporates the place-name element dùn, fort, present in both Gaelic and in Brythonic languages such as Pictish.

Folk etymology, repeated by Boece, claims that the name derives from the Latin Dei Donum 'Gift from God'. However, this is unlikely.

Early history

Dundee and its surrounding area have been continuously occupied since the Mesolithic. A kitchen midden of that date was unearthed during work on the harbour in 1879, and yielded flints, charcoal and a stone axe.

A Neolithic cursus, with associated barrows has been identified at the north-western end of the city and nearby lies the Balgarthno stone circle.

A lack of stratigraphy around the stone circle has left it difficult to determine a precise age, but it is thought to date from around the late Neolithic/early Bronze age. The circle has been subject to vandalism in the past and has recently been fenced off to protect it. Bronze Age finds are fairly abundant in Dundee and the surrounding area, particularly in the form of short cist burials.See for example:

From the Iron age, perhaps the most prominent remains are of the Law Hill Fort, although domestic remains are also well represented. Near to Dundee can be found the well-characterised souterrains at Carlungie and Ardestie, which date from around the second century AD. Several brochs are also found in the area, including the ruins at Laws Hill near Monifieth,