York (pronunciation) is an historic walled city sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city is noted for its rich heritage and it has played an important role throughout much of its almost 2,000 year existence.

The city was founded as Eboracum in AD 71 by the Romans and was made the capital of Britannia Inferior. During the Roman period influential historical figures, such as Constantine the Great, became associated with the city. The entire Roman Empire was governed from York for two years by Septimius Severus.

After the Angles moved in, the city was renamed Eoferwic, and served as the capital of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The Vikings captured the city in 866, renaming it Jórvík, the capital of a wider kingdom of the same name covering much of Northern England. Around the year 1000, the city became known as York.

Richard II wished to make York the capital of England, but before he could effect this he was deposed. After the Wars of the Roses, York housed the Council of the North and was regarded as the capital of the North. It was only after The Restoration that the political importance of the city began to decline. The Province of York is one of the two English ecclesiastical provinces, alongside that of Canterbury.

From 1996, the term City of York describes a unitary authority area which includes rural areas beyond the old city boundaries. The urban area has a population of 137,505, while the entire unitary authority has 184,900 people. Currently, the core of the city within the walls is a major tourist destination, attracting visitors from all over the world.

History

main: History of York

Toponymy

The toponymy of Eboracum is uncertain as the language of the indigenous population of the area was never recorded. Based on the generally accepted view of British history, Pryor, F. Britain BC. ISBN 978-0-007-12693-4 the inhabitants of Britain probably spoke a Celtic language, related to modern Welsh. The most widely accepted theory is therefore that Eboracum is derived from the Proto-Brythonic word Eborakon meaning either 'place of the yew trees' (cf. yew = efrog in Welsh, eabhrac in Irish Gaelic and eabhraig in Scottish Gaelic) or perhaps 'field of Eboras'. The name is then thought to have been Latinised by replacing -akon with -acum, in common with many other place names in Roman Britain (e.g. Verlamion (St Albans) became Verulamium).

The name 'Eboracum' became 'Eoforwic' to the Anglian rulers of the 7th century. This was probably by conflation of 'ebor' with a Germanic root *eburaz (boar); by the 7th century the Old English for boar had become 'eofor', and Eboracum 'Eoforwic'. The 'wic' simply signified 'place'. When conquered by a Danish army in 866, the name Eoforwic would have been incomprehensible to the invaders, and soon became rendered as 'Jórvík'. It has been suggested that this translates as 'horse-bay'; however, regardless of the exact meaning, it is probable it simply represented 'Eoforwic' in sounds familiar to the Danes.