London - the World's Center

If Rome is considered a powerful city in the roman empire, then London is considered the same but in the British empire. If Rome developed as a great city from the old city states in Italy, then London developed as a great city from the feudal system in England. These two cities have many things in common.

 

London and Rome are still major cities in the world today. Today's focus is however centered on ACTIVITY and the strategic importance of the activity rather than size. The growth of London has specific unique factors that one can look at. Some other cities today have robbed London of its imminence in the world which however still survives test of time.

 

The following are features and characteristics that enabled London to become a communication, financial, air and sea transportation network systems.

 

1. London is centrally located along the River Thames in England. It is not just a town, it is also a port that is easily accessible from the sea-English channel. This means that the goods destined from (exports) and those destined to (imports) that can conveniently be shipped from London The buoyant history of England placed much focus on London

 

2. The political center for England is London where not only the king and the queen resides, but also most of the important government offices are located here, including the parliament.

 

3. London became a center for air transportation network for both domestic and international flights. It is only today that a few other cities in the world have come up to compete with London

 

4.

Since London handled great volume of world's trade transactions, it can also be understood how it became a center for financial transactions. For a long time, London stock exchange was the major institution in money matters in the world. Today, the new York stock exchange and the Tokyo stock exchange (plus a few others), have also risen up to take their places. In fact, Most banks in the world also had their key offices in London

 

5. What gave London its imminence came from the academic and cultural spheres. Pioneer institutes of higher learning started and were established in London The vast empire over which England presided covered diverse cultures and hence London became the center for academic and cultural excellence. The royal geographical society and the royal historical society which were located in London virtually placed London as the center of the world. Although they did not say it, the academic and historical spheres (views and ideas) placed Europe and precisely London, the center of the world, if not, the universe. All thinking was to flow from Europe and more so from London It was Europe and London, (england) where ideas came from. The pioneer world broadcasting and press establishments such as the BBC have their roots in London. Major world magazines and Newspapers owe their origin to London

 

When the longitudinal and latitudinal grid system was established, it virtually placed London at 0º east or west. What this system has done is to create all the times I the world to operate with reference to the London time. The 0º longitude passes through the village of Greenwich in London, hence all the world clocks operates according to the time at Greenwich, hence the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)