Includes bibliographical references and index.

PART I. LONDINIUM ; 1. urban origins ; 2. early Londinium ; 3. change and decay ; PART II. FROM LONDINIUM TO THE CHARTERED CITY OF LONDON, C.400-C.1530 ; 4. Londinium and Lundenwic c.400-c.886 ; 5. from Lundenburg to the birth of a municipal commune c.866-1215 ; 6. the emergence of the medieval capital c.1216-c.1530 ; PART III. THE GENESIS OF MODERN LONDON 1530-1700 ; 7. the rise of the metropolis ; 8. religious and educational revolution ; 9. political revolutions ; 10. the processes of growth ; 11. the administration of the metropolis ; 12. death and life in London ; PART IV. AUGUSTAN AND GEORGIAN LONDON 1700-1830 ; 13. the growth and structure of London ; 14. London and the genesis of the industrial economy ; 15. religion, education and leisure ; 16. metropolitan politics and metropolitan class ; PART V. METROPOLITAN AND IMPERIAL LONDON 1830-1914 ; 17. structures of the modern metropolis ; 18. the people of London ; 19. the imperial and global metropolis ; PART VI. THE UNCERTAIN METROPOLIS 1914-1997 ; 20. the inter-war years 1914-1939;, World War II 1939-1945; disruptions, 1945-1997; valediction ; Appendix 1: Estimates of the Population of London 1550-1801 ; Appendix 2: The Population of London and the South East Region 1801-1991 ; Notes, Bibliography, Index

London has been the hub of social and political life in Britain for almost 2000 years - the only city in the world to have held such a dominant national position for so long. This study takes the reader on a voyage through London's past from the first bridging of the Thames.