Glasgow

Please Note: Outline shows City Council administrative area only - the actual city comprises this area plus sections of the adjoining administrative areas)

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, and the third-largest in the UK. The area shown on the map is the area controlled by the City Council which has a population of 500,000 Glaswegians while the surrounding urban area has 1.7 million. It is thought that Glasgow and its metropolitan area is home to 41% of Scotland. Its name most likely comes from a Cumbric or Gaelic 'glas cau' meaning Green Hollow.

Glasgow was for a long time the second city of Scotland, but the Industrial Revolution saw its trade boom and the city become industrialised with the trade-off of the growth of many slums. It once was the 4th largest city in Europe and the "Second City of the British Empire", but from the 1960s its decline in industry caused it to lose its emminence. The 1960s gave many ambitious (even crazy) plans to move the city into the future. What did get built was the M8 and the suburbs and New Towns around it.

In the end, it was the '80s when the city saw a great turning around in its fortunes. Glasgow is now Scotland's economic capital, although there is a large gap between the wealth of the people living within it. It was named one of the 50 safest cities in the world.