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| City of Cardiff | |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Area: - Total - % Water | Ranked 19th 140 km² ? % |
| Admin HQ: | Cardiff |
| ISO 3166-2: | GB-CRF |
| ONS code: | 00PT |
| Geographical coordinates: | 51°29N 3°11W |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (April 29, 2001) - Density | Ranked 1st 305,353 2,181 / km² |
| Welsh language: - Any skills | Ranked 18th 16.3% |
| Politics | |
| Cardiff County Council http://www.cardiff.gov.uk | |
| Control: | (No overall control) |
| MPs: | Kevin Brennan Jon Owen Jones Alun Michael Julie Morgan |
Cardiff (Welsh: Caerdydd - caer fort + dydd Antonius Didius) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It is located in the traditional county of Glamorgan, and since 1996 has been administered by Cardiff County Council. It was a small town until the early nineteenth century and came to prominence following the arrival of industry in the region and the use of Cardiff as a major port for the transport of coal. Cardiff was made a city in 1905 and was proclaimed capital of Wales on December 20, 1955.
Cardiff's port, known as Tiger Bay, was once one of the busiest ports in the world. After a long period of neglect, as Cardiff Bay it is now being revived as a popular area for arts, entertainment and nightlife. Much of the growth has been thanks to the building of the Cardiff Barrage. The Welsh National Opera will move into the Wales Millennium Centre in the autumn of 2004.
In the 2001 census, the population of Cardiff was 305,340. People from Cardiff are called Cardiffians.
The name Cardiff is an Anglicisation of Welsh name "Caerdydd". There is uncertainty concerning the origin of "Caerdydd", "Caer" means fort or castle, but although "Dydd" means "Day" in modern Welsh, it is unclear what it means in this context. For many years it was believed that "Dydd" or "Diff" was a corruption of "Taff" the river on which Cardiff stands, in which case "Cardiff" would mean the fort on the river Taff (in Welsh the T mutates to D). Modern research casts doubt on this meaning, and it is now known the Romans under Antonius Didius established a fort in Cardiff. Considering this it is now believed that Cardiff means the fort of Antonius Didius. A Norman castle still exists, on the site of an earlier Roman fort, but was substantially altered and extended during the Victorian period by the 3rd Marquess of Bute and the architect William Burges.
There is a second castle to the north west of the city center, called Castell Coch (Welsh: "the Red Castle"). This is very elaborately decorated Victorian folly designed by Burges for the Marquess and built in the 1870s. The exterior has been used for filming several TV series, for example as the outside of Cackles Academy in the ITV presentation of The Worst Witch.
Cardiff has four universitie:
Cardiff is home to Cardiff Castle, the National Assembly for Wales, St. Davids Hall, the National Museum and Gallery, and Cathays Park (including municipal buildings modelled on those in New Delhi).
Caroline Street is one of the third oldest streets in Cardiff and is a major link between two of the busiest streets (St. Mary Street and the Hayes). The street has been a host to all kinds of stores but more recently has been taken over by chip and kebab shops, and as such is commonly known as Chip Row, or Chip Alley, and is a popular post-club location. As of 2003, luxury flats were being built and plans were made to refurbish the street. As part of the development a Hard Rock Cafe and a Nandos have opened in the Old Brewery Quarter.
The city is also host to S A Brain, a brewery with premises in Cardiff since 1882.
Following the 2004 local elections, Cardiff County Council is not controlled by any individual political party. The Liberal Democrats have 33 councillors, Labour have 27, the Conservatives have 12 and Plaid Cymru have 3.
People born in Cardiff
| United Kingdom | Wales | Principal areas of Wales | |
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Anglesey | Blaenau Gwent | Bridgend | Caerphilly | Cardiff | Carmarthenshire | Ceredigion | Conwy | Denbighshire | Flintshire | Gwynedd | Merthyr Tydfil | Monmouthshire | Neath Port Talbot | Newport | Pembrokeshire | Powys | Rhondda Cynon Taff | Swansea | Torfaen | Vale of Glamorgan | Wrexham |
Cardiff is also a place in the State of California in the United States of America: see Cardiff, California
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