Edinburgh (pronounced /ˈɛdɪnb(ə)rə/ ( listen), ED-in-brə or ED-in-bə-rə; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea. Owing to its spectacular, rugged setting and vast collection of Medieval and Georgian architecture, including numerous stone tenements, it is often considered one of the most picturesque cities in Europe. The city forms part of the City of Edinburgh council area; the city council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30-square-mile (78 km2) rural area. Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Parliament. The city was one of the major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, earning it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city.[1] In the 2008 mid year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 471,650.[2] Edinburgh is well-known for the annual Edinburgh Festival, a collection of official and independent festivals held annually over about four weeks from early August. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festival is roughly equal to the settled population of the city. The most famous of these events are the Edinburgh Fringe (the largest performing arts festival in the world), the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Other notable events include the Hogmanay street party (31 December), Burns Night (25 January), St. Andrew's Day (30 November), and the Beltane Fire Festival (30 April). The city attracts 1 million overseas visitors a year, making it the second most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom, after London.[3] In a 2009 YouGov poll, Edinburgh was voted the "most desirable city in which to live in the UK".[4] Humans have settled the Edinburgh area from at least the Bronze Age, leaving traces of primitive stone settlements at Holyrood, Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills for example.[5] Influenced through the Iron Age by Hallstatt and La Tene Celtic cultures from central Europe, by the time the Romans arrived in Lothian at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, they discovered a Celtic, Brythonic tribe whose name they recorded as Votadini, likely to be a Latin version of the name they called themselves. The city's name is most likely Celtic (P-Celtic, Brythonic) in origin, possibly Cumbric or a variation of it. It is first mentioned in the late 6th century in the heroic poems of the Gododdin (a later Brythonic form of 'Votadini'), named as both Eidyn and Din Eidyn and also described as Eidyn ysgor or Eidyn gaer, i.e. the stronghold or fort of Eidyn. All these forms use 'Eidyn' as a proper name, and the same is true for later translations made by invading Bernicians and Scots, typified in a note from the 9th century's Life of St Monenna, 'Dunedene, which is in English, Edineburg'.[6][7] This Celtic root is contrary to the often-cited theory that the city was named after the Bernician King of Northumbria, Edwin, who was killed in AD 633. However it is extremely unlikely that Edwin had any connection with Edinburgh, despite the expansion of his kingdom during his reign. Although centuries later some, such as Symeon of Durham in the 12th century, referred to the city in terms such as Edwinesburch, this hypothesis has been largely discredited as 'folk-etymology', the invention of a connection where there is none, most likely for political reasons. Indeed rigorous etymological research supports the Celtic route theory.[8] Nevertheless there is no doubt that the Angles of Northumbria did have significant influence over south east Scotland, notably from AD 638 when it appears the Gododdin stronghold of Din Eidyn was sieged. Though far from exclusive (cf Picts and Scots), this influence continued over three centuries. It was not until c. AD 950 when, during the reign of Indulf, son of Constantine, the city, referred to at this time in the Pictish Chronicle as 'oppidum Eden'[8], fell to the Scots and finally remained under their jurisdiction.[9] It is worth noting that during this period of Germanic influence in south east Scotland, when the city's name gained its Germanic suffix, 'burgh', the seeds for the language we know today as Scots were sown. By the 12th century Edinburgh was well established, founded upon the famous castle rock, the volcanic crag and tail geological feature shaped by 2 million years of glacial activity. Flourishing alongside it to the east, another community developed around the Abbey of Holyrood, known as Canongate. In the 13th century these both became Royal Burghs and through the late medieval period Edinburgh grew quickly. In 1492 King James IV of Scotland undertook to move the Royal Court from Stirling to Holyrood, making Edinburgh the national capital. Edinburgh continued to flourish economically and culturally through the Renaissance period and was at the centre of the 16th century Scottish Reformation and the Wars of the Covenant a hundred years later. In 1603 King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English and Irish thrones, fulfilling his ambition to create a united kingdom under the Stewart Monarchy. Although he retained the Parliament of Scotland in Edinburgh, he marched to London to rule from his throne there. He ordered that every public building in the land should bear his family's emblem, the red lion rampant, and to this day the most common name for a public house in Britain is the Red Lion. In 1639, disputes between the Presbyterian Covenanters and the Anglican Church led to the Bishops' Wars, a prelude to the English Civil War, and the brief occupation of Edinburgh by the Commonwealth forces of Oliver Cromwell. In 17th-century Edinburgh, a defensive wall, built in the 16th century, largely as protection against English invasion following James IV's defeat at Flodden (hence it's moniker, the Flodden Wall) still defined the boundaries of the city . Due to the restricted land area available for development, the houses increased in height instead. Buildings of 11 stories were common, and there are records of buildings as high as 14 stories, an early version of the modern-day skyscraper. Many of the stone-built structures can still be seen today in the Old Town. In 1707 the Act of Union was ratified by a narrow margin in the Scottish Parliament, however many Scots had opposed it and the people of Edinburgh rioted at the news. It would be almost 300 years before the Parliament was reinstated. From early times, and certainly from the 14th century, Edinburgh (like other royal burghs of Scotland) used armorial devices in many ways, including on seals. However in 1732, the ‘achievement’ or ‘coat of arms’ was formally granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. These arms were used by Edinburgh Town Council until the reorganisation of local government in Scotland in May 1975, when it was succeeded by the City of Edinburgh District Council and a new coat of arms, based on the earlier one, was granted. In 1996, further local government reorganisation resulted in the formation of the City of Edinburgh Council, and again the coat of arms was updated.[10] During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Edinburgh was briefly occupied by Jacobite forces before their march into England. However following their ultimate defeat at Culloden, there was a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the Catholic Highlanders. In Edinburgh the Hanoverian monarch attempted to gain favour by supporting new developments to the north of the castle, naming streets in honour of the King and his family; George Street, Frederick Street, Hanover Street and Princes Street, named in honour of George IV's two sons. Edinburgh is noted for its fine architecture, and the New Town for its Georgian architecture in particular. Following the controversial Act of Union in 1707, Scotland was both galvanised by a desire to retain it's national identity and culture and quick to recognise the opportunities now presented by access to formerly guarded English international trading routes. These factors and others contributed to the blossoming of the Scottish Enlightenment during the second half of the 18th century, arguably Edinburgh's most successful period. The city was at the heart of it and renowned throughout Europe at this time, as a hotbed of talent and ideas and a beacon for progress. Celebrities from across the continent would be seen in the city streets, among them famous Scots such as David Hume, Walter Scott, Robert Adam, David Wilkie, Robert Burns, James Hutton and Adam Smith. Edinburgh became a major cultural centre, earning it the nickname Athens of the North because of the Greco-Roman style of the New Town's architecture, as well as the rise of the Scottish intellectual elite who were increasingly leading both Scottish and European intellectual thought. In the 19th century, Edinburgh, like many cities, industrialised, but did not grow as fast as Scotland's second city, Glasgow, which replaced it as the largest city in the country, benefitting greatly at the height of the British Empire. Following two World Wars and the dismantling of the British Empire, the second half of the 20th century saw much civil unrest throughout Scotland and including in Edinburgh. However in 1992 Edinburgh hosted the European Union Treaty Summit and the city once again had a taste of being a bona fide national capital. In 1997 it was agreed the Scottish Parliament would sit again and in 1999 it did. With the election of an SNP Scottish Government in 2007 there is a sign that Scots are seriously considering the reinstatement of full sovereignty to their Parliament. However, independence or not, the Parliament alone has given new impetus to the city where it belongs. The city is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie[11] (Scots for Old Smoky), because when buildings were heated by coal and wood fires, chimneys would spew thick columns of smoke into the air. The colloquial pronunciation "Embra" or "Embro" has also been used[12] as in Robert Garioch's Embro to the Ploy[13]