As the capital of Scotland 'Auld Reekie' or 'The Athens of the North' or quite simply Edinburgh, is a city steeped in history and tradition. There is evidence of pre-historic settlements on what is now Castle Hill and evidence of Picts living there have been established. The Picts were dispossessed by the Romans, who had a fort on the site by 84 AD. The next recorded event in the history of Edinburgh is the building of the first church on the site where St Giles Cathedral now stands in the 9th Century. It was also in this century that the King of Dalraida united Scotland into a force capable of taking on the Viking raiders. Whilst his grandson became King Duncan I of Scotland it wasn't until King Malcolm III became the King that the seat of power moved to Edinburgh. It was he who built a castle to reside in later in the 11th century. With this event and the expansion of dwellings and markets outside the castle the history of Edinburgh emerges.
The Wars of Independence saw Edinburgh castle involved in many battles, culminating with it being re-captured for Scotland in 1314 after a daring raid involving scaling its vertical basalt cliffs. Following this, in 1329, Robert the Bruce granted Edinburgh a Royal Charter making it a city. In 1450 a city wall was constructed which, whilst creating an outer defensible zone for the castle, also had the effect of creating a virtual ghetto for the citizens. Packed into a very tight area, buildings started to soar to more than 10 storeys high, creating a medieval New York sky-line and appalling over-crowding.
The next significant event in the history of Edinburgh was probably Mary - Queen of Scots - giving birth to her son James, who went on to become King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England.
As the 'age of enlightenment' progressed in Edinburgh such notable figures as the economist Adam Smith and writers Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson emerged.
Other famous names associated with Edinburgh in these times include: James Clerk Maxwell - who founded the principle of electro-magnetism, Alexander Graham Bell - telephone pioneer, James Hutton - the father of modern Geology, Charles Darwin - Biologist and Max Born - Nobel Laureate Physicist.
In more recent times events in the city's history include the inauguration of the Edinburgh International festival in 1947 and the holding of two Commonwealth Games in 1970 and 1985. The city was also the birthplace of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and even more recently the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair. For many citizens Edinburgh was restored to its rightful status in 1999, when the Scottish Parliament sat again in the city, after an absence of nearly 300 years.
What to see in Edinburgh click here