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Interesting info about Aberdeen.
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city and one of
Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It has an
official population estimate of 210,400.
Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the
Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to
mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated
locally quarried grey granite, whose mica deposits sparkle
like silver. The city has a long, sandy coastline. Since the
discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames
have been the Oil Capital of Europe or the Energy Capital of
Europe.
The area around Aberdeen has been settled for at least 8000
years, when prehistoric villages lay around the mouths of
the rivers Dee and Don.
In 1319, Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from Robert
the Bruce, transforming the city economically. The city's
two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in
1495, and the Robert Gordon University, which was awarded
university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational
centre of the north-east. The traditional industries of
fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been
overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport.
Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports
in the world and the seaport is the largest in the
north-east of Scotland.
Aberdeen has won the Britain in Bloom competition a record
breaking ten times, and hosts the Aberdeen International
Youth Festival, a major international event which attracts
up to 1000 of the most talented young performing arts
companies. |
