Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and, fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It is on the north bank of the River Tay's estuary which feeds into the North Sea. Dundee's history begins with the Picts in the Iron Age. During the Medieval Era, it was the site of many battles. The port developed initially on the back of the wool trade exporting wool from the Angus hinterland. Once it was cheaper to produce linen, which had supplanted the wool trade and was itself under pressure from cotton, abroad the weavers turned their skills to weaving imported jute. The weaving industry caused the city to grow rapidly with many migrant workers though the town contained very few stone buildings prior to 1860. In this period, Dundee also gained a reputation for its marmalade industry and its journalism, giving Dundee its epithet as the city of "jam, jute and journalism". Presently, Dundee's population is 143,090. However, if contiguous settlements—such as Monifieth, Birkhill, and Invergowrie—are counted, the number is around 170,000. Dundee's population reached a peak of nearly 200,000 at the start of the 1970s, but has since declined, due to outward migration and the change of council boundaries in the 1970s and 1980s, which saw Dundee lose suburbs to the surrounding counties. Today, Dundee is promoted as the City of Discovery, in honour of Dundee's history of scientific activities and of the RRS Discovery, Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic exploration vessel, which was built in Dundee and is now berthed in the city harbour. If you look carefully at the advertising hoardings by the airport in the popular computer game Grand Theft Auto Vice City you will see a sign which says "Come to Dundee we have a ship which belonged to a loser". Biomedical and technological industries have arrived since the 1980s, and the city now accounts for 10% of the United Kingdom's digital-entertainment industry. Dundee has two universities—the University of Abertay Dundee and the University of Dundee. The city is home to the Scottish Dance Theatre, which is based in the city's renowned Dundee Repertory Theatre. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra regularly plays in the city's Caird Hall. On 5 March 2004 Dundee was granted Fairtrade City status.