Edinburgh | Capital of Scotland | Beauty of Edinburgh | Most Famous City

Edinburgh
| Capital of Scotland
| Beauty of Edinburgh
| Iterary Heritage
| Most Famous City
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The modern city is located between the rivers Almond and Esk on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, in the historic region of Lothian, bounded on its southern side by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh is Scotland's second most populous city and the seventh most populous city in the United Kingdom.
Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, and the highest courts in Scotland. The city's Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. It is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, fourth largest in Europe and thirteenth largest internationally[12] and the city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018.[13][14] Time Out magazine rated Edinburgh the best city in the world in 2022.[15]
Edinburgh's official population estimates are 506,520 (mid-2020) for the locality,[5] 518,500 (mid-2019) for the City of Edinburgh council area, which takes in some outlying villages in the western part of its territory,[6] and 1,384,950 (2019) for the wider Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region[16] which also includes East Lothian, Fife, Midlothian, the Scottish Borders and West Lothian.[17] The City of Edinburgh Council is the current local authority.
The city is the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It is home to national cultural institutions such as the National Museum of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world, most recently placing 15th in the QS World University Rankings for 2023.[18] The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site,[19] which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999.
Etymology
Main article: Etymology of Edinburgh
"Edin", the root of the city's name, derives from Eidyn, the name for the region in Cumbric, the Brittonic Celtic language formerly spoken there. The name's meaning is unknown.[20] The district of Eidyn was centred on the stronghold of Din Eidyn, the dun or hillfort of Eidyn.[20] This stronghold is believed to have been located at Castle Rock, now the site of Edinburgh Castle. A siege of Din Eidyn by Oswald, king of the Angles of Northumbria in 638 marked the beginning of three centuries of Germanic influence in south east Scotland that laid the foundations for the development of Scots, before the town was ultimately subsumed in 954 by the kingdom known to the English as Scotland.[21] As the language shifted from Cumbric to Northumbrian Old English and then Scots, the Brittonic din in Din Eidyn was replaced by burh, producing Edinburgh. In Scottish Gaelic din becomes dùn, producing modern Dùn Èideann.[20][22]
Nicknames
Surgeons' Hall, one of the Greek Revival buildings that earned Edinburgh the nickname "Athens of the North"
The city is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie,[23][24] Scots for Old Smoky, for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town. In Walter Scott's 1820 novel The Abbot, a character observes that "yonder stands Auld Reekie-you may see the smoke hover over her at twenty miles' distance".[25] In 1898, Thomas Carlyle comments on the phenomenon: "Smoke cloud hangs over old Edinburgh, for, ever since Aeneas Silvius's time and earlier, the people have the art, very strange to Aeneas, of burning a certain sort of black stones, and Edinburgh with its chimneys is called 'Auld Reekie' by the country people".[26] 19th-century historian Robert Chambers argued that the sobriquet could not be traced before the reign of Charles II in the late 17th century. Instead, he attributed the name to a Fife laird, Durham of Largo, who regulated the bedtime of his children by the smoke rising above Edinburgh from the fires of the tenements. "It's time now bairns, to tak' the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht -cap!