Second city of the United Kingdom

Common card · No. 209053

In the United Kingdom, the term "second city" is applied to the next most-important city after the capital and largest city of London. Traditionally it has been held by Birmingham, although the title has been disputed by the popular press in the 21st century with the city of Manchester, or with other candidates historically. The United Kingdom has a primate city structure where London significantly surpasses other cities in size and importance and all other cities have much more in common with one another than with the capital, but various cities have held some claim to the title of second city through history. Eboracum (York), the northern capital of Britannia Inferior, would have been considered the second city by virtue of its prominence in Roman times. By the nineteenth century, the label "second city of the British Empire" had emerged and was widely applied to Dublin, the capital of Ireland. In later years, when broadened to "second city of the Empire" rather than "second city of...

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