A GLOBAL CITY: LONDON

« III- Has London a political influence? London has an active influence on international events or world affair s.

It’s a major capital of influential nations or unions.

There are hosting headquarters for international organizations, for instance, the IMO (Inter national Maritime Organization) and the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth of Nations is an intergovernmental organization of fifty -four independent member states.

Two of those countries (Mozambique and Rwanda) were formerly part of the British Empire.

So London has a political influence on those countries.

There are also expatri ate communities: more than 50 ethnic communities of more than 10 000 members.

IV - Has London an influence on an international scale? London is going to be in 2012 the first country to host for the third time the modern Summer Olympic Games.

The City is going to be really full next summer; therefore London might be the most touristic one during this period.

Moreover, the infrastructural in London is very attractive: just referring to the tourism, we deduce that London is a very important infrastructural c ity.

There’s also the historic settlement of Greenwich in which the Royal Observatory marks the Prime Meridian, with 0° longitude, and Greenwich Mean Time.

It’s very important for all the people of the world, in order to be organized with other people, in order to be in coordination with everybody at every moment.

In London, there was the largest harbor of the world but the Port of London is now the second - largest one in the United Kingdom.

The principal one is now the Port of Tilbury, outside the boundary of Greater London.

On the touristic scale, London has the most international visitors of any city in the world and London Heathrow is the world’s busiest airport by number of international passengers.

The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world and the second -most extensive after the Shanghai Metro.

V - Does London spread his culture all around the world? Foremost, London, by having 43 universities has the largest concentratio n of higher education in Europe, and the number of international students continues to grow.

The most famous one is UCL (University College London).

We can find in London 4 World Heritage Sites: - The Tower of London : it’s a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in Central London.

- Kew Gardens : it has 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in Southwest London.

- The site with the Palace of Westminster and W estminster Abbey: it’s the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Lords and the House of Commons (the Palace of Westminster).

It’s a large and mainly Gothic church located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster (Westminster Abbey).

- St Margaret’ s Church: it’s the Anglican church of St Margaret.

I t’s situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and it’s the parish (= la paroisse) church of the House of Commons.. »