| − | '''Leeds''' is a major city in [[Yorkshire]]. Known as the "[[London]] of the North" due to a flourishing financial and business sector and the large number of prestigious shops and hotels that have appeared in the 21st century. A partnership with municipal Bradford, UK led to the Leeds Bradford International Airport. | + | '''Leeds''' is the largest settlement in [[Yorkshire]]. Known as the "[[London]] of the North" due to a flourishing financial and business sector and the large number of prestigious shops and hotels that have appeared in the 21st century. A partnership with municipal Bradford, UK led to the Leeds Bradford International Airport. |
| | + | Recorded as ''Loidis'' by the [[Venerable Bede]] in the 8th century AD as the house of the kings of the Brittonic kingdom [[Elmet]], Leeds was a manorial borough in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]] by the 13th century and a market town by the 15th century. It saw significant expansion with the wool industry in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially with the advent of the [[Industrial Revolution]] and opening of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. [[Coal]], which may have been extracted in the area as early as the Roman period, was also a big industry locally until the 20th century. |