Sydney

Sydney is a port city and the capital of the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is the nation's largest city, as well as its major business centre. Sydney lies on what has been described as "the finest natural harbour in the world". Other notable natural features include many beaches (most famously Bondi Beach and Manly), several national parks, including the Royal National Park and Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, and several waterways including the St George's and Hawkesbury Rivers. City landmarks include the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

Sydney was founded by Arthur Phillip, commander of Britain's First Fleet, in 1788 when he established the first European settlement on the contintent at the site now known as Circular Quay. Prior to this, Captain Cook had visited Botany Bay (a few kilometres south of Sydney Harbour) in 1770 and claimed the area for the British Crown, coining the name New South Wales for the area. After the American War of Independence, Britain decided it needed to establish new colonies to which it could send its growing number of convicts. Thus the plan to despatch a fleet to New South Wales was drawn up. Arriving at Botany Bay, Phillip soon recognised that the site was unsuitable for a colony due to the lack of fresh water. The fleet moved on to Sydney Harbour, which was more suitable. Phillip named the harbour Port Jackson, which remains the official name.

Sydney's metropolitan area has about 4.3 million inhabitants and ranks 67 in the world. Sydney is the 9th largest urban area on Earth in size (12.100 km²), spreading over 300 different suburbs. It is about the same size as Los Angeles in area, but has only about a third its population.

Sydney is a hotbed of rugby league and other sports, and the city successfully hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 2000.