Sydney was founded by [[Arthur Phillip]], commander of [[Britain]]'s [[First Fleet]], in 1788 when he established the first European settlement on the continent 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 Revolutionary War|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 dispatch 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 km<sup>2</sup>), spreading over 300 different [[suburb]]s. It is about the same size as [[Los Angeles]] in area, but has only about a third its [[population]].
The inhabitants of Sydney call themselves "Sydneysiders". Many Sydney landmarks, such as the [[Sydney Opera House| Opera House]], the [[AMP Tower]], the Queen Victoria Building, Darling Harbour and Hyde Park, are in or close to the Central Business District (CBD). Much of the rest of the metropolitan area falls into three parts: The "North Shore" is an affluent residential area north of the harbour; The "Eastern Suburbs", east of the CBD, contain famous beach suburbs such as Bondi and Coogee, affluent residential areas such as Paddington and Double Bay, and mostly urban areas such as Darlinghurst and Redfern; and the "Western Suburbs" are a mostly suburban residential area that stretches from the CBD to the [[Blue Mountains]]. The Western Suburbs are known for their communities of recent immigrants, especially from the [[Middle East]].