History:
Glasgow grew up around the cathedral founded by Saint Mungo in the 6th century, and in 1451, the city became the site of the University of Glasgow, the second university in Scotland. Unfortunately, with the exception of the cathedral, virtually nothing of the medieval city remains. It was swept away by the energetic people of a new age - the age of capitalism, the Industrial Revolution and the British Empire.
In the 18th century, much of the tobacco trade between Europe and the USA was routed through Glasgow and provided a great source of wealth. Other New World imports included rum and sugar. Even after the tobacco trade declined in the 19th century, the city continued to prosper as a centre of textile manufacturing, shipbuilding and the coal and steel industries.
The new industries created a huge demand for labour, and peasants poured in from Ireland and the Highlands to crowd the city's tenements. In the mid-18th century the population had reached 17,500. By the end of that century, it had risen to 100,000. After 20 years, that figure had doubled and, by 1960, it was home to 400,000 people. The outward appearance of prosperity, however, was tempered by the dire working conditions in the factories, particularly for women and children. In the second half of the 19th century the city experienced four major cholera outbreaks, and life expectancy was a mere 30 years.
While the workers suffered, the textile barons and shipping magnates prospered, and Glasgow could justifiably call itself the second city of the empire. Grand Victorian public buildings were constructed, and some of the wealthier citizens spent their fortunes amassing the large art collections which now form the basis of the city's superb galleries.
In the first half of the 20th century, Glasgow was the centre of Britain's munitions industry, supplying arms and ships for the two world wars. After those boom years, however, the port and heavy industries began to decline and by the early 1970s, the city looked doomed. Glasgow had always been proud of its predominantly working class nature, but, unlike middle-class Edinburgh with its varied service industries, it had few alternatives when recession hit and unemployment spiralled.
At the turn of the millennium, there has been increasing confidence in the city. In 1999, Glasgow followed up the European City of Culture award it had won almost a decade previously by serving as the UK's City of Architecture & Design in 1999. But, behind all the optimism, the general standard of living remains relatively low, and life is tough for those affected by the comparatively high unemployment, inadequate housing and generally poor diet.
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