| Introduction
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Introduction
Two thousand years of English history are written across the face of York. Within the old city's walls, and within sight and
sound of the magnificent York Minster cathedral, narrow, cobbled streets, ancient remains, medieval buildings, historic churches,
and award-winning museums sit happily alongside modern stores, restaurants and hotels.
York is a small town at heart. It began life as a riverside encampment established by an ancient British tribe, the Brigantes.
In turn, Brigantes were usurped in AD 71 by Roman invaders who made York their empire's northern European capital. Anglo Saxons,
who established York as a center of early Christianity, followed the Romans. In AD 867, the settlement was captured by the
Danes - the plundering Vikings of romantic history.
In subsequent centuries York fell under the control of the Normans, who laid the first substantial foundations of the
present minster and built the original city walls. During the 16th and 17th centuries, religious and dynastic struggles kept
the city in the national forefront, at a time when poverty, plague and famine often made ordinary life harsh and terrible.
The more enterprising world of the 18th and 19th centuries and the emergence of York as the railroad capital of northern England
made the city a fashionable commercial center, one that was only lightly touched by the more brutal aspects of the Industrial
Revolution. Today visitors walk on hallowed ground that has supported more than 2,000 years of human achievement, as well
as misery.
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