of London is the largest in Great Britain, and there are other universities and colleges in the city. A working replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre opened in 1997. Its many theater companies reflect the importance of drama, and it has several world-class orchestras, a well-known opera house, performance halls, and clubs. The city is rich in other artistic and cultural activities. The British Library, one of the world's great reference resources, is located in London. London also has numerous commercial art galleries and plays a major role in the international art market. Museums include the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Saachi Gallery, and the Design Museum. Municipal parks include Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park (which houses the London Zoo), and St. Buckingham Palace is the royal family's London residence. Bond and Regent streets and Covent Garden are noted for their shops. The best-known streets of London are Fleet Street, the Strand, Piccadilly, Whitehall, Pall Mall, Downing Street, and Lombard Street. The city is a hub for road, rail, and air (its airports include Heathrow and Gatwick), and it is now linked to the Continent by a high-speed rail line under the English Channel. Engineering and scientific research are also important to the economy, as is tourism. Consumer goods, clothing, precision instruments, jewelry, and stationery are produced, but manufacturing has lost a number of jobs in the once-dominant textile, furniture, printing, and chemical-processing industries as firms have moved outside the area. It exports manufactured goods and imports petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter, metals, and meat. London still remains one of the world's greatest ports. The financial services sector is a major source of overall employment in London. The Bank of England, Lloyd's, the stock exchange, and numerous other banks and investment companies have their headquarters there, primarily in the City, but increasingly at Canary Wharf. London is one of the world's foremost financial, commercial, industrial, and cultural centers. Elections were held in 2000, and Ken Livingstone became Greater London's first elected mayor. In 1999 the Greater London Authority Act reestablished a single local governing body for the Greater London area, consisting of an elected mayor and the London Assembly. The Greater London Council administered the larger London area until 1986, when it was abolished by the Thatcher government, making London unique as a world metropolis without a central governing unit. Both the City of London and Greater London (not including the City) are ceremonial counties under the Lieutenancies Act. The City elects a lord mayor (whose residence is the Mansion House), aldermen, and councilmen. Each of the boroughs of Greater London elects a council. Greater London includes the area of the former county of London, most of the former county of Middlesex, and areas that were formerly in Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire. The 20 outer boroughs are Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Ealing, Brent, Harrow, Barnet, Haringey, and Enfield.
The 12 inner boroughs that surround the City are Westminster, Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea. The City is the old city of London and is the modern city's commercial center it is also referred to as the “Square Mile” because of its area.
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4,000), usually called the City, plus 32 boroughs. 6,378,600), c.620 sq mi (1,610 sq km), consists of the Corporation of the City of London (1991 pop. London, capital of Great Britain, SE England, on both sides of the Thames River.