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Dundee is the fourth largest city in Scotland with a population of around 150,000. Up until the recent past it was known as the city of ‘jute, jam and journalism'. With the passing of the textile industry and the decline of engineering, it is now attempting to re-invent itself as the city of Discovery and is gathering a reputation in the fields of computer gaming, and research and development in science and medicine. However, Dundee's greatest assets are undoubtedly the people of the city and the rich and deep history of a place which has provided the backdrop to some of the most dramatic events in Scotland 's turbulent past.
Although established by David, Earl of Huntingdon, in the late 12 th century, Dundee was in all probability a place of importance long before its establishment as a Scottish royal burgh. Indeed, the remains of kitchen middens belonging to small groups of nomadic hunter/gatherers dating back nearly 10,000 years have been found at the Stannergate (which translates as the road of stones) and Broughty Ferry, both to the east of Dundee on the shores of the Firth of Tay. And, the ancient remains of long wooden canoes have been discovered along the farther reaches of the Tay towards Perth . The remains of a Pictish hill-fort was also discovered on top of the Law and was partially destroyed by Roman building during one of their periodic invasions of the north-east coast of Scotland. The first recorded church that lies within the historical city centre was St Clements, which was situated in the present day city square. St Clement is strongly associated with Danish traders and settlers and it is likely that the site was also home to some form of Danish settlement, possibly around the tenth century.
But, it is also likely that the site of St Pauls Cathedral on Castle Hill was a royal seat of the Pictish tribe - known as the Vacomagi in the Roman period and later as the Verturiones - that controlled this area during both the Roman and post-Roman period up to the ninth century when the Picts seem to disappear as a historical people and an identifiable culture.
The rise of Dundee as a trading centre following its establishment as a Royal Burgh is attested to by one of the earliest maps of mainland Britain , drawn by the English monk, Mathew Parris, probably about 1250. It is likely that the map was produced for military purposes, in order to provide intelligence for invading English forces. What is remarkable about the map – aside from its intrinsic beauty – is the fact that Dundee, or Dunde as it was then called is one of the few Scottish locations (along with Edinburgh ) which is in its correct geographical position. The Tay estuary is one of the most prominent features of the map, attesting its importance to the chroniclers and traders of the medieval world.
The Tay is the longest river in Scotland and is the largest river in the UK in terms of volume of water. It was seen as an important location by the invading Roman armies of Agricola and Severus, and was apparently named by Tacitus, the son-in-law of Agricola and the author who first introduces the north-east of Scotland to the written culture of the Roman world. It was Tacitus who named the Tay , or Tavus as he called it, meaning (from the indigenous Celtic tongue) fast flowing river. And, it is the Tay that has given Dundee its historical reason for existence.
The Firth of Tay was created by the actions of an enormous glacier which carved through the soft sandstone of the area around 300 million years ago. The northern shore of the Tay river at the mouth of the Firth, however, was made of much harder igneous rock which was impervious to the actions of the glacier. This led to the formation of a series of raised beaches which were created by lava flows around 500 million years ago from the massive volcano represented now by the Law. And, it was on this coastline that the city of Dundee would be established.
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