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Leeds is a city in the county of West Yorkshire, in the north of England. It is the main settlement in the metropolitan borough named the City of Leeds, and the River Aire runs through the town. The City itself had a popualtion of 429,242 in 2001 while Greater Leeds has a population of 716,513 according to the 2001 census. An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner, although such terms are rarely used or understood. However, the mock-classical adjectives Leodensian and Leodiensian are sometimes used by some local sports clubs.
The city was originally an agricultural market town in the Middle Ages, and received its first charter in 1207.In the Tudor period Leeds was mainly a merchant town (woollen cloths) trading with Europe via the Humber estuary. At one point nearly half of England's total export passed through Leeds. The city's industrial growth was catalysed by the introduction of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816 and the railway in 1848.
Leeds today has an extremely diverse economy with the service sector now dominating over the city's manufacturing industries. The city is served well by its canal, by the rail network at Leeds station and, with the M1 and M62 intersecting at Leeds, it is one of the principal northern hubs of the motorway network. Leeds Bradford International AirportLeeds Bradford International Airport ( IATA airport code: LBA, ICAO airport code: EGNM) is located between the cities of Leeds and Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has two runways; runway 32/14 at 2250m and runway 27/09 at 1100m. There are rumou is located to the North West of the city which has scheduled flights to destinations within the U.K and Europe. These good transport links have been a major factor contributing to the growth of Leeds, and it has led to the city becoming a major centre for distribution, as well as banking, financial and legal services. Retail is another major service and employer in the city centre, with a retail economy which has experienced a recent boom resulting in several shopping centres and department stores. Although, like the rest of the North of England , Leeds had its fair share of tough economic times during the 1970sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Years: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 Events and trends and 1980sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Events and trends, it was quick to bounce back by investing heavily in communications links. This helped it (along with BirminghamThis article is about Birmingham in England. See also Birmingham, Alabama or other places called Birmingham. Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Being the country's second largest city, it is usually considered B and GlasgowFor other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation Glasgow is Scotland's largest city, located on the River Clyde in West Central Scotland. It is also one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland, officially known as the City of Glasgow and, like many west of S) become one of the major hubs for call-centres in the late 20th Century, particularly for service-oriented companies. Many outlying towns formerly relying on mining and heavy industry, found financial salvation in the 'reliable' sounding Yorkshire accent. However, many of these large employers are now outsourcing many of these jobs to places like Bangalore in India, where staff costs are considerably reduced.