Archaeological evidence suggests that our prehistoric forebears were familiar with the lands now occupied by Glasgow. However, the city’s story begins in earnest with St Kentigern, better known as St Mungo, a sixth-century Christian missionary renowned for his energetic preaching style. Sometime around the year 543, he built a simple church on the banks of the Clyde (Glasgow Cathedral now stands on the same site).
From these humble religious beginnings, the settlement grew incrementally over the next few centuries. In around 1285 the first bridge was built across the Clyde, and 1451 saw the founding of the University of Glasgow. As the local population grew, the burgeoning city became not just an academic and ecclesiastical hub but a key base for industry, international trade, and shipbuilding.
Buoyed by demand for everything from coal to cotton, Glasgow became one of the richest cities in Europe, its population outstripping that of Edinburgh by 1821. It played a vital shipbuilding role in the World Wars, but by the 1960s its yards and wharves were in steady decline. These fortunes were reversed when Glasgow was named European City of Culture in 1990, helping to transform some of its run-down areas, and a further boon came in 2014, when it hosted the Commonwealth Games. The arrival of COP26 in 2021 cemented its status as a global city.