Cardiff ['cɑːdɪf] is the capital and largest city of Wales, and the country's commercial, sporting, tourism, transport, media and political centre. According to Census 2001 data, Cardiff was the 14th largest settlement in the United Kingdom, and the 21st largest urban area. However recent local government estimates put the population of the unitary authority as 317,500, making Cardiff one of the fastest growing cities in the United Kingdom.
The city of Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan (and later South Glamorgan). Cardiff is part of the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. Cardiff Urban Area covers a slightly larger area, including Dinas Powys, Penarth and Radyr. The area surrounding the Cardiff Urban area, South East Wales has a population of around 1,900,000 in 2006, two thirds of the whole Welsh population.
Cardiff is home to the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay and much of the media in Wales. The television programmes "Doctor Who", "Torchwood", parts of "Gavin and Stacey", "The Worst Witch", "Tracey Beaker" and other popular television series are filmed mostly within the City and County of Cardiff. It has the biggest media sector in the UK outside London, being home to a number of television studios and radio stations, such as the BBC, ITV, HTV, S4C and Capital TV.
It was a small town until the early 19th century and came to prominence as a major port for the transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed capital of Wales in 1955. Since the 1990s Cardiff has seen significant development with a new waterfront area at Cardiff Bay which contains the new Welsh Assembly Building, and the city centre is currently undergoing a major redevelopment.
