Editing Edinburgh (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Edinburgh}}

===Early history===
[[File:Surgeons' Hall, Nicholson Street - geograph.org.uk - 3529543.jpg|thumb|left|[[Surgeons' Hall]], one of the [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]] buildings that earned Edinburgh the nickname "Athens of the North"]]

The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at [[Cramond]], where evidence was found of a [[Mesolithic]] camp site dated to c. 8500 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Earliest evidence found of settlers in Scotland: hazelnuts and stone tools excavated near Edinburgh date to around 8500 BC |url=http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba60/news.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102050435/http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba60/news.shtml |archive-date=2 November 2013 |access-date=31 October 2013}}</ref> Traces of later [[Bronze Age]] and [[Iron Age]] settlements have been found on Castle Rock, [[Arthur's Seat]], [[Craiglockhart Hill]], and the [[Pentland Hills]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coghill |first=Hamish |title=Lost Edinburgh |publisher=Birlinn Ltd |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84158-747-9 |pages=1–2}}</ref>

When the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they found a [[Celtic Britons|Brittonic]] Celtic tribe whose name they recorded as the [[Votadini]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ritchie |first=J. N. G. and A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1z4rAQAACAAJ |title=Edinburgh and South-East Scotland |publisher=Heinemann |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-435-32971-6 |page=51 |access-date=6 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101001136/https://books.google.com/books?id=1z4rAQAACAAJ&dq |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Votadini transitioned into the [[Gododdin]] kingdom in the [[Early Middle Ages]], with Eidyn serving as one of the kingdom's districts. During this period, the Castle Rock site, thought to have been the stronghold of Din Eidyn, emerged as the kingdom's major centre.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Driscoll |first1=Stephen |title=Excavations within Edinburgh Castle in 1988–91 |last2=Yeoman |first2=Peter A. |date=1997 |publisher=[[Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]] |isbn=978-0-903-903127 |series=Society of Antiquaries of Scotland monograph series |volume=12 |page=227}}</ref> The medieval [[Welsh language|Welsh-language]] poem ''[[Y Gododdin]]'' describes a war band from across the Brittonic world who gathered in Eidyn before a fateful raid; this may describe a historical event around AD 600.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Ifor |title=The Beginnings of Welsh Poetry: Studies |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=1972 |isbn=978-0-7083-0035-0 |page=47 |author-link=Ifor Williams}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chadwick |first=Nora K. |title=The British Heroic Age: the Welsh and the Men of the North |publisher=University of Wales Press |year=1968 |isbn=978-0-7083-0465-5 |page=107 |author-link=Nora K. Chadwick}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dumville |first=David |date=1995 |title=The eastern terminus of the Antonine wall: 12th- or 13th-century evidence |journal=[[Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]] |volume=124 |pages=293–98|doi=10.9750/PSAS.124.293.298 |issn=0081-1564 }}</ref>

In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to [[Oswald of Northumbria|King Oswald]] of [[Northumbria]], and around this time, control of Lothian passed to the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]]. Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950, when, during the reign of [[Indulf]], son of [[Constantine II of Scotland|Constantine II]], the "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th-century ''[[Pictish Chronicle]]'' as ''oppidum Eden'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=William |title=The Celtic Place Names of Scotland |year=1926 |isbn=978-1-906566-35-7 |page=340|publisher=Birlinn}}</ref> was abandoned to the Scots. It thenceforth remained, for the most part, under their jurisdiction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lynch |first=Michael |title=The Oxford Companion to Scottish History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-923482-0 |page=658}}</ref>

The [[royal burgh]] was founded by [[David I of Scotland|King David I]] in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the date of its charter is unknown.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Daiches |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/edinburgh00davi |title=Edinburgh |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |year=1978 |isbn=978-0-241-89878-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/edinburgh00davi/page/15 15] |author-link=David Daiches |access-date=6 November 2015 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The first documentary evidence of the medieval [[burgh]] is a [[royal charter]], {{circa|1124–1127}}, by King David I granting a [[burgage|toft]] in {{lang|la|burgo meo de Edenesburg}} to the [[Dunfermline Abbey|Priory of Dunfermline]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barrow |first=Geoffrey |title=The Charters of King David I: The Written Acts of David I King of Scots ... |year=1999 |isbn=978-0851157313 |page=63|publisher=Boydell Press}}</ref> The [[shires of Scotland|shire]] of Edinburgh seems also to have been created during David’s reign, possibly covering all of Lothian at first, but by 1305 the eastern and western parts of Lothian had become [[East Lothian|Haddingtonshire]] and [[West Lothian|Linlithgowshire]], leaving Edinburgh as the county town of a shire covering the central part of Lothian, which was called Edinburghshire or [[Midlothian]] (the latter name being an informal, but commonly used, alternative until the county's name was legally changed in 1947).<ref name=Chalmers>{{cite book |last1=Chalmers |first1=George |title=Caledonia |date=1889 |publisher=Alexander Gardner |location=Paisley |page=579|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hywv0eVoI-8C&pg=PA579 |access-date=24 December 2022 |chapter=Edinburghshire: Of its establishment as a shire}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947|year=1947|chapter=43|section=127|accessdate=24 December 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Sunshine on the Crags (28877122034).jpg|thumb|right|Edinburgh, showing Arthur's Seat, one of the earliest known sites of human habitation in the area]]

Edinburgh was largely under English control from 1291 to 1314 and from 1333 to 1341, during the [[Wars of Scottish Independence]]. When the [[English invasion of Scotland (1298)|English invaded Scotland in 1298]], [[Edward I of England]] chose not to enter Edinburgh but passed by it with his army.<ref>{{cite book |last=Prestwich |first=Michael |date=1988 |title=Edward I |publisher=University of California Press |page=479 |isbn=9780520062665}}</ref>

In the middle of the 14th century the French chronicler [[Jean Froissart]] described it as the capital of Scotland (c. 1365), and [[James III of Scotland|James III]] (1451–1488) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our kingdom".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=W C |title=Scotland, From The Earliest Times To 1603 |publisher=Thomas Nelson |year=1961 |location=Edinburgh |page=119}}</ref> In 1482 James III "granted and perpetually confirmed to the said Provost, Bailies, Clerk, Council, and Community, and their successors, the office of [[Sheriff principal|Sheriff]] within the Burgh for ever, to be exercised by the Provost for the time as Sheriff, and by the Bailies for the time as Sheriffsdepute conjunctly and severally; with full power to hold Courts, to punish transgressors not only by banishment but by death, to appoint officers of Court, and to do everything else appertaining to the office of Sheriff; as also to apply to their own proper use the fines and escheats arising out of the exercise of the said office."<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Marwick |editor1-first=J. D. |title=Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1403–1528 |date=1869 |publisher=Scottish Burgh Records Society |location=Edinburgh |pages=314–339 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/edinburgh-burgh-records/1403-1528/pp314-339 |access-date=26 December 2022 |chapter=Appendix: Abstracts of charters and other documents}}</ref> Despite being [[Burning of Edinburgh (1544)|burnt by the English]] in 1544, Edinburgh continued to develop and grow,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=W C |title=Scotland, From The Earliest Times To 1603 |publisher=Thomas Nelson |year=1961 |location=Edinburgh |pages=236–8}}</ref> and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century [[Scottish Reformation]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Donaldson |first=Gordon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gg9AAAAIAAJ |title=The Scottish Reformation |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1960 |isbn=978-0-521-08675-2 |page=53}}</ref> and 17th-century [[Covenanter|Wars of the Covenant]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association |url=http://www.covenanter.org.uk/Greyfriars/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513123235/http://www.covenanter.org.uk/Greyfriars/ |archive-date=13 May 2013 |access-date=10 February 2013 |publisher=covenanter.org}}</ref> In 1582 Edinburgh's town council was given a [[royal charter]] by [[James VI and I|King James VI and I]] permitting the establishment of a university;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charter by King James VI, 14 April 1582 |url=http://ourhistory.is.ed.ac.uk/index.php/Charter_by_King_James_VI,_14_April_1582 |access-date=15 August 2021 |website=University of Edinburgh – Our History}}</ref> founded as ''Tounis College'' (Town's College), the institution developed into the [[University of Edinburgh]], which contributed to Edinburgh's central intellectual role in subsequent centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Alexander |title=The Story of the University of Edinburgh during Its First Three Hundred Years |publisher=Longmans, Green |year=1884 |location=London}}</ref>

===17th century===
[[File:Edinburgh in the 17thC (detail) by Wenceslas Hollar (1670).jpg|thumb|left|Edinburgh in the 17th century]]

In 1603 [[James VI and I|King James VI of Scotland]] succeeded to the English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a [[personal union]] known as the [[Union of the Crowns]], though the two kingdoms remained separate realms governed in personal union.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Donaldson |first=Gordon |title=Scottish Kings |publisher=Batsford |year=1967 |page=213}}</ref> In 1638 [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]]'s attempt to introduce [[Anglican Communion|Anglican]] church forms in Scotland encountered stiff [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]] opposition, culminating in the conflicts of the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=P R |url=https://archive.org/details/companiontoengli0000newm/page/13 |title=Companion to the English Civil Wars |publisher=Facts on File Ltd |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-8160-2237-3 |location=Oxford |page=[https://archive.org/details/companiontoengli0000newm/page/13 13]}}</ref> Subsequent Scottish support for [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]'s restoration to the throne of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s [[Commonwealth of England]] forces – the [[New Model Army]] – in 1650.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stephen C. Manganiello |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=an-eXXA3DBMC |title=The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639–1660 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8108-5100-9 |page=587 |access-date=11 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528020433/http://books.google.com/books?id=an-eXXA3DBMC |archive-date=28 May 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 17th century Edinburgh's boundaries were still defined by the city's defensive [[Edinburgh town walls|town walls]]. As a result, the city's growing population was accommodated by increasing the height of the houses. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chambers |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/noticesmostrema00chamgoog |title=Notices of the most remarkable fires in Edinburgh, from 1385 to 1824 |publisher=C. Smith & Company |year=1824 |page=[https://archive.org/details/noticesmostrema00chamgoog/page/n20 11] |access-date=17 February 2013}}</ref> and have been described as forerunners of the modern-day skyscraper.<ref name="Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat">{{Cite journal |last=Peet |first=Gerard |year=2011 |title=The Origin of the Skyscraper |url=http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/321-the-origin-of-the-skyscraper.pdf |url-status=live |journal=CTBUH Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629024523/http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/321-the-origin-of-the-skyscraper.pdf |archive-date=29 June 2018 |access-date=7 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Neil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ygf59UOCPfQC&q=skyscrapers&pg=PA37 |title=Edinburgh Encounter |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-74179-306-2 |page=37|publisher=Lonely Planet }}</ref> Most of these old structures were replaced by the predominantly [[Victorian era|Victorian]] buildings seen in today's Old Town. In 1611 an act of parliament created the [[High Constables of Edinburgh]] to keep order in the city, thought to be the oldest statutory police force in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/high-praise-citys-first-police-2462621 |title=High praise for city's first police |website=www.scotsman.com|date=August 2011 }}</ref>

===18th century===
[[File:The Parliament Close and Public Characters Fifty Years Since.jpg|thumb|A painting showing Edinburgh characters (based on [[John Kay (caricaturist)|John Kay]]'s caricatures) behind St Giles' Cathedral in the late 18th century]]
Following the [[Treaty of Union]] in 1706, the Parliaments of England and Scotland passed [[Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union]] in 1706 and 1707 respectively, uniting the two kingdoms in the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] effective from 1 May 1707.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Paul |title=1707: the Union of Scotland and England |publisher=Chambers |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-550-20265-9 |pages=51–54}}</ref> As a consequence, the [[Parliament of Scotland]] merged with the [[Parliament of England]] to form the [[Parliament of Great Britain]], which sat at [[Palace of Westminster|Westminster]] in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots, resulting in riots in the city.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kelly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpZy8nEtE4cC |title=The making of the United Kingdom and Black peoples of the Americas |publisher=Heinemann |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-435-30959-6 |page=77 |access-date=23 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223826/https://books.google.com/books?id=xpZy8nEtE4cC&pg |archive-date=2 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

By the first half of the 18th century, Edinburgh was described as one of Europe's most densely populated, overcrowded, and unsanitary towns.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Defoe |first=Daniel |title=A Tour Through The Whole Island of Britain |publisher=Penguin |year=1978 |location=London |page=577 |author-link=Daniel Defoe}} "... I believe, this may be said with truth, that in no city in the world so many people live in so little room as at Edinburgh".</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Topham |first=E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1NE9AAAAcAAJ |title=Letters from Edinburgh 1774–1775 |publisher=James Thin |year=1971 |isbn=978-1-236-68255-0 |location=Edinburgh |page=27 |access-date=18 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101001136/https://books.google.com/books?id=1NE9AAAAcAAJ |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live}}"...I make no manner of doubt but that the High Street in Edinburgh is inhabited by a greater number of persons than any street in Europe".</ref> Visitors were struck by the fact that the social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same [[tenement]] buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail, whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more expensive middle storeys.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graham |first=H. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-QgPAAAAQAAJ |title=The Social Life of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |year=1906 |location=London |page=85 |access-date=18 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424142257/http://books.google.com/books?id=-QgPAAAAQAAJ |archive-date=24 April 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[Jacobite rising of 1745]], Edinburgh was briefly occupied by the Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lenman |first=Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZNnAAAAMAAJ |title=The Jacobite Cause |publisher=Richard Drew Publishing |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-86267-159-4 |page=104 |access-date=18 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101001136/https://books.google.com/books?id=sZNnAAAAMAAJ |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> After its eventual defeat at [[Battle of Culloden|Culloden]], there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious [[Scottish clan|clans]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ferguson |first=W |title=Scotland, 1689 to the Present |publisher=Mercat Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-901824-86-8 |location=Edinburgh |page=154 |postscript=-}}--These clans were mainly Episcopalian (70 per cent) and Roman Catholic (30 per cent), p.151.</ref> In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Keay |first1=K |title=Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland |last2=Keay |first2=J |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-00-255082-6 |page=285}}</ref> reaffirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the [[House of Hanover|Hanoverian]] monarch [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] by its choice of names for the streets of the New Town: for example, [[Tudor rose|Rose]] Street and [[Thistle#Scottish thistle|Thistle]] Street; and for the royal family, [[George Street, Edinburgh|George Street]], [[Queen Street, Edinburgh|Queen Street]], Hanover Street, Frederick Street and [[Princes Street]] (in honour of George's two sons).<ref name="princeshist">{{Cite web |title=History of Princes Street |url=http://www.princes-street.com/history.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029120404/http://www.princes-street.com/history.html |archive-date=29 October 2012 |access-date=14 February 2013 |publisher=princes-street.com}}</ref> The consistently geometric layout of the plan for the extension of Edinburgh was the result of a major competition in urban planning staged by the Town Council in 1766.<ref>[https://doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.493.c6562 Alexis Joachimides, "Edinburgh's First New Town from a Transnational Perspective – Continental Sources for Eighteenth-Century Town Planning in Britain"], in Maria Effinger, et al. (eds.), ''Von analogen und digitalen Zugängen zur Kunst: Festschrift für Hubertus Kohle zum 60. Geburtstag'' (Heidelberg University: arthistoricum.net, 2019), pp. 71–82.</ref>

In the second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the [[Scottish Enlightenment]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=William Robertson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nS5CMLeamwC |title=William Robertson and the expansion of empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=9780521570831 |page=2 |access-date=18 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101001136/https://books.google.com/books?id=8nS5CMLeamwC |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, [[James Hutton]], and [[Joseph Black]] were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many [[neoclassical architecture|neo-classical]] buildings and reputation for learning, recalling ancient Athens.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNhT1uVIZvYC |title=Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine |year=1822 |volume=11 |page=323 |access-date=18 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101001136/https://books.google.com/books?id=PNhT1uVIZvYC |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the 18th-century novel ''[[The Expedition of Humphry Clinker]]'' by [[Tobias Smollett]] one character describes Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius".<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Expedition of Humphry Clinker |publisher=Project Gutenberg |year=2000 |chapter=Letter from Matthew Bramble on August 8 |access-date=13 October 2013 |chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2160/pg2160.txt}}</ref> Edinburgh was also a major centre for the Scottish book trade. The highly successful London bookseller [[Andrew Millar]] was apprenticed there to James McEuen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The manuscripts, Letter from Andrew Millar to Robert Wodrow, 15 July, 1725. Andrew Millar Project. University of Edinburgh |url=http://www.millar-project.ed.ac.uk/manuscripts/html_output/5.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161004224547/http://www.millar-project.ed.ac.uk/manuscripts/html_output/5.html |archive-date=4 October 2016 |access-date=3 June 2016 |website=www.millar-project.ed.ac.uk}}</ref>

From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of the more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the city's social character. According to the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Youngson |first=A J |title=The Making of Classical Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-85224-576-7 |page=256}}</ref>

===19th and 20th centuries===
[[File:Aerial View of Edinburgh, by Alfred Buckham, from about 1920.jpg|alt=An aerial photo of Edinburgh with an aeroplane visible|thumb|left|175px|Edinburgh, c. 1920]]

Despite an enduring myth to the contrary,<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/inspiring-capital-deconstructing-myths-and-reconstructing-urban-e |title=Inspiring Capital? Deconstructing myths and reconstructing urban environments, Edinburgh, 1860–2010 |journal=Research Output |year=2013 |publisher=Edinburgh University |doi=10.1017/S0963926813000448 |access-date=23 July 2021|last1=Madgin |first1=Rebecca |last2=Rodger |first2=Richard |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=507–529 |s2cid=145373686 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Edinburgh became an industrial centre<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Edinburgh-Scotland/The-modern-city |title=The modern city |encyclopedia=Edinburgh |publisher=Britannica |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref> with its traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continuing to grow in the 19th century and joined by new industries such as [[Hunter Boot Ltd|rubber works]], [[Engineering|engineering works]] and others. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by [[Glasgow]] as Scotland's largest city.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pryde |first=George Smith |title=Scotland from 1603 to the present day |publisher=Nelson |year=1962 |page=141 |quote=Population figures for 1801 – Glasgow 77,385; Edinburgh 82,560; for 1821 – Glasgow 147,043; Edinburgh 138,325}}</ref> The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the 1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hogg |first=A |title=Scotland: The Rise of Cities 1694–1905 |publisher=Evans Brothers Ltd. |year=1973 |isbn=978-0237286569 |location=London |chapter=Topic 3:Problem Areas}}</ref> Improvements carried out under Lord Provost [[William Chambers (publisher)|William Chambers]] in the 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] Old Town seen today.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McWilliam |first=C |title=Scottish Townscape |publisher=Collins |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-00-216743-7 |location=London |page=196}}</ref> More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of [[Patrick Geddes]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=McWilliam |first=C |title=Scottish Townscape |publisher=Collins |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-00-216743-7 |location=London |page=197}}</ref> but relative economic stagnation during the two world wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]] in the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments, which transformed the [[George Square, Edinburgh|George Square]] and Potterrow areas, proved highly controversial.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coghill |first=H |title=Lost Edinburgh |publisher=Birlinn Ltd. |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84158-747-9 |location=Edinburgh |pages=219–220}}</ref>

[[File:Opening of the Scottish Parliament, 1999.jpg|thumb|right|HM [[Queen Elizabeth II]] and [[First Minister of Scotland|First Minister]] [[Donald Dewar]] at the opening of the [[Scottish Parliament]], 1999]] 

Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including the [[Edinburgh International Conference Centre]], has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of the castle, stretching into [[Fountainbridge]], a run-down 19th-century industrial suburb which has undergone radical change since the 1980s with the demise of industrial and brewery premises. This ongoing development has enabled Edinburgh to maintain its place as the United Kingdom's second largest financial and administrative centre after London.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Financial services |url=http://www.investinedinburgh.com/industry-strengths/financial-services/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713075332/http://www.investinedinburgh.com/industry-strengths/financial-services |archive-date=13 July 2017 |access-date=7 July 2017 |website=www.investinedinburgh.com |publisher=Edinburgh City Council}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Keay |first=John |title=Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland |publisher=1994 |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-00-255082-6 |page=286}}</ref> Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city.<ref name="W Rae, Edinburgh 1994, p.164">{{Cite book |last=Rae |first=William |title=Edinburgh, Scotland's Capital City |publisher=Mainstream |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-85158-605-9 |page=164}}</ref> The development of [[Edinburgh Park]], a new business and technology park covering {{cvt|38|acres|0}}, {{cvt|4|mi|0}} west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration.<ref name="W Rae, Edinburgh 1994, p.164" />

In 1998, the [[Scotland Act 1998|Scotland Act]], which came into force the following year, established a [[Devolution|devolved]] Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish Government since September 2007<ref>{{Cite news |title=Scottish Executive renames itself |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6974798.stm |url-status=live |access-date=24 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210132958/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6974798.stm |archive-date=10 February 2009}}</ref>). Both based in Edinburgh, they are responsible for governing Scotland while [[Reserved and excepted matters|reserved matters]] such as defence, foreign affairs, and some elements of income tax remain the responsibility of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] in London.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 November 1998 |title=Scotland Act 1998 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/46 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126223544/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/46 |archive-date=26 January 2016 |access-date=15 March 2013}}</ref>

===21st century===
In 2022, Edinburgh was affected by the [[2022 Scotland bin strikes]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 August 2022 |title=Edinburgh wakes up to the bin strike hangover |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-62722956 |access-date=31 August 2022}}</ref> In 2023, Edinburgh became the first capital city in Europe to sign the global [[Plant-based action plan#Plant Based Treaty|Plant Based Treaty]], which was introduced at [[2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference|COP26]] in 2021 in Glasgow.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edinburgh becomes first European capital to commit to shift towards vegan diets |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23260559.edinburgh-shift-plant-based-diets-tackle-climate-change/ |access-date=23 January 2023 |website=HeraldScotland |date=18 January 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Green Party councillor Steve Burgess introduced the treaty. The Scottish Countryside Alliance and other farming groups called the treaty "anti-farming".<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 January 2023 |title=Anger as Edinburgh council signs 'Plant Based Treaty' |url=https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/environment/anger-as-edinburgh-council-signs-plant-based-treaty |access-date=23 January 2023 |website=Farmers Weekly |language=en-US}}</ref>{{clear left}}