Birmingham is a city
and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county
of England. Birmingham is the most populous of
England's core cities, and is the second-most
populous British city, with a population of
1,010,200 (2005 estimate). Often considered to be
the second city of the United Kingdom,the City of
Birmingham forms part of the larger West Midlands
conurbation, which has a population of 2,284,093
(2001 census) and includes several neighbouring
towns and cities, such as Solihull, Wolverhampton
and the towns of the Black Country.
The city's reputation was forged as a powerhouse of
the Industrial Revolution in England, a fact which
led to Birmingham being known as "the workshop of
the world" or the "city of a thousand trades".


