Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dèagh) is a royal burgh and the fourth largest city in Scotland. The mottos of the city are Dei Dominum (Latin: Gift of God) and 'Prudentia et Candore' (with thought and purity).
Dundee is located at , on the north bank of the Firth of Tay estuary, opposite Fife, where the firth empties into the North Sea. The city surrounds the basaltplug of an extinct volcano, now called Dundee Law or simply "The Law" (174 metres (571 ft)).Ordnance Survey, Explorer 380 map Dundee and Sidlaw Hills Dundee is Scotland's only South-facing city, giving it a contested (this name was still in use, alongside the modern name, as late as 1607).William CamdenWilliam the Lion granted the town the status of burgh by royal charter in 1191.{{cite book
last = Bartholomew
first = John
authorlink = John Bartholomew
year = 1887
title = Gazetteer of the British Isles
url = http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=1890680&word=NULL His brother, David, 8th Earl of Huntingdon is said to have named the town Donum Dei ('God's gift') upon narrowly escaping death during his return from the Crusades. However, this is most likely folk etymology. The name appears to come from the Gaelic Dun Dèagh, meaning Fort on the Tay; "Dun" is a common prefix in Scottish placenames (cf. Dunfermline and Dunkeld).
Medieval defence and destruction
Dundee experienced periods of occupation and destruction in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Following John Balliol's renunciation (1295) of Edward I's claimed authority over Scotland, the English King twice visited Scotland with hostile intent. Edward (the 'Hammer of the Scots') revoked Dundee's royal charter — removing the town's people the right to control local government and the judiciary. He occupied the Castle at Dundee in 1296, but was removed by William Wallace in 1297.
Wishart Arch, The only surviving part of the city walls
Dundee became a walled city in 1545 during a period of English hostilities known as the rough wooing (Henry VIII's attempt to extend his Protestant ambitions north by marrying his youngest son Edward, Duke of Cornwall to Mary, Queen of Scots). Only a small section of the city wall — the Wishart Arch — still stands. Mary maintained the alliance with the French, who captured Protestant opponents, including John Knox, at St Andrews Castle, in nearby east Fife, in July 1547. That year, following victory at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, the English occupied Edinburgh and went on to destroy much of Dundee by naval bombardment. The Howff Burial Ground, granted to the people of Dundee in 1546, was a gift from Mary.
After the Union with England ended military hostilities, Dundee was able to redevelop its harbour and established itself as an industrial and trading centre. Dundee's industrial heritage is traditionally summarised as "the three Js": jute, jam and journalism.
Cox's Stack, A chimney from the former Camperdown works jute mill. The chimney takes its name from jute baron James Cox who later became Lord Provost of the city
During the 18th and 19th Centuries, flax was imported from the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea for the production of linen. The trade supported 36 spinning mills by 1835, but various conflicts, including the Crimean war put a stop to the trade. At around this time, jute, a common fibre from the Indian sub-continent, was looked at as a possible alternative but was difficult to handle. It was discovered that treatment with whale oil, a byproduct of Dundee's whaling industry, made the spinning of the jute fibre possible, which led to the development of a substantial jute industry in the city. This growth precipitated a large increase in population.
By the end of the 19th century the majority of Dundee's working population were employed in jute manufacture, but the industry began to decline in 1914, when it became cheaper to rely on imports of the finished product from India. (Dundee's 'jute barons' had invested heavily in Indian factories). Commercial jute production in Dundee ceased in the 1960s. Some manufacturers successfully diversified to produce synthetic fibres and linoleum for a short time. Many mills were destroyed, but others have been redeveloped for residential use. An award-winning museum, based in the old Verdant Works, commemorates the city's manufacturing heritage and operates a small jute-processing facility.
Outwith the specialised fields of medicine, science and technology, the proportion of Dundonians employed in the manufacturing sector - 20% of 60,000 workers - is more than double that found in the larger Scottish cities. Manufacturing income per head in Dundee was £19,700 in 1999, compared to £16,700 in Glasgow.The insolvency rate for businesses in Dundee is lower than other Scottish cities accounting for 2.3% of all liquidations in Scotland compared to 22% and 61.4% for Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively.
Dundee is home to Scotland's only full-time repertory ensemble, established in the 1930s. Hollywood actor Brian Cox is also a native of the city. - worked and wrote in the city, often giving performances of his work in pubs and bars. Many of his poems are about the city and events therein such as his work The Tay Bridge Disaster.
Dundee's Dudhope park contains a free, publicly owned outdoor concrete skatepark, the design of which has recieived praise from all over the UK.
Music
1970ssoul-funk outfit the Average White Band and 1980s groups The Associates and Danny Wilson were Dundonian. The Dundee band Spare Snare was voted one of the fifty best Scottish bands of all time in a poll for The List magazine [1]. Emerging indie rock band The View come from the Dryburgh area of Dundee. Semi-underground but growing cult band Uncle John and Whitelock have 4 out of 5 members that are from, or spent a long time in Dundee.
The city has two radio stations Wave 102 and Tay FM which broadcasts on 102.8 FM. Tay FM also has a sister AM station Tay AM. During 2001 and 2002 the city also had its own RSL television channel Channel Six Dundee which played music videos and cult children's cartoons.
Dundee has a student population of approximately 17,000 with two universities. In 1967, the University of Dundee was established, following 70 years as a college of the University of St Andrews. It currently conducts a large amount of biomedical research and oncology, carried out in the School of Life Sciences.Dare to Be Digital, a computer game production competition, is run by the university each year.
The most prominent of Dundee's statesecondary schools are Harris Academy and Morgan Academy. Harris Academy, founded in 1885, is the largest state school in the city. Former pupils include include MPGeorge Galloway, professional footballer Christian Dailly and former vice-chairman of Rangers Football Club Donald Findlay. Morgan Academy dates back to 1888 when the Dundee Burgh School Board bought the then Morgan hospital and reopened it as a school. The school and the previous hospital takes its name from John Morgan who bequeathed much of his fortune to establish a residential institution. Dundee has a further eight state secondary schools and forty state primary schools. Three of the former and eleven of the latter serve the city's Roman Catholic population; the remainder are non-denominational. Dundee is also home to a school for Muslim girls — one of only two such schools in Scotland.
