Undiscovered Scotland

 

The City of Glasgow is one of the 32 unitary council areas into which Scotland has been divided since 1996. The council area is tightly drawn around the core of the Glasgow conurbation, with the result that many parts of the built up area lie within the boundaries of surrounding council areas. For accommodation in Inverclyde and a full list of features, see our Glasgow & Clyde Valley area pages.

 

It is difficult to explain the growth and the importance of Glasgow. It has never been a capital or a residence of Kings, it is on a site that was not easily defensible, and although on a major river it didn't originally have a natural harbour. But despite this, Glasgow had already been through two booms and two busts by the time it established itself in the 1800s as the second city of the British Empire and the shipbuilding capital of the world: and as, by far, Scotland's largest city. You can read more about the development of Glasgow as a city and its modern attractions on our Glasgow Feature Page.

The City of Glasgow is bordered to its north by East Dunbartonshire; to its east by North Lanarkshire; to its south by South Lanarkshire and East Renfrewshire; and to its west by Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire.

From the point of view of local authority coverage, Glasgow formed part of the traditional county of Lanarkshire right up to a major reorganisation in 1975. At that point, the City of Glasgow came into being as one of 19 district council areas within Strathclyde Region, itself one of the 12 regions into which Scotland was divided. When regions and districts disappeared from the scene in the 1996 reorganisation, the City of Glasgow became one of the 32 unitary council areas into which the country has since been divided.