Bristol (England) is a city as well as administrative center of the nonmetropolitan county of Avon, southern England, within the Lower Avon River, at its confluence with the Frome River. Bristol is a major manufacturing center and an important shipping point for the products of the industrialized West Midlands region. Its harbour, on the Severn estuary, is accessible to large ocean going vessels. The well-equipped port has facilities for the storage and transhipments of grain and petroleum, two leading imports. Much local industry is based to the processing of such imports as zinc ore, cocoa, timber, as well as tea. The city is a major aircraft manufacturing center; other products include chemicals and footwear.
One of the prominent structures in Bristol include the Church of Saint Mary Redcliffe (14th century), an especially fine example of English Gothic style; along with Bristol Cathedral, portions of which date from the 12th century. Crossing the Avon gorge here is the Clifton Suspension Bridge (1864), designed by the popular engineer Isambard Brunel. The city's educational institutions include the University of Bristol (1876) along with the University of the West of England, Bristol (1992, formerly a polytechnic college). Also here are the Theatre Royal (1766), home of the Bristol Old Vic Company; the City Museum as well as Art Gallery; as well as the Bristol Zoo.
In the 10th century Bristol was a flourishing commercial port. By the early 11th century it had become a center for wool trade with Ireland. Clothmaking was introduced here within the 14th century; along with Bristol merchants soon developed a prosperous cloth trade with most of Europe and also the Near East. From the port of Bristol in 1497, the Italian navigators John and also Sebastian Cabot sailed to the mainland of America. Through the English Revolution Bristol was taken by the Royalists in 1643 as well as fell to the Parliamentarians in 1645.
The city's cloth trade diminished in the 18th century, but Bristol continued to prosper from the slave trade, the West Indies trade, as well as newly made industries, primarily the manufacture of metals. At the early 19th century, because of the abolition of slavery as well as competition from the growing port of Liverpool, Bristol experienced an economic decline. Trade revived after the arrival of the railroad here in 1841. With the expansion of its port facilities around the late 19th century, the city again became one of England's leading seaports. During World War II Bristol was severely bombed by the German air force. The port has gone through extensive reconstruction and also improvement within the post-World War II period.
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