Swansea is a city in southern Wales, administrative center of West Glamorgan, a seaport around the Tawe River, at its mouth on Swansea Bay (an inlet of the Bristol Channel). Swansea is an important industrial center with manufactures including steel and nonferrous metals as well as motor-vehicle parts. A large petroleum refinery and chemical works are situated in the suburb of Llandarcy. The city is the seat of the University College of Swansea (1920) and is host to an annual arts festivity. A Norman fortress was built on the site about 1099. In the middle Ages the community was a regional market center. Its industrial growth began from the 18th century, when the port was developed to export the coal mined in southern Wales. The town center was destroyed by German bombing during World War II (1939-1945); the city has since been refurbished. Swansea was made bigger in 1974, now features the beautiful Gower Peninsula, a farming and resort area. Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet, short-story writer, and playwright, was born here in 1914.
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