Description : Lincoln (/ˈlɪŋkən/) is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England. The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln had a 2012 population of 94,600. The 2011 census gave the urban area of Lincoln, which includes North Hykeham and Waddington, a population of 130,200. Roman Lindum Colonia developed from an Iron Age settlement on the River Witham. The city's landmarks include Lincoln Cathedral, an example of English Gothic architecture and the tallest building in the world for over 200 years, and the 11th-century Norman Lincoln Castle. The city is home to the University of Lincoln and Bishop Grosseteste University, and to both Lincoln City FC and Lincoln United FC. Germanic tribes from the North Sea area settled Lincolnshire during the fifth and sixth centuries. The Latin Lindum Colonia was shortened in their language, Old English, first to Lindocolina, then to Lincylene. After the first Viking raids, the city again rose to some importance, with overseas trading connections. In Viking times Lincoln was a trading centre with its own mint, by far the most important in Lincolnshire and by the end of the 10th century, comparable in output to that of York. After the establishment of the Danelaw in 886, Lincoln became one of the Five Boroughs in the East Midlands. Excavations at Flaxengate reveal that the area, deserted since Roman times, received timber-framed buildings fronting a new street system in about 900. Lincoln underwent an economic explosion with the settlement of the Danes. Like York, the Upper City seems to have had purely administrative functions up to 850 or so, while the Lower City, down the hill towards the River Witham, may have been largely deserted. By 950, however, the Witham banks were developed, with the Lower City resettled and the suburb of Wigford emerging as a trading centre. In 1068, two years after the Norman conquest of England, William I ordered Lincoln Castle to be built on the site of the old Roman settlement, for the same strategic reasons and controlling the same road.
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