People have lived in Cardiff since prehistory, but the city's story really begins with the Romans, who invaded Britain in AD43. The capital takes its name from the Roman general Aulus Didius – Caer Didi means "Fort of Didius". The Roman rule ended in the 5th century AD. By the next century England was overrun by Saxons. By the year 850, the Welsh coast was being raided by Vikings. Within 20 years of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Normans were marching on Wales, with William the Conquer himself visiting Cardiff in 1081. In 1091 Robert FitzHamon began work on Cardiff Castle and a small settlement grew up around it. This was an English town in a hostile Welsh territory. Owain Glyndwr, the great Welsh rebel leader, razed Cardiff in 1404. In 1542 Thomas Capper is burnt at the stake in Cardiff for heresy and becomes the first religious martyr in Wales. By the Elizabethan times Cardiff was a lawless, pirate-infested port. In 1608 King James I granted a Royal Charter to the town. By the 18th century it was a sleepy backwater of 1,500 people straggling around the decaying castle.

The Industrial Revolution changed everything. In the 1790s the local gentry, the Butes, built the Glamorganshire Canal to join Cardiff with Merthyr Tydfil, followed by the first Cardiff dock in 1839. A rail link between Cardiff and the coal producing areas of Wales was built between 1845 and 1850. Cardiff became the biggest coal-exporting port in the world. At its peak in 1913, more than 13 million tons of coal left here. Cardiff was granted city status by Edward VII and in 1955 it was proclaimed capital of Wales. Today, Cardiff is Europe’s most dynamic capital city, constantly surprising visitors with its grace, space and cosmopolitan buzz. It’s a great place to visit and the ideal base from which to explore the coast, culture and heritage of Wales and western Britain.