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''Scotland Aberdeenshire Aberdeen (city)

Guide to Aberdeen (city) history, family history, and genealogy:''' parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
ABERDEEN, a city, and sea-port town, the seat of a university, the capital of the county of Aberdeen, and the metropolis of the North of Scotland, 109 miles (N. N. E.) from Edinburgh, and 425 (N. by W.) from London

The Aberdeen area has seen human settlement for at least 8,000 years,with Pictish and Gaelic origins.

The city is cited between 2 river-mouths, the Don and the Dee. As such, it is based upon river sediments, rather than major rock deposits. However to the west and southwest are large deposits of granite, and for hundreds of years, Aberdeen has been known as the granite city of the north. This fact has also provided one the best supplies of quality drinking water in the UK.

The earliest charter for a city was granted by William the Lion in 1179. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce (one of the greatest champions for s free Scotland) transformed Aberdeen into a property-owning and financially independent community. Granted with it was the nearby Forest of Stocket, whose income formed the basis for the city's Common Good Fund which still benefits Aberdonians.

Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from David I of Scotland (1124–53), transforming the city economically. The city's two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1495, and Robert Gordon University, which was awarded university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational center of the north-east of Scotland. The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport.

During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1644–1647 the city was plundered by both sides. In 1644, it was taken and ransacked by Royalist troops after the Battle of Aberdeen and two years later it was stormed by a Royalist force under the command of Marquis of Huntly.

In the nineteenth century, the increasing economic importance of Aberdeen and the development of the shipbuilding and fishing industries led to the construction of the present harbor including Victoria Dock and the South Breakwater, and the extension of the North Pier.

In the twentieth century, the discovery of the North Sea oilfields has made Aberdeen a major player in the petroleum industry. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland.