Cardiff

A town of fewer than 2,000 people in 1801, Cardiff's population multiplied into the hundreds of thousands in the 19th century, as coal exports transformed it into the world's busiest coal port.

Britain's first mosque was recorded in 1860, at 2 Glynn Rhondda Street in Cardiff.

Completed in 1886, Cardiff's Coal Exchange was once where the price of the world's coal was determined. The world's first £1,000,000 business deal was made at the Coal Exchange during a transaction in 1901, when 2,500 tonnes of coal were sold for shipment to France.

Cardiff City defeated Arsenal in the 1927 FA Cup Final, the only time the competition has been won by a team not based in England.

Cardiff was proclaimed as the capital of Wales on December 20, 1955. Caernarfon had also vied for this title. Although the city hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1958, Cardiff only became a centre of national administration with the establishment of the Welsh Office in 1964.

Crown Buildings are the Welsh Government's main offices in Cardiff

The 299 licensed premises in Cardiff's central square mile represent the highest concentration of pubs and clubs in the UK, according to police figures from South Wales Police.

Cardiff is nicknamed "City of Castles." It has three intact castles within its boundaries: Cardiff Castle, Castle Coch, and St. Fagans Castle.

Cardiff is the wettest British city with 115 cm of rain a year, ahead of Glasgow (112 cm) and Manchester (86.7 cm). 

Author Roald Dahl was born in the Cardiff suburb of Llandaff in 1916, and spent much of his childhood there before being sent to boarding school in England.

Cardiff's Principality Stadium, opened in 1999 as the Millennium Stadium, was built on the site of the historic Cardiff Arms Park and became the first stadium in the UK with a fully retractable roof.

Cardiff Bay's Roath Lock studios have served as the production base for the BBC's Doctor Who since 2012, alongside dramas including Casualty and Sherlock.

Cardiff City's football club is nicknamed "The Bluebirds," and its current home, Cardiff City Stadium, opened in 2009 to replace Ninian Park.

The Principality Stadium hosted six FA Cup finals between 2001 and 2006 while London's Wembley Stadium was being rebuilt.