York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence. The city was founded by the Romans in 71 AD. They called it Eboracum, a name perhaps derived from one used by the British tribes who inhabited the area. The Roman Emperor Constantine was born in York. The Romans made it the capital of their Province of Britannia Inferior. At the end of Roman rule in 415 AD the settlement was taken over by the Angles and the city was renamed Eoforwic. It served as the capital of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. When the Vikings captured the city in 866 AD they renamed it JórvÃÂk and it became the capital of a wider kingdom of the same name covering much of Northern England. After the Norman conquest, the name York, which was first used in the 13th century, gradually evolved. In the Middle Ages York grew as a major wool trading centre and the ecclesiastical capital of the northern province of England. The Province of York is still one of the two Church of England ecclesiastical provinces, alongside that of Canterbury.
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