The city hosts a number of musical and artistic exhibits and festivals, which contribute to its tourism industry, but its economic activity is centered on education, medical research, manufacturing, financial services, and information technology.

The Lawson Site in northwest London is an archaeological excavation and partial reconstruction of an approximately 500-year-old Neutral Iroquoian village, estimated to have been home to 2,000 people.

Later, in the early 19th century, the Munsee-Delaware Nation (the Munsee are a subtribe of the Lenape or Delaware people), expelled from their homeland in Modern New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania after the creation of the United States.

The current location of London was selected as the site of the future capital of Upper Canada in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe, who also named the village which was founded in 1826.

Together with the rest of southwestern Ontario, the village benefited from Talbot's provisions not only for building and maintaining roads but also for assignment of access priorities to main routes to productive land.

The Crystal Palace Barracks, an octagonal brick building with eight doors and forty-eight windows built in 1861, was used for events such the Provincial Agricultural Fair of Canada West held in London that year.

The Blackfriars, amidst the river-distance between the Carling Brewery and the historic Tecumseh Park (including a major mill), linked London with its western suburb of Petersville, named for Squire Peters of Grosvenor Lodge.

[20] After this amalgamation, suburban growth accelerated as London grew outward in all directions, creating expansive new subdivisions such as Westmount, Oakridge, Whitehills, Pond Mills, White Oaks and Stoneybrook.

[20] On 1 January 1993, London annexed nearly the entire township of Westminster, a large, primarily rural municipality directly south of the city, including the police village of Lambeth.

Opponents of this development cite urban sprawl,[67] destruction of rare Carolinian zone forest and farm lands,[68] replacement of distinctive regions by generic malls, and standard transportation and pollution concerns as major issues facing London.

[81] London has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), with modestly warm summers, and cold and cloudy winters with frequent snow.

In addition to an annual Remembrance Day gathering,[89] it contains a poppy garden as a memorial to 1,200 who died in World War I,[90] as well as a refurbished bell from the Netherlands.

[100] As per the 2021 census, the most common ethnic or cultural origins in London are English (21.9%), Scottish (17.4%), Irish (16.8%), Canadian (12.1%), German (9.3%), French (6.6%), Dutch (5.0%), Italian (4.5%), British Isles (4.3%), Indian (3.7%), Polish (3.6%), and Chinese.

Other tech companies located in London include AutoData, Carfax Canada, HRDownloads, Mobials, Northern Commerce and Paystone which recently raised $100M.

[117] The London Life Insurance Company was founded there,[118] as was Canada Trust (in 1864),[119] Imperial Oil,[120] GoodLife Fitness, and both the Labatt and Carling breweries.

A Ford plant in Talbotville became one of the casualties of the economic crisis in 2011,[124] the site will soon be home to a major Amazon distribution center employing 2,000 workers by 2023.

From 1986 to 1989, Campeau expanded Wellington Square into Galleria London with 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) of leasable area and 200 stores including The Bay and Eaton's.

[132] Notable actors born in London include Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Victor Garber, Hume Cronyn, Michael McManus, and director Paul Haggis.

[134] SunFest, a world music festival, is the second largest in Canada after Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana) and is among the top 100 summer destinations in North America.

Guy Lombardo, the internationally acclaimed Big-Band leader, was born in London, as was jazz musician Rob McConnell, country music legend Tommy Hunter, singer-songwriter Meaghan Smith, the heavy metal band Kittie, film composer Trevor Morris, and DJ duo Loud Luxury; it is also the adopted hometown of hip-hop artist Shad Kabango, rock-music producer Jack Richardson, and 1960s folk-funk band Motherlode.

London is also home to the Museum of Ontario Archaeology, owned and operated by Western University; it is Canada's only ongoing excavation and partial reconstruction of a prehistoric village—in this case, a Neutral Nation village.

Newer settled areas in the northwest end of the city include long pathways between housing developments and tall grass bordering Snake Creek, a thin waterway connected to the Thames River.

The Forest City Velodrome, at the former London Ice House, is the only indoor cycling track in Ontario and the third to be built in North America, opened in 2005.

[177] The city has been home to several high-profile incidents over the years such as the Ontario Biker War and the London Conflict, it was also the location where most of the trial for the Shedden Massacre took place.

Research by Michael Andrew Arntfield, a police officer turned criminology professor, has determined that on a per-capita basis, London had more active serial killers than any locale in the world from 1959 to 1984.

[185] London is home to heritage properties representing a variety of architectural styles,[186] including Queen Anne, Art Deco, Modern, and Brutalist.

[192] Nevertheless, these roads continue to provide access from London to nearby communities and locations in much of Western Ontario, including Goderich, Port Stanley and Owen Sound.

City council rejected early plans for the construction of a freeway, and instead accepted the Veterans Memorial Parkway to serve the east end.

[201] Although the city has lost ridership over the last few years, the commission is making concerted efforts to enhance services by implementing a five-year improvement plan.

[196] The city of London has assessed the entire length of the Veterans Memorial Parkway, identifying areas where interchanges can be constructed, grade separations can occur, and where cul-de-sacs can be placed.