Poole is a tourist resort, attracting visitors with its large natural harbour, history, the Lighthouse arts centre and Blue Flag beaches.

The area around modern Poole has been inhabited for at least the past 2,500 years, with nearby Christchurch Harbour evidencing human activity dating back to the Neolithic period at Hengistbury Head.

During the 3rd century BC, Celtic-speaking people known as the Durotriges moved from hilltop settlements at Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings to heathland around the River Frome and Poole Harbour.

[2] The Romans landed at Poole during their conquest of Britain in the 1st century and took over an Iron Age settlement at Hamworthy, an area just west of the modern town centre.

[10] The earliest written mention of Poole occurred on a document from 1196 describing the newly built St James's Chapel in "La Pole".

[11] The Lord of the Manor, Sir William Longspée, sold a charter of liberties to the burgesses of Poole in 1248 to raise funds for his participation in the Seventh Crusade.

[6] Consequently, Poole gained a small measure of freedom from feudal rule and acquired the right to appoint a mayor and hold a court within the town.

[13] During the English Civil War, Poole's puritan stance and its merchants' opposition to the ship money tax introduced by King Charles I led to the town declaring for Parliament.

[22] During World War II, Poole was the third-largest embarkation point for D-Day landings of Operation Overlord and afterwards served as a base for supplies to the allied forces in Europe.

[13] Eighty-one landing craft containing American troops from the 29th Infantry Division and the US Army Rangers departed Poole Harbour for Omaha Beach.

[24] Much of the town suffered from German bombing during the war - in which the Municipal Borough lost 75 civilian lives[25] - and years of neglect in the post-war economic decline.

Major redevelopment projects began in the 1950s and 1960s and large areas of slum properties were demolished and replaced with modern public housing and facilities.

[47] The scallop shells are the emblem of Saint James and are associated with his shrine at Santiago de Compostela – a popular destination for Christian pilgrims departing from Poole Harbour in the Middle Ages.

Alderney – Bearwood – Branksome – Branksome Park – Broadstone – Canford Cliffs – Canford Heath – Creekmoor – Fleetsbridge – Hamworthy – Lilliput – Longfleet – Merley – Oakley – Newtown – Oakdale – Parkstone – Penn Hill – Sandbanks – Sterte – Talbot Village – Wallisdown – Waterloo – Whitecliff The natural environment of Poole is characterised by lowland heathland to the north and wooded chines and coastline to the south.

It is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the towns in the South East Dorset conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, and preserve nearby countryside.

These cover landscape features and greenfield facilities including the rivers Stour and Sherford and their floodplains, the Stour Valley Way, Canford Heathland, Dunyeats Hill and Corfe and Barrow Hill nature reserves, Upton Country Park, Pergins Island, and the Wimborne District Society of Model Engineers miniature railway.

Poole is also the headquarters for clothing company Animal, cosmetics manufacturer Lush, and Merlin Entertainments, the world's second-largest theme park operator after Disney.

A pedestrianised high street with shops, bars, pubs and restaurants connects the Dolphin Centre with the historic Old Town area and Poole Quay.

[66][79] Investment in new port facilities in Hamworthy and the deepening of shipping channels allowed considerable growth in cross-channel freight and passenger traffic.

[52] Commercial ferry operators run regular passenger and freight services from Poole to Cherbourg, St Malo and the Channel Islands.

[84] Poole Quay is a visitor attraction to the south of the town centre lined with a mixture of traditional pubs and listed buildings alongside new bars, redeveloped warehouses and apartment blocks.

[86] Nearby the Grade I listed Town Cellars, a medieval warehouse built in the 15th century on the foundations of a 14th-century stone building, houses a local history centre.

After a renovation project funded by Poole Borough Council, the restored Guildhall opened in June 2007 as a Register Office for weddings, civil partnerships and other civic ceremonies.

[125] The 'Beating of the bounds' is an ancient annual custom first carried out in 1612, which revives the traditional checking of the sea boundaries awarded to Poole by the Cinque Port of Winchelsea in 1364.

As there are no physical landmarks that can be beaten at sea, traditionally children from Poole were encouraged to remember the bounds of their town by taking part in the 'Pins and Points' ceremony involving the beating of a boy and pricking of a girl's hand with a needle.

During June and July, live music, street entertainment and a large firework display take place on Poole Quay every Thursday evening.

Bus routes are operated by the following providers:[137] There are four railway stations in the Poole area; all are stops on the South West Main Line which links London Waterloo and Weymouth.

[155] The hospital is the major trauma centre for East Dorset and provides core services such as child health and maternity for a catchment area including Bournemouth and Christchurch.

[162][163] Alfred Russel Wallace, the 19th-century explorer, naturalist and co-formulator of the theory of evolution by natural selection, moved to Poole in 1902 when he was 78 years old and is buried in Broadstone cemetery.

[164] Notable people born in Poole include the Suede guitarist Richard Oakes, Greg Lake of the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the author John le Carré, the novelist Maggie Gee, stage actor Oswald Yorke, actress Louisa Clein, cellist Natalie Clein, boxer Freddie Mills, the writer and actor David Croft, and James Stephen, the principal lawyer associated with the British abolitionist movement.