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Bristol (England) is a city and administrative center of the nonmetropolitan county of Avon, southern England, on the Lower Avon River, at its confluence with the Frome River. Bristol is a major manufacturing center and an important shipping point for the products of the industrialized West Midlands region. Its harbor, on the Severn estuary, is accessible to large oceangoing vessels. The well-equipped port has facilities for the storage and transshipment of grain and petroleum, two leading imports. Much local industry is based on the processing of such imports as zinc ore, cocoa, timber, and tea. The city is a major aircraft manufacturing center; other products include chemicals and footwear.
Among the notable structures in Bristol are the Church of Saint Mary Redcliffe (14th century), an especially fine example of English Gothic style; and Bristol Cathedral, portions of which date from the 12th century. Crossing the Avon gorge here is the Clifton Suspension Bridge (1864), designed by the famous engineer Isambard Brunel. The city's educational institutions include the University of Bristol (1876) and the University of the West of England, Bristol (1992, formerly a polytechnic college). Also here are the Theatre Royal (1766), home of the Bristol Old Vic Company; the City Museum and Art Gallery; and the Bristol Zoo.
In the 10th century Bristol was a flourishing commercial port. By the early 11th century it had become a center for wool trade with Ireland. Clothmaking was introduced here in the 14th century, and Bristol merchants soon developed a prosperous cloth trade with much of Europe and the Near East. From the port of Bristol in 1497, the Italian navigators John and Sebastian Cabot sailed to the mainland of America. During the English Revolution Bristol was taken by the Royalists in 1643 and fell to the Parliamentarians in 1645.
The city's cloth trade diminished in the 18th century, but Bristol continued to prosper from the slave trade, the West Indies trade, and newly established industries, primarily the manufacture of metals. In the early 19th century, because of the abolition of slavery and competition from the growing port of Liverpool, Bristol experienced an economic decline. Trade revived after the arrival of the railroad here in 1841. With the expansion of its port facilities in the late 19th century, the city again became one of England's leading seaports. During World War II Bristol was severely bombed by the German air force. The port has undergone extensive reconstruction and improvement in the post-World War II period.
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