Derby ( ) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...
and
unitary authority area in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...
, England. It lies on the banks of the
River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area tradi ...
Region. It was traditionally the
county town of Derbyshire. Derby gained city status in 1977. The last decade has seen the population increase by 5.1%, from around 248,800 in 2011 to 261,400 in 2021.
Derby was settled by Romans, who established the town of
Derventio Derventio is a Britto-Roman name, but of Celtic origin (''dervo-'' "oak-tree"), and refers to one of the following Roman sites in Roman Britain :
* Derventio (Papcastle), the Roman fort and settlement at Papcastle near Cockermouth, Cumbria
* Derven ...
, later captured by the Anglo-Saxons, and later still by the Vikings, who made their town of one of the
Five Boroughs of the Danelaw
The Five Boroughs or The Five Boroughs of the Danelaw were the five main towns of Danish Mercia (what is now the East Midlands). These were Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham and Stamford. The first four later became county towns.
Establ ...
. Initially a
market town
A market town is a Human settlement, settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular marketplace, market; this distinguished it from a village or ...
, Derby grew rapidly in the industrial era. Home to
Lombe's Mill
Lombe's Mill was the first successful silk throwing mill in Britain. It was built on an island on the River Derwent in Derby. It was built after John Lombe visited Piedmont in 1717 and returned to England with details of the Italian silk throwin ...
, an ear