Aberdeen, SCOTLAND Shot Glass

Aberdeen is 93 mi (150 km) northeast of Edinburgh and 398 mi (641 km) north of London, and is the northernmost major city in the United Kingdom. The city has a long, sandy coastline and features an oceanic climate, with cool summers and mild, rainy winters. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, which may sparkle like silver because of its high mica content. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in 1969, Aberdeen has been known as the offshore oil capital of Europe. The area around Aberdeen has been settled for at least 8,000 years, when prehistoric villages lay around the mouths of the rivers Dee and Don. Aberdeen received Royal burgh status from David I of Scotland (1124–1153), transforming the city economically. The city has two universities, the University of Aberdeen, in Old Aberdeen, founded in 1495, and Robert Gordon University, in Garthdee, which was awarded university status in 1992, making Aberdeen the educational centre of north-east Scotland. The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland.