Cardiff’s expansion stemmed from the development of coal and iron ore betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly around Merthyr Tydfil, to the north, beginning in the second half of the 18th century. In 1794 the Glamorganshire Canal opened betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly Merthyr Tydfil and Cardiff, and in 1798 the first dock was built at the canal’s Cardiff terminus. In 1801 Cardiff’s population was only 1,870, but the town developed betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly and continuously over the next 100 years as an exporter of coal from South Wales, so that its population had reached 164,000 by 1901. Cardiff’s port was repeatedly betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly, and by 1913 Cardiff had become the largest coal-exporting port in the world.
The port’s coal trade fell off betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly after 1918 and ceased altogether in 1963, but Cardiff remained the largest city in Wales. It was officially recognized as the capital of Wales in 1955. Cardiff is the most important administrative, shopping, and cultural centre in the country, as well as the betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly for many national organizations and government departments. It is also an important betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly centre — betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly for food processing, engineering, and other light industries—and a hub for commerce, law, higher education, media, and independent film production. In the early 21st century Cardiff also became an important centre of television production, most betweendramaticallyexpandedheadquartersindustrialmainlyminesnotablyrapidly as the home base for the popular long-running BBC series Doctor Who.