Focus on Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland’s third most populous city with an official population estimate of 196,670 for the city of Aberdeen and 229,800 for the local authority area.


Aberdeen received Royal burgh status from David I of Scotland (1124–53), transforming the city economically. The city’s two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1495, and Robert Gordon University, which was awarded university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational centre of the north-east of 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.



During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1644–1647 the city was plundered by both sides. In 1644, it was taken and ransacked by Royalist troops after the Battle of Aberdeen and two years later it was stormed by a Royalist force under the command of the Marquis of Huntly. In 1647 an outbreak of bubonic plague killed a quarter of the population. The council began major road improvements at the end of the 18th century with the main thoroughfares of George Street, King Street and Union Street all completed at the beginning of the 19th century.

Union Terrace, Aberdeen, circa 1900


Aberdeen was in Pictish territory and became Gaelic-speaking at some time in the medieval period. Old Aberdeen is the approximate location of Aberdon, the first settlement of Aberdeen; this literally means “the mouth of the Don”. The Celtic word aber means “river mouth”. The Gaelic name is Obar Dheathain, and in Latin, the Romans referred to the river as Devana. Mediaeval (or Ecclesiastical) Latin has it as Aberdonia.

Bon Accord Square, designed by Archibald Simpson and dating from 1823

Lamp-post bearing the city coat of arms

The arms and banner of the city show three silver towers on red. This motif dates from at least the time of Robert the Bruce and represents the buildings that stood on the three hills of medieval Aberdeen: Aberdeen Castle on Castle Hill (today’s Castlegate); the city gate on Port Hill; and a church on St Catherine’s Hill (now levelled).

Bon Accord is the motto of the city and is French for “Good Agreement”. Legend tells that its use dates from a password used by Robert the Bruce during the 14th century Wars of Scottish Independence, when he and his men laid siege to the English-held Aberdeen Castle before destroying it in 1308. It is still widely present in the city, throughout street names, business names and the city’s Bon Accord shopping mall.

The shield in the coat of arms is supported by two leopards. A local magazine is called the “Leopard” and, when Union Bridge was widened in the 20th century, small statues of the creature in a sitting position were cast and placed on top of the railing posts (known locally as Kelly’s Cats). The city’s toast is “Happy to meet, sorry to part, happy to meet again”.