Black Country
Black Country | |
|---|---|
Region | |
The Black Country in the 1870s Iron trade of Great Britain | |
| Etymology: Effects of industry or coal mining | |
The metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton highlighted within the West Midlands metropolitan county | |
| Coordinates: 52°32′N 2°2′W / 52.533°N 2.033°W | |
| Country | England |
| County | West Midlands |
| Historic counties | Staffordshire Worcestershire |
| Area | |
• Total | 138 sq mi (360 km2) |
| Highest elevation | 889 ft (271 m) |
| Population (2012) | |
• Total | 1,146,800 |
| Demonym | Yam Yam (colloquial) |
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The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The 14-mile (23 km) road between Wolverhampton and Birmingham was described as "one continuous town" in 1785.
The area was one of the Industrial Revolution's birthplaces. Its name was first recorded in the 1840s, and derives either from the 30 foot (9.1 m) thick coal seam close to the surface or the production of coal, coke, iron, glass, bricks and steel which produced high levels of soot and air pollution.