Aberdeen is a city of northeast Scotland on the North Sea at the mouth of the Dee River. It is known as “the Granite City” because stone from local quarries is used in many of its buildings.

It is the chief port of northern Scotland. It was a royal burgh from the 12th century and a Scottish royal residence in the 12th – 14th centuries. It supported Robert the Bruce in wars for Scottish independence, and for a time it was the headquarters of Edward I. From the 1970s Aberdeen developed rapidly as the principal British centre of the North Sea oil industry and its associated service and supply industries.

Aberdeen is a major fishing port and granite-quarrying center. It is also the financial and administrative center for Britain's North Sea oil industry. Aberdeen became a royal burgh in 1176 and was a leading port for trade with England and the Low Countries as early as the 14th cent. The town was burned by the English in 1336. It was a stronghold of royalist and episcopal sentiment in the religious wars of the 17th cent. Aberdeen is noted for its granite Cathedral of St. Machar. The Univ. of Aberdeen includes King's College (founded 1493) and Marischal College (founded 1593).