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Plymouth is a city of 246,000 inhabitants (est. 2005) in the southwest of England, or alternatively the Westcountry, and is situated within the traditional county of Devon. It is located at the mouths of the rivers Plym and Tamar and at the head of one of the world's largest and most spectacular natural harbours, the Plymouth Sound. The city has a rich maritime past and was once one of the two most important Royal Navy bases in the United Kingdom, a factor that made the city a prime target of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. After the destruction of the dockyards and city centre in the blitz of 1941, Plymouth was rebuilt under the guidance of architect Patrick Abercrombie and is now one of the few remaining naval dockyards in the United Kingdom and the largest naval base in Western Europe. Important locations in the city include The Royal Citadel, Devonport Dockyard and The Barbican from where the Pilgrims left for the New World in 1620. The earliest known settlement in Plymouth dates back to 1000 BC with a small iron age trading port located at Mount Batten in Plymstock. It is thought that tin was brought here from Dartmoor via the Plym and traded with the ancient Phoenicians. As part of the Roman Empire this same port continued to trade tin along with cattle and hides. The small port was later overshadowed by the rise of the fishing village of Sutton, whose name means 'south town'.
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