Newcastle upon Tyne is a city in Tyne and Wear, North East England, on the northern bank of the River Tyne. Newcastle was built by William the Conqueror's son Robert Curthose in 1080, and Newcastle served as England's northern fortress throughout the Middle Ages; it was successfully defended from the Scots three times during the 14th century. In 1400, Newcastle split from Northumberland to be its own county, retaining this status until 1974, when it joined Tyne and Wear. Newcastle was a center of the wool trade before becoming a major coal mining area, and its port developed in the 16th century. Newcastle thus became among the world's largest shipbuilding and ship-repairing centers. In 1956, the city's last coal pit closed, and the slow demise of the shipyards occurred from the 1970s to the 1990s. During the 1960s, the public sector in Newcastle expanded, and the city grew into the most populous in the North East. In 2016, Newcastle had a population of 296,500 people, with its metro area having a population of 1,650,000.
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