North East England

The North East is one of the nine regions of England that are classified at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside, which is partly in North Yorkshire. The region is home to three large conurbations: Teesside, Wearside, and Tyneside, the latter of which is the largest of the three and the sixth most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom. There are only three cities in the region; Newcastle upon Tyne is the largest city in the region with a population of just under 280,000 followed by Sunderland, both of which are located in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear. The city of Durham is the county town of County Durham. Other large settlements in the region include Darlington; Gateshead; Hartlepool; Middlesbrough; Redcar; South Shields and Stockton-on-Tees.
Geography and early history
The region is generally hilly and sparsely populated in the North and West, and urban...