For many cities, history is just a prelude to the present or a series of facts that end up as mere footnotes in the margins of a travel guide. With the ancient city of York, however, a rich and endlessly entertaining past plays a central role in its current value and appeal, as the majestic buildings that line its arcane 'Snickelway' streets, many of which have existed for 100 generations, have a magical way of bringing both visitors and yearlong residents into worlds that excite the imagination and reassure the soul. Founded by the Romans in 71 AD, after which it served as the capital of the province of 'Britannia Inferior', it's believed that the city's original name of 'Eboracum' was derived from a combination of the Celtic and Latin words for 'place of the yew trees', though, in succeeding centuries, the city would be known as 'Eoforwic' and 'Jorvik', alternately, as Anglo-Saxon and Danish kings vied for control of what is now Northern England. By the time of the Norman Conquest, however, York had evolved into what contemporary authors described as the 'greatest city of the north' and, between the 13th and 14th Centuries, York Minster, the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe and still the city's main landmark, was completed. Dominating the wool trade during the subsequent millennia, modern York emerged as a railway center in the 19th century and, in the contemporary economy, hosts a number of business in the information technology sector. No matter their manner of employment or source of wealth, however, everyone who lives in this majestic community is treated to sights that revel in the character of the past. One such locale, the famed 'Shambles', is a narrow pedestrian street that hosts several upscale boutiques and restaurants. For the city's 200,000 residents, though, every street holds something that they can enjoy with friends and family as, gifted with sturdy housing stock that spans the Medieval, Tudor, Restoration, and Modern periods as well as a number of shops that specialize in rare goods, York's picturesque neighborhoods make for both comfortable and memorable living.