It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay , which feeds into the North Sea. Under the name of Dundee City , [ 3 ] it forms one of the 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Angus , the city developed into a burgh in the late 12th century and established itself as an important east coast trading port.
With the decline of traditional industry, the city has adopted a plan to regenerate and reinvent itself as a cultural centre.
Dundee is an international research and development hub in technology, medicine and life sciences, with technological industries having arrived since the s. The city was named as the electric vehicle capital of Europe in , and it has continuously been branded as the electric vehicle capital of Scotland and the United Kingdom. While earlier evidence for human occupation is abundant, [ 23 ] Dundee's success and growth as a seaport town arguably came as a result of William the Lion 's charter, granting Dundee to his younger brother, David later Earl of Huntingdon in the late 12th century.
The town became a Royal Burgh on John's coronation as king in The burgh suffered considerably during the conflict known as the Rough Wooing of to , and was occupied by the English forces of Andrew Dudley from In , unable to defend the town against an advancing Scottish force, Dudley ordered that the town be burnt to the ground.
Many in Scotland, including many in Dundee, regarded him as the rightful king. Adam was educated in Dundee and later joined the Royal Navy on board the sloop Trial. He rose to be admiral and in October defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown north of Haarlem.
