Sunderland

Sunderland, borough, in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, northeastern England, on the Wear River, at its mouth on the North Sea. It is a seaport and is known for its shipbuilding industry. Coal is mined in the borough, and electrical equipment and glass are manufactured. Sunderland has the University of Sunderland (1992, formerly a polytechnic college). The monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow, where the Anglo-Saxon chronicler Saint Bede the Venerable was raised as a monk, was founded on the site (then named Wearmouth) in 674. The town received a charter in the 12th century. It became a major coal-shipping center by the 17th century, and by the 18th century it had a shipbuilding industry. Population (2001 estimate) 280,800.