Dundee, city, eastern Scotland, on the Firth of Tay, near the North Sea. Dundee is the second most important industrial center of Scotland. It is also a seaport receiving a large inward traffic of petroleum products and handling service vessels for North Sea oil fields. Among the many manufactures are textiles, rope, carpet, plastic, light engineering products, and processed foods; the printing and publishing industry is also important. A local landmark is City Churches, which houses three separate churches under one roof. The city has a municipal museum and art gallery and is the seat of the University of Dundee (1881); colleges of art, technology, and commerce are also located here. Dundee was made a royal burgh by the Scottish king William the Lion in 1190 and quickly became a leading town of Scotland. It suffered greatly from English raids, notably in 1296, 1385, 1547, and 1651. Whaling became an important industry here in the late 1700s. After the 1830s Dundee developed as a major jute-processing center. In 1974 it became the administrative center of the Tayside Region, and in the 1996 reorganization of local government became a unitary authority. Population (1996 estimate) 150,250.