Merthyr Tydfil

Noted for its industrial past, Merthyr was known as the 'Iron Capital of the World' in the early 19th century, due to the scale of its iron production. The world's first steam-powered railway journey happened in Merthyr in 1804, travelling 9 mi (14 km) from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Glamorganshire Canal on the Merthyr Tramroad. The 1851 census found Wales to be the world's first industrialised nation, as more people were employed in industry than agriculture, with Merthyr the biggest town in Wales at that time. The city of Donetsk in Ukraine (then in the Russian Empire), originally 'Hughesovka', was founded by John Hughes of Merthyr in 1870, when he took iron working to the area.