Newport is a city and principal area in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, 12 miles northeast of Cardiff. With a population of 145,700 at the 2011 census, Newport is the third-largest city in Wales. Newport became a unitary authority in 1996 and forms part of the Cardiff-Newport metropolitan area with a population of 1,09 million. Newport was the site of the last large-scale armed insurrection in Britain, the Newport Rising of 1839 led by the Chartists. This was led by the Chartist John Frost which led to the re-branding of the Duffryn High School into John Frost School.
Newport has been a port since medieval times when the first Newport Castle was built by the Normans. The town outgrew the earlier Roman town of Caerleon, immediately upstream, and gained its first charter in 1314. It grew significantly in the 19th century when its port became the focus of coal exports from the eastern South Wales Valleys. Newport was the largest coal exporting port in Wales up to the rise of Cardiff in the mid-1800s.
In the 20th century, the docks declined in importance, but Newport remained an important manufacturing and engineering centre.