Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a City status in the United Kingdom in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles (19 km) long, with an area of . Together with the Newcastle-under-Lyme (borough) Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area. This, together with the rural Staffordshire Moorlands area, forms North Staffordshire, which in 2001, had a population of 457,165.
The conurbation continues to be Polycentrism, having been formed by the federation of six originally separate towns and numerous villages in the early-20th century. The settlement from which the federated town (not a city until 1925) took its name was Stoke-upon-Trent, because this was where the administration (and chief mainline Stoke-on-Trent railway station) was located. After the union, Hanley, Staffordshire emerged as the primary commercial centre in the city, despite the efforts of its rival, Burslem. The three other component towns are Tunstall, Staffordshire, Longton, Staffordshire, and Fenton, Staffordshire.
Stoke-on-Trent is considered to be the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as Staffordshire Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for Tertiary sector of the economy and Distribution (business).
