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	County Town: Ebbw Vale County Population: 74,000 (estimate)
	Blaenau Gwent used to be part of the much larger historic county of Monmouthshire, and now only covers an area of 109 sq km (42 sq miles). To the north a small area of the county lies within the Brecon Beacons National Park, but Blaenau Gwent largely consists of the upper valley of the River Ebbw, which is a landscape of mountains and steep V-shaped valleys.
	The Romans settled in Monmouthshire during the 1st century AD, at which time they built many forts. Some time after their departure in 400 AD, Saxons tried to invade the region but the local people resisted so fiercely that it was not until the Normans conquered the county in the late 1060s that English settlements finally appeared, at which point many castles were built in South Wales.
	The vastly prosperous coal, iron, and steel industries of the recent past have all but come to a close, and the region has gone through a vast period of redevelopment. In 1992 a Garden Festival was held in the county, new industries and technologies are developing there, and tourists and walkers make use of the many mountain and forest walks.
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