Read the following passage and choose the best answer to each of the following questions.

The History of London

The Roman invasion of Britain in 43 CE brought the pre-Roman ancient Britons under Roman rule, but it also resulted in founding the Roman's first major British settlement called Londinium, which meant "he settlement on the wide river" and in fact, the settlement was established where a bridge was built across the Thames. The area that was later called London was first believed to have served as a fort for defending the Roman army; however, archaeological digs in the area pointed to the real reason - Londinium was used for private enterprise. In 1981, the vestiges of an enormous Roman pier, which had probably been used for trade, were discovered. This ancient London was burned to the ground by a Celtic tribe in 61 CE, and then it was rebuilt, becoming the capital of the Roman province of Britannia for 4 decades. However, by the 2^nd century CE, the city suffered gradual deterioration as a result of the Roman Empire's decline. It was abandoned for 3 centuries.

By the 6^th century CE, the Anglo-Saxons re-established the city, then called Lundenwic, about a mile west of its original founding. The city prospered as an international trading and political centre under a succession of English kings, but suffered opposition as well. Although the Scandinavian Vikings and the Danish would raid and besiege the city, the Anglo-Saxons ultimately maintained control of the city. The Anglos-Saxons inhabited it for centuries, and by the 10^th century, they managed to make London England's largest and wealthiest city. During the Middle Age, London, then the country's centre of commerce and Westminster, the seat of the royal court and government, grew together and became central London, replacing Winchester as England's capital in the 12^th century. The city's population continued to grow, but the bubonic plague struck London in the mid-14^th century. It was no wonder that the streets of the city were extremely filthy, and rats were a constant presence. The disease wiped out about 30% of the city’s people; it did not, however, destroy the city and its political ambitions. By the late 16^th century, England defeated the Spanish Armada, a large fleet of ships sent by King Philip II of Spain to protect its interests in the New World. The subduing of the Spanish Armada strengthened England’s political stability and facilitated its continued growth. Even an outbreak of a hemorrhagic fever from 1665 and 1666 and a subsequent catastrophic fire in 1666 did not slacken the city’s development.

The Industrial Revolution played a huge role in London's economic development, and London's expansion and urbanization in the 18^th century was such that it gained prominence as the world’s largest city. London's first railway in 1836 allowed people in countryside towns easy access to the city. London's metro system, the world's first underground railway transit system, eased the city's overfilled streets. The local government’s priority was to provide London, whose population was 5 million by the late 19^th century, with the infrastructure it needed. Prosperous as the middle and upper classes were, however, the city was highly socially stratified, and the poor were crowded into slums in the eastern part of the city. The World Wars of the 20^th century desolated buildings and homes across London. London rehabilitated and continued to grow after the wars, but it was believed that the lack of architectural unity resulted in the construction of buildings that were a continuum of the architectural styles. Economic restoration in the 1980s revived London’s place as the world’s foremost international centre. Today, the city is one of the world's leading business, political, financial and cultural centres.

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The word “deterioration” in the passage is closest in meaning to………..