Melbourne (pron-en?m?lb?n, locally also IPAAustralian English phonology?m�lb?n, -bn?Citation neededdate=February 2010) is the capital (capital (political)) and most populous city in the state of Victoria (Victoria (Australia)), and also the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre (also known as the "Central Business District (Central business district)" or "CBD") is the hub of the greater geographical area (or "metropolitan area") and the Census statistical division (Census in Australia)?of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of late 2009, the greater geographical area had an approximate population of 4 million. A resident of Melbourne is known as a "Melburnian".

The metropolis is located on the large natural bay known as Port Phillip, with the city centre positioned at the estuary of the Yarra River (at the northern-most point of the bay). The metropolitan area then extends south from the city centre, along the eastern and western shorelines of Port Phillip, and expands into the hinterland. The city centre is situated in the municipality known as the City of Melbourne, and the metropolitan area consists of a further 30 municipalities (Local Government Areas of Victoria#Municipalities of Greater Melbourne).

It was founded in 1835 (47 years after the European settlement of Australia) by settlers from Van Diemens Land. The early settlement was originally known as "Bearbrass". It was renamed "Melbourne" in 1837, in honour of William Lamb?the 2nd Viscount Melbourne (William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne). Melbourne was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria (Victoria of the United Kingdom) in 1847. In 1851, it became the capital city of the newly created colony of Victoria. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it then served as the interim seat of government of the newly created nation of Australia until 1927.

Today, it is a centre for the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, sport and tourism. It is the birthplace of cultural (Culture) institutions such as Australian film (Cinema of Australia) (as well as the feature film), Australian television (Television in Australia), Australian rules football, the Australian impressionist art (Visual arts of Australia) movement (known as the Heidelberg School) and Australian dance (Dance in Australia) styles (such as New Vogue (New Vogue (dance)) and the Melbourne Shuffle). It is also a major centre for contemporary and traditional Australian music (Music of Australia). It is often referred to as the "cultural capital of Australia".

Melbourne is classified as a Beta World City+ (Global city) by Loughborough Universitys GaWC Research Network, and as a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network. It has been ranked as one of the top three Worlds Most Livable Cities by the Economist Groups Intelligence Unit (Economist Intelligence Unit) (since 2002), top 10 Global University Cities by RMIT (RMIT University)s Global University Cities Index (since 2006) and top 20 Global Innovation Cities by the 2thinknow Global Innovation Agency (since 2007). The metropolis is also home to the worlds largest tram network (Trams in Melbourne). cite weburl=in Transport Chapter 3 - East/West, Section 3.1.2 - Tram Networkformat=PDF (Portable Document Format)publisher=Department of Transport, Government of Victoria (Government of Victoria (Australia))accessdate=21 November 2009 The main airport serving Melbourne is Melbourne Airport.