swŏnˈzē, –sē, Welsh Abertawe, city (1981 pop. 172,433) and county, 146 sq mi (378 sq km), S Wales. Located on Swansea Bay at the mouth of the Tawe River, the city of Swansea is a metallurgical center with sheet-metal mills, foundries, and smelting works. Other industries are engineering, shipbuilding, and oil refining (at the suburb Llandarcy). Crude oil, metals, timber, grain, and rubber are imported. Swansea ware, of rich blue coloring with decorative painting, was made at the Swansea potteries in the first half of the 19th cent. The Royal Institution of South Wales, a Univ. of Wales campus, and a medieval castle on the site of an old ruined Norman castle are points of special interest. The poet Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea.

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