A BIRD'S eye view of the history of Glasgow from prehistoric times to the preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth games will be revealed on Monday.

Foundation is a new film which uniquely telescopes the city's growth over 2000 years into just 13 minutes.

It will open to the public at the Registers of Scotland's customer service centre in George Square.

It charts the growth of the city from a tiny settlement where hunters were drawn by availability of fish in the Clyde.

The river, key to Glasgow's development, flows through a series of images, animation and film which bring the city to life.

It shows Glaswegians through the ages, from market traders to university professors Then there are the vast workforces which built the ships that imported salt, sugar, wine, tobacco and cotton, establishing the fortunes of the merchants and made Glasgow the second city of the empire.

The film does not gloss over the fact that Glasgow, once the dear green place whose river, fields and forests provided food and shelter for early farmers, later became known for poverty, deprivation and violence.

It counters that with engineering ingenuity, bringing clean water from Loch Katrine to replace the polluted drinking water which caused typhus and cholera epidemics.

The 20th century saw ambitious plans to provide even more radical improvements.

The tragedy of the 532 people killed in the 1941 bombing of neaby Clydebank which demolished vast swathes of housing will bring back memories, as will images of tenements demolished after the war to make way for high-rise flats.

Other landmark events recorded include the 1988 Garden Festival and the Glasgow's Miles Better campaign which kick-started the city's reinvention as a tourism, cultural and retail destination.

The river remains at the heart of it all and new developments such as the digital media village at Pacific Quay indicate that Glasgow, in its new post-industrial phase, is rediscovering the river which brought the very first settlers to its banks.

The film is the Registers of Scotland's contribution to Homecoming 2009, and much of the development of the city and the movement of its people is charted through the land registers.

Viewings are free at 9 George Square from Monday until September 13 and can be booked on 0141 251 0993 or at ros@adeptmg.com.