Commerce was supported by financial service industries such as banking and insurance.

The city has the countrys fifth-largest population at 547,627 (as of 2018) 7 and lies within the United Kingdoms second-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.7 million, 8 third most-populous county, at around 2.8 million, 9 and third-most populous metropolitan area, with a population of 3.3 million.

It is fringed by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and an arc of towns with which it forms a continuous conurbation.

The local authority for the city is Manchester City Council.

Although historically and traditionally a part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century.

The first to be included, Wythenshawe, was added to the city in 1931.

Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century.

Manchesters unplanned urbanisation was brought on by a boom in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution, 12 and resulted in it becoming the worlds first industrialised city.

Manchester achieved city status in 1853.

The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894, creating the Port of Manchester and directly linking the city to the Irish Sea, 36 miles (58 km) to the west.

Its fortune declined after the Second World War, owing to deindustrialisation, but the IRA bombing in 1996 led to extensive investment and regeneration.

Following successful redevelopment after the IRA bombing, Manchester was the host city for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Manchester Liverpool Road railway station was the worlds first inter-city passenger railway station.

At the University of Manchester, Ernest Rutherford first split the atom in 1917, Frederic C.

Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill developed the worlds first stored-program computer in 1948, and Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov isolated the first graphene in 2004.

These names are generally thought to represent a Latinisation of an original Brittonic name.

However, more recent work suggests that it could come from mamma (mother, in reference to a local river goddess ).

Both usages are preserved in Insular Celtic languages, such as mam meaning breast in Irish and mother in Welsh.

The suffix -chester is from Old English ceaster (Roman fortification, itself a loanword from Latin castra, fort; fortified town).

Following the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, General Agricola ordered the construction of a fort named Mamucium in the year 79 to ensure that Roman interests in Deva Victrix ( Chester ) and Eboracum ( York ) were protected from the Brigantes.

Central Manchester has been permanently settled since this time.

A stabilised fragment of foundations of the final version of the Roman fort is visible in Castlefield.

The Roman habitation of Manchester probably ended around the 3rd century; its civilian settlement appears to have been abandoned by the mid-3rd century, although the fort may have supported a small garrison until the late 3rd or early 4th century.

After the Roman withdrawal and Saxon conquest, the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell and Irk sometime before the arrival of the Normans after 1066.

Much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North.

Although not long-lasting, Cromwell granted it the right to elect its own MP.

Charles Worsley, who sat for the city for only a year, was later appointed Major General for Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire during the Rule of the Major Generals.

He was a diligent puritan, turning out ale houses and banning the celebration of Christmas; he died in 1656.

The Bridgewater Canal, Britains first wholly artificial waterway, was opened in 1761, bringing coal from mines at Worsley to central Manchester.

The combination of competition and improved efficiency halved the cost of coal and halved the transport cost of raw cotton.

Manchester became the dominant marketplace for textiles produced in the surrounding towns.

A commodities exchange, opened in 1729, 22 and numerous large warehouses, aided commerce.

In 1780, Richard Arkwright began construction of Manchesters first cotton mill.

The great majority of cotton spinning took place in the towns of south Lancashire and north Cheshire, and Manchester was for a time the most productive centre of cotton processing.

Manchester began expanding at an astonishing rate around the turn of the 19th century as people flocked to the city for work from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and other areas of England as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation brought on by the Industrial Revolution.

It developed a wide range of industries, so that by 1835 Manchester was without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world.

Engineering firms initially made machines for the cotton trade, but diversified into general manufacture.

Similarly, the chemical industry started by producing bleaches and dyes, but expanded into other areas.

City Life Edition 2008 Serial Code