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Manchester is a post-industrial city at the heart of North West England, once nicknamed "Cottonopolis" for its most famous export. Many see it as the capital of the north of England and sometimes as England's second city. It is the site of the world's oldest surviving passenger railway station and one of the birthplaces of socialism and the Industrial Revolution. Greater Manchester has 2.8 million inhabitants, and Manchester Airport is the busiest British airport outside South East England.
Manchester Town Hall. Photo: Julius (User:Juliux), CC BY-SA 3.0.
From Roman fort to cotton capital
| Period | What happened |
|---|---|
| AD 79 | Roman fort Mamucium founded; no town was built until the 13th century |
| 1421 | A priests' college and church established, now Chetham's School and Library and the Cathedral |
| Civil War and 1745 | Early signs of political radicalism: support for Parliament, then for the Jacobite forces |
| 18th-19th centuries | Cotton industry thrives on an existing cloth trade, mechanised spinning in nearby Bolton, steam power and a damp atmosphere that meant fewer broken threads and less risk of explosions from cotton dust. A steam-driven factory is built in Ancoats |
| End of the 19th century | One of the ten biggest urban centres on Earth |
Other firsts came later. Whitworth, who invented the mass-cut screw thread, made rifled guns on Sackville Street. Rolls and Royce, who first met at the Midland Hotel, began making luxury cars in Hulme. Trafford Park became the first industrial estate in the world, home to the Ford Motor Company and much of the pre-wartime aircraft industry, including AVRO's Lancaster bombers.
Manchester is known for opulent warehouses from the city's textile trade. Photo: Stephen Richards, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Radicals, philanthropists and music
Manchester led opposition to the Corn Laws and embraced Free Trade, Chartism and the Great Reform Act. It was instrumental in establishing socialism in the UK. Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx frequented the city; Engels conducted his inquiry into the condition of the working class. The Trades Union Congress, which led to the Labour Party, was born here. Philanthropists such as John Owens and John Dalton left large parts of their fortunes to improving the city. A statue of Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Square marks his thanks for the city's support during a cotton famine caused by the blockade of the Confederacy.
Music is another legacy. The Madchester movement of the early 1980s, started by Factory Records and Joy Division, led to the Haçienda nightclub and the birth of modern club culture. The city has produced The Stone Roses, The Smiths, The Fall, Joy Division/New Order, The Happy Mondays, Oasis, James and Badly Drawn Boy.
Today's city
- Character: writers have tried to capture it: George Orwell called it "the belly and guts of the Nation," and Ian Brown of The Stone Roses said "Manchester's got everything except a beach." The guide calls the city friendly, and its pride in itself fierce. Its adjective is Mancunian, or Manc.
- Students: two of the UK's largest universities, the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, plus the Royal Northern College of Music, with a university in Salford too. Together over 86,000 students live in the city full-time.
- Sport: Manchester United (Old Trafford) and Manchester City (Etihad Stadium, Sportcity) are world famous. Manchester hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2002, which led to the Sportcity area in East Manchester.
- Diversity: many communities have settled here. The Village around Canal Street is the centre of a large LGBT community, and has a 12-day Pride festival each year.
- Climate: temperate maritime, rarely too warm or too cold. Rainfall is below the UK average, despite the city's reputation for rain.
Sources
- Wikivoyage, "Manchester" (https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Manchester), licensed CC BY-SA. Photos are credited to their photographers above. Changed here: shortened and rewritten, with the sections on getting in and around, sights, shopping, food, lodging, safety and day trips, and all phone numbers and opening hours, left out; rewritten in hubnx's own words.
Licens: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bearbetat efter en.wikivoyage.org
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