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This article is about the City of Manchester in England. For the wider metropolitan county, see Greater Manchester. For the larger conurbation, see Greater Manchester Urban Area. For other uses, see Manchester (disambiguation).
| City of Manchester | |||
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| Nickname: "Capital of the North", "Cottonopolis", "Second city", "Warehouse City" | |||
| Motto: "Concilio Et Labore" "Wisdom and effort" | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Sovereign state | United Kingdom | ||
| Constituent country | England | ||
| Region | North West England | ||
| Ceremonial county | Greater Manchester | ||
| Admin HQ | Manchester City Centre | ||
| Founded | 1st century | ||
| Town charter | 1301 | ||
| City status | 1853 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | Metropolitan borough, City | ||
| - Governing body | Manchester City Council | ||
| - Lord Mayor | Glynn Evans | ||
| - MPs: | Paul Goggins (L) Sir Gerald Kaufman (L) John Leech (LD) Tony Lloyd (L) Graham Stringer (L) |
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| Area | |||
| - Borough & City | 44.7 sq mi (115.65 km²) | ||
| Elevation | 256 ft (78 m) | ||
| Population (2006 est.) | |||
| - Borough & City | 452,000 (Ranked 5th) | ||
| - Density | 9,880.8/sq mi (3,815/km²) | ||
| - Urban | 2,240,230 (Greater Manchester Urban Area) |
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| - Metro | 4,209,132 | ||
| - County | 2,547,700 | ||
| - County Density | 5,172.2/sq mi (1,997/km²) | ||
| - Ethnicity (2005 Est.[1]) | 71.0% White British 10.3% South Asian 6.6% White Other 5.2% Black British 3.2% Mixed Race 2.3% Chinese 1.4% Other |
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| Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0) | ||
| Postcode | M | ||
| Area code(s) | 0161 | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | GB-MAN | ||
| ONS code | 00BN | ||
| OS grid reference | SJ838980 | ||
| NUTS 3 | UKD31 | ||
| Website: www.manchester.gov.uk | |||
Manchester (pronunciation ; IPA ˈmæntʃɛstə(r)) is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has had city status since 1853, and a population of 452,000.Mid-2006 population estimates for the United Kingdom (XLS). Office for National Statistics (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-29. Manchester lies at the centre of the wider Greater Manchester Urban Area which has a population of 2,240,230,United Kingdom Census 2001 (2001). Key Statistics for urban areas in England and Wales. statistics.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2007-06-29. the United Kingdom\'s third largest conurbation. Manchester has the second largest urban zone in the UK and the fourteenth most populated in Europe.
Forming part of the English Core Cities Group, and often described as the "Capital of the North",Manchester "the north\'s dynamite capital". England\'s North West (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
• About Manchester. The University of Manchester (2003). Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
• Northern Soul Club UK Life Guide. British Council (2003). Retrieved on 2006-10-24. Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and commerce. In a poll of British business leaders published in 2006, Manchester was regarded as the best place in the UK to locate a business.Britain\'s Best Cities 2005–2006 Executive Summary (PDF). OMIS Research (2006). Retrieved on 2007-09-08. A report commissioned by Manchester Partnership, published in 2007, showed Manchester to be the "fastest-growing city" economically.Manchester – The State of the City. Manchester City Council (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. It is the third most visited city in the United Kingdom by foreign visitorsMarketing Manchester (17 September 2007). "International Visitors To Friendly Manchester Up 10%". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. and is now often considered to be the second city of the UK.Manchester \'England\'s second city\'. BBC (2002). Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
• Manchester \'England\'s Second City\'. Ipsos MORI (2002). Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
• Riley, Catherine (2005). Can Birmingham halt its decline?. The Times. Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
• Manchester \'close to second city\'. BBC (2005). Retrieved on 2006-05-02.
• Manchester tops second city poll. BBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-18.
• Birmingham loses out to Manchester in second city face off. BBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-18. Manchester was the host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and among its other sporting connections are its two Premier League football teams, Manchester United and Manchester City.Note: Manchester United\'s ground is in Greater Manchester but outside Manchester city limits; it is in the borough of Trafford
Historically, most of the city was a part of Lancashire, with areas south of the River Mersey being in Cheshire. Manchester was the world\'s first industrialised cityKidd, Alan (2006). \'Manchester: A History\'. Lancaster, Lancashire: Carnegie Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1859361285.
• Frangopulo, Nicholas (1977). Tradition in Action. The historical evolution of the Greater Manchester County. Wakefield: EP Publishing. ISBN 0715812033.
• Manchester United in Celebration of City. European Structural Funding (2002). Retrieved on 2006-12-18. and played a central role during the Industrial Revolution. It was the dominant international centre of textile manufacture and cotton spinning.Manchester Cottonopolis. Spinningtheweb.org.uk – Manchester City Council (2005). Retrieved on 2006-10-24. During the 19th century it acquired the nickname Cottonopolis, suggesting it was a metropolis of cotton mills. Manchester City Centre is now on a tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, mainly due to the network of canals and mills constructed during its 19th-century development.Manchester and Salford (Ancoats, Castlefield and Worsley). UNESCO (1999). Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
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The name Manchester originates from the Ancient Roman name Mamucium, thought to be a Latinisation of an original Celtic name (possibly meaning "breast-like hill" from mamm- = "breast"), plus Anglo-Saxon ceaster = "town", which is derived from Latin castra = "camp".Mills, A.D. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198527586. Manchester is the also the 10th most common place name in the United States.
There are few signs of prehistoric occupation of the city. The only major Bronze Age finds have been to the south, where the remains of an extensive farming community were discovered during the construction of Manchester Airport\'s second runway.Hartwell, Clare (2001). Pevsner Architectural Guides: Manchester. London, England: Penguin Books, 11–17, 155, 256, 267–268. ISBN 0140711317.
A map of Manchester from 1801
Central Manchester has been settled since at least Roman times.Rogers, Nicholas (2003). Halloween: from Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford University Press, 18. ISBN 0195168968. The Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola constructed a fort called Mamucium in the 70s AD on a defensible hill where the River Medlock meets the River Irwell, at the junction of roads to Chester (Deva Victrix), York (Eboracum), Buxton, Ribchester (Bremetennacum), and Melandra. A stabilised fragment of foundations of the final version of the fort is visible in Castlefield. The Romans withdrew in the early fifth century, and by the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066 the focus of settlement had shifted to the confluence of the rivers Irwell and Irk.Kidd, Alan (2006). Manchester: A History. Lancaster, Lancashire: Carnegie Publishing Ltd, 12, 15–24, 224. ISBN 1859361285. Much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent Harrying of the North.Hylton, Stuart (2003). A History of Manchester. Phillimore & Co Ltd, Pg. 1–10, 22, 25, 42, 63–67, 69. ISBN 1860772404. Arrowsmith, Peter (1997). Stockport: a History. Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, Pg. 30. ISBN 0-905164-99-7.
Thomas de la Warre, lord of the manor, founded and constructed a collegiate church for the parish in 1421. The church is now Manchester Cathedral; the domestic premises of the college now house Chetham\'s School of Music and Chetham\'s Library.
Around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of Flemish weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the region\'s textile industry.Pevsner, Nikolaus (1969). Lancashire, The Industrial and Commercial South. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd, Pg. 265. ISBN 0-14-071036-1. Manchester became an important centre for the manufacture and trade of woollens and linen, and by about 1540, had expanded to become, in John Leland\'s words, "The fairest, best builded, quickest, and most populous town of all Lancashire." The cathedral and Chetham\'s buildings are the only significant survivors of Leland\'s Manchester.
During the English Civil War, Manchester strongly favoured the Parliamentary interest. 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.Durston, Christopher (2001). Cromwell\'s major generals : godly government during the English Revolution, Politics, culture, and society in early modern Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-6065-6. Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
Significant quantities of cotton began to be used after about 1600, firstly in linen/cotton fustians, but by around 1750 pure cotton fabrics were being produced and cotton had overtaken wool in importance. The Irwell and Mersey were made navigable by 1736, opening a route from Manchester to the sea docks on the Mersey. The Bridgewater Canal, Britain\'s first wholly artificial waterway, was opened in 1761, bringing coal from mines at Worsley to central Manchester. The canal was extended to the Mersey at Runcorn by 1776. 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, and numerous large warehouses, aided commerce.
In 1780, Richard Arkwright began construction of Manchester\'s first cotton mill.
Manchester (or Cottonopolis as it was sometimes referred) during the early 19th century
Much of Manchester\'s history is concerned with textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. 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,McNeil, R. & Nevell, M (2000). A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Greater Manchester. Association for Industrial Archaeology. ISBN 0-9528930-3-7. and later the world\'s largest marketplace for cotton goods.Hall, Peter (1998). "The first industrial city: Manchester 1760-1830", Cities in Civilization. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-84219-6. Manchester was dubbed "Cottonopolis" and "Warehouse City" during the Victorian era.
Manchester 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. Commerce was supported by financial service industries such as banking and insurance. Trade, and feeding the growing population, required a large transport and distribution infrastructure: the canal system was extended, and Manchester became one end of the world\'s first intercity passenger railway—the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Competition between the various forms of transport kept costs down. In 1878 the GPO (the forerunner of British Telecom) provided its first telephones to a firm in Manchester.Events in Telecommunications History. BT Archives (1878). Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
The Manchester Ship Canal was created by canalisation of the Rivers Irwell and Mersey for 36 miles (58 km) from Salford to the Mersey estuary. This enabled ocean going ships to sail right into the Port of Manchester. On the canal\'s banks, just outside the borough, the world\'s first industrial estate was created at Trafford Park. Large quantities of machinery, including cotton processing plant, were exported around the world.
The Peterloo massacre of 1819
As well as being a centre of capitalism, the city saw its fair share of rebellions by the working and non-titled classes, most famously on St Peter\'s Field on 16 August 1819, known as Peterloo. Manchester was the subject of Friedrich Engels\' The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844; Engels himself spent much of his life in and around Manchester.Marx-Engels Internet Archive – Biography of Engels. Marx/Engels Biography Archive (1893). Retrieved on 2007-07-30. The first Trades Union Congress was held in Manchester (at the Mechanics\' Institute, David Street), from 2 to 6 June 1868. Manchester was also an important cradle of the Labour Party and the Suffragette Movement.Kidd, Alan (2006). "Chapter 9 England Arise! The Politics of Labour and Womens\'s Suffrage", Manchester: A history. Lancaster, Lancashire: Carnegie Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1859361285.
At that time, it seemed a place in which anything could happen—new industrial processes, new ways of thinking (the Manchester School, promoting free trade and laissez-faire), new classes or groups in society, new religious sects, and new forms of labour organisation. It attracted educated visitors from all parts of Britain and Europe. A saying capturing this sense of innovation survives today: "What Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow." (2003) in Speake, Jennifer: The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, 4th Edition, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198605242. Retrieved on 2007-07-06. “What Manchester says today, the rest of England says tomorrow”
• Our vision to make Manchester the creative capital of Europe. Conservative Party (UK) (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
• Manchester Life. Manchester Metropolitan University (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-06. Manchester\'s golden age was perhaps the last quarter of the 19th century. Many of the great public buildings (including the Town Hall) date from then. The city\'s cosmopolitan atmosphere contributed to a vibrant culture, which included the Hallé Orchestra. In 1889, when county councils were created in England, the municipal borough became a county borough with even greater autonomy.
The number of cotton mills in Manchester itself reached a peak of 108 in 1853. In 1913, 65% of the world\'s cotton was processed in the area, but the First World War interrupted access to the export markets. Cotton processing in other parts of the world increased, often on machines produced in Manchester. Manchester suffered greatly from the inter-war depression and the underlying structural changes that began to supplant the old industries, including textile manufacture.
Like most of the UK, the Manchester area mobilised extensively during World War II. For example, casting and machining expertise at Beyer, Peacock and Company\'s locomotive works in Gorton was switched to bomb making; Dunlop\'s rubber works in Chorlton-on-Medlock made barrage balloons; and just outside the city in Trafford Park, engineers Metropolitan-Vickers made Avro Manchester and Avro Lancaster bombers and Ford built the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines to power them. Manchester was thus the target of bombing by the Luftwaffe, and by late 1940 air raids were taking place against non-military targets. The biggest took place during the "Christmas Blitz" on the nights of 22/23 and 23/24 December 1940, when an estimated 467 tons (475 tonnes) of high explosives plus over 37,000 incendiary bombs were dropped. A large part of the historic city centre was destroyed, including 165 warehouses, 200 business premises, and 150 offices. 376 were killed and 30,000 houses were damaged.Hardy, Clive (2005). "The blitz", Manchester at War, (2nd edition), First Edition, pg. 75–99. ISBN 1-84547-096-6. Manchester Cathedral was among the buildings seriously damaged; its restoration took 20 years.Manchester Cathedral – Historical Timeline. Manchester Cathedral Online (2004). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
Cotton processing and trading continued to fall in peacetime, and the exchange closed in 1968. By 1963 the port of Manchester was the UK\'s third largest,Parkinson-Bailey, John J (2000). Manchester: an Architectural History. Manchester: Manchester University Press, Pg. 127. ISBN 0719056063.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1969). Lancashire, The Industrial and Commercial South. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd, Pg. 267. ISBN 0140710361. and employed over 3,000 men, but the canal was unable to handle the increasingly large container ships. Traffic declined, and the port closed in 1982.Manchester Ship Canal and The Docks. Salford City Council (2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-06. Heavy industry suffered a downturn from the 1960s and was greatly reduced during the economic reforms associated with Margaret Thatcher\'s government (i.e. 1979 onwards). Manchester lost 150,000 jobs in manufacturing between 1961 and 1983.
Regeneration began in the late 1980s, with initiatives such as the Metrolink, the Bridgewater Concert Hall, the Manchester Evening News Arena, and (in Salford) the rebranding of the port as Salford Quays. Two bids to host the Olympic Games were part of a process to raise the international profile of the city.
Manchester has a history of attacks attributed to Irish Republicans, including the Manchester Martyrs of 1867, arson in 1920, a series of explosions in 1939, and two bombs in 1992. On Saturday 15 June 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a large bomb next to a department store in the city centre. The largest to be detonated on British soil, the bomb injured over 200 people, heavily damaged nearby buildings, and broke windows half a mile away. The cost of the immediate damage was initially estimated at £50 million, but this was quickly revised upwards. (2003) A History of Manchester. Phillimore & Co Ltd, pg. 227–230. ISBN 1860772404. The final insurance payout was over £400 million; many affected businesses never recovered from the loss of trade.Panorama – The cost of terrorism. BBC (2004). Retrieved on 2007-07-09.
Exchange Square during a BBC Big Screen showing of a FIFA world cup football game.
Spurred by the investment after the 1996 bomb, and aided by the XVII Commonwealth Games, Manchester\'s city centre has undergone extensive regeneration.Hartwell, Clare (2001). Pevsner Architectural Guides: Manchester. London, England: Penguin Books. ISBN 0140711317.
• Parkinson-Bailey, John J (2000). Manchester: an Architectural History. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719056063.
• Hartwell, Clare; Matthew Hyde, Nikolaus Pevsner (2004). Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East. New Haven, CT & London, England: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300105835. New and renovated complexes such as The Printworks and the Triangle have become popular shopping and entertainment destinations. The Manchester Arndale is the UK\'s largest city centre shopping mall.Manchester Arndale – UK\'s largest in-town shopping centre. Prudential plc (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
Large sections of the city dating from the 1960s have been either demolished and re-developed or modernised with the use of glass and steel. Old mills have been converted into modern apartments, Hulme has undergone extensive regeneration programmes, and million-pound lofthouse apartments have since been developed. The 169-metre tall, 47-storey Beetham Tower, completed in 2006, is the tallest building in the UK outside London and the highest residential accommodation in western Europe. The lower 23 floors form the Hilton Hotel, featuring a "sky bar" on the 23rd floor. Its upper 24 floors are apartments.City building reaches full height. BBC (2006). Retrieved on 2006-05-02. In January 2007, the independent Casino Advisory Panel awarded Manchester a licence to build the only supercasino in the UK to regenerate the Eastlands area of the city,Casino Advisory Panel Recommendations. Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
• Greenwich loses Casino Bet. BBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. but in March the House of Lords rejected the decision by three votes rendering previous House of Commons acceptance meaningless. This left the supercasino, and 14 other smaller concessions, in parliamentary limbo until a final decision was made.Lords scupper super-casino plan. BBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. On 11 July 2007, a source close to the government declared the entire supercasino project "dead in the water".Britain cools on supercasino plan. Reuters (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. A member of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce professed himself "amazed and a bit shocked" and that "there has been an awful lot of time and money wasted".Anger at super-casino plan review. BBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. After a meeting with the Prime Minister, Manchester City Council issued a press release on 24 July 2007 stating that "contrary to some reports the door is not closed to a regional casino".Manchester reaffirms casino commitment. Manchester City Council (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. The supercasino was officially declared dead in February 2008 with a compensation package described by the media as "rehashed plans, spin and empty promises."David Ottewell (26-02-08). Empty promises and spin. Manchester Evening News. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
Manchester has recently been regarded by the international press,Manchester second city. LA Times (2007). Retrieved on 2007-07-19. British public,Manchester poll \'England\'s second city\'. Ipsos MORI North (2002). Retrieved on 2007-02-09. and government ministers"Prescott ranks Manchester as second city", Manchester Evening News, M.E.N media, 3 February2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-20. "We have had fantastic co-operation here in Manchester—our second city, I am prepared to concede." as being the second city of the United Kingdom. A 2007 poll by the BBC placed it ahead of Birmingham and Liverpool in the category of second city of England, but also ahead in the category of third city. Neither categories are officially sanctioned, and criteria for determining what \'second city\' means are ill-defined. Manchester is not the second largest city in size or population, but it is argued that cultural and historical criteria are more important.Manchester pushing Birmingham for second city place. BBC (2005). Retrieved on 2007-09-06. The BBC reports that redevelopment of recent years has heightened claims that Manchester is the second city of the UK.Manchester \'England\'s second city\'. BBC (2002). Retrieved on 2006-05-02.
•Manchester \'close to second city\'. BBC (2005). Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
•Manchester tops second city poll. BBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
•Birmingham loses out to Manchester in second city face off. BBC (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11. This title however, which is unofficial in the UK, has traditionally been held by Birmingham since the early 20th century.Second coming. The Guardian (2003). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
Manchester Town Hall, used for the local governance of Manchester, is an example of Victorian era Gothic revival architecture.
Manchester is represented by three tiers of government, Manchester City Council ("local"), UK Parliament ("national"), and European Parliament ("Europe"). Greater Manchester County Council administration was abolished in 1986, and so the city council is effectively a unitary authority. Since its inception in 1995, Manchester has been a member of the English Core Cities Group,About the Core Cities Group. English Core Cities Group (2004). Retrieved on 2007-07-09. which, amongst other things, serves to promote the social, cultural and economic status of the city at an international level.
The town of Manchester was granted a charter by Thomas Grelley in 1301 but lost its borough status in a court case of 1359. Until the 19th century, local government was largely provided by manorial courts, the last of which ended in 1846.A select gazetteer of local government areas, Greater Manchester County. Greater Manchester County Records Office (2003-07-31). Retrieved on 2007-07-09. From a very early time, the township of Manchester lay within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire. Pevsner wrote "That [neighbouring] Stretford and Salford are not administratively one with Manchester is one of the most curious anomalies of England". A stroke of a Norman baron\'s pen is said to have divorced Manchester and Salford, though it was not Salford that became separated from Manchester, it was Manchester, with its humbler line of lords, that was separated from Salford.Frangopulo, Nicholas (1977). Tradition in Action. The historical evolution of the Greater Manchester County. Wakefield: EP Publishing. ISBN 0715812033. It was this separation that resulted in Salford becoming the judicial seat of Salfordshire, which included the ancient parish of Manchester. Manchester later formed its own Poor Law Union by the name of Manchester. In 1792, commissioners—usually known as police commissioners—were established for the social improvement of Manchester. In 1838, Manchester regained its borough status, and comprised the townships of Beswick, Cheetham Hill, Chorlton upon Medlock and Hulme. By 1846 the borough council had taken over the powers of the police commissioners. In 1853 Manchester was granted city status in the United Kingdom.
In 1885, Bradford, Harpurhey, Rusholme and parts of Moss Side and Withington townships became part of the City of Manchester. In 1889, the city became the county borough of Manchester, separate from the administrative county of Lancashire, and thus not governed by Lancashire County Council. Between 1890 and 1933, more areas were added to the city from Lancashire, including former villages such as Burnage, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury, Fallowfield, Levenshulme, Longsight, and Withington. In 1931 the Cheshire civil parishes of Baguley, Northenden and Northern Etchells from the south of the River Mersey were added. In 1974, by way of the Local Government Act 1972, the City of Manchester became a metropolitan district of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. That year, Ringway, the town where Manchester Airport is located, was added to the city.
| Climate chart for Manchester | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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69 6 1 |
50 7 1 |
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51 12 4 |
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65 20 12 |
79 20 12 |
74 17 10 |
77 14 8 |
78 9 4 |
78 7 2 |
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| temperatures in °C • precipitation totals in mm source: Climate-Charts.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Imperial conversion
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At (53.466, -2.233), 160 miles (257 km) northwest of London, Manchester lies in a bowl-shaped land area bordered to the north and east by the Pennine hills, a mountain chain that runs the length of Northern England and to the south by the Cheshire Plain. The city centre is on the east bank of the River Irwell, near its confluences with the Rivers Medlock and Irk, and is relatively low-lying, being between 115 to 138 feet (35 and 42 m) above sea level.Kidd, Alan (2006). Manchester: A History. Lancaster, Lancashire: Carnegie Publishing Ltd, Pg.11. ISBN 1859361285. The River Mersey flows through the south of Manchester. Much of the inner city, especially in the south, is flat, offering extensive views from many highrise buildings in the city of the foothills and moors of the Pennines, which can often be capped with snow in the winter months. Manchester\'s geographic features were highly influential in its early development as the world\'s first industrial city. These features are its climate, its proximity to a seaport at Liverpool, the availability of water power from its rivers, and its nearby coal reserves.The Manchester Coalfields (PDF). Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester (2001). Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
The City of Manchester, the land use is overwhelmingly urban
The name Manchester, though officially applied only to the metropolitan district of Greater Manchester, has been applied to other, wider divisions of land, particularly across much of the Greater Manchester county and urban area. The "Manchester City Zone", "Manchester post town" and the "Manchester Congestion Charge" are all examples of this. The economic geography of the Manchester City Region is used to define housing markets, business linkages, travel to work patterns, administrative areas etc.Manchester - Accelerating the growth of the North. The Northern Way (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-19. As defined by The Northern Way economic development agency the City Region territory encompasses most of the natural economy’s Travel to Work Area and includes the cities of Manchester and Salford, plus the adjoining metropolitan boroughs of Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Bolton, Bury,
