Despite its overwhelming Victorian character, Manchester has been settled since Roman times when Governor Agricola set up a camp on the banks of the River Irwell, on the road between Chester and York. After the Roman withdrawal Manchester's importance waned and little is known about it until the later Middle Ages when Edward III introduced Flemish weavers, who were fleeing religious persecution in the Low Countries. The town's textile industry grew up around the cathedral, or collegiate church as it was then, and flourished thanks to the damp climate that ensured fibres did not snap as they were spun. Very little of pre-industrial Manchester still exists but there are a few examples such as the Cathedral and the Wellington Inn in the Shambles.
Manchester continued as a busy but unimportant market town until the Industrial Revolution, when it became the main trading centre for Lancashire cotton and was catapulted to the status of one of the country's most important cities. Thousands of people were drawn to the city seeking work and the resultant population explosion created the most appalling working conditions and slums. On August 16th 1819 nearly 80,000 people gathered near St Peter's Square to demand social and political reform; mounted guards with sabres attacked the crowds and 11 people were killed and hundreds were injured, the episode was dubbed Peterloo.
Manchester was among the first cities to address the negatives of industrialised living when it introduced smokeless zones and slum clearance initiatives. The fact that The Guardian, Britain's main national left-of-centre broadsheet, started life as The Manchester Guardian is indicative of the city's attitude. However it is a struggle that goes on to this day and Manchester has some of the most deprived boroughs in the country - rows of streets in Salford have been boarded up and Moss Side is a notorious dark spot run by gangs with patches even the police won't enter. In the late 1980's and early 1990's it had been dubbed Gunchester by the popular press after a number of drug related shootings in the area and around the infamous Hacienda nightclub.
It was in the late 1980's though that Manchester, was born, from the Acid House and early Rave and warehouse party scene. The city had successfully shaken off the image of a grim industrial city and was giving London a run for its money as the epicentre of youth culture. Whatever you think of the music, it is hard to name another city that has produced bands as significant as the Smiths, Joy Division/ New Order, the Happy Mondays, the Stone Roses and (grudgingly) Oasis as well as the record labels Creation and Factory Records.
Another force for change was thrust upon the city when the IRA detonated their largest ever bomb on the mainland in 1996. Miraculously no one was killed but the hub of the city was gutted, prompting another spate of rebuilding. Manchester took great delight in finally laying to rest the stereotype about rain-drenched pigeon-fanciers when it hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2002.
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