Manchester history

Manchester is a lively, bustling city that is defined by its place in history as the hub of Britain's cotton industry during the Industrial Revolution. It is this period that forms the basis of many of its great attractions, exhibitions and museums such as the new People's History Museum.

Though there has been a settlement in Manchester since Roman times, records show a cotton industry taking shape from 1600. Mechanisation helped it boom and Manchester become one of the world's great industrial cities. The city's achievements were so great that in 1844 England's former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli declared Manchester to be 'as great a human exploit as Athens'.

Fast forward to the 20th century - and Manchester endured mixed fortunes. Boom was followed by bust during the 1960s and 1970s. But depression did have one silver lining: the Smiths, whose gloomy tunes encapsulated the late 1980s like no other. Then, in the 1990s Manchester became Madchester, birthplace of bands like the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays.

Economic recovery began, but Manchester suffered a terrible setback when the IRA detonated its devastating bomb that ripped through the heart of the city centre in 1996. Following this devastation, a wave of urban regeneration projects started, sowing the seeds for Manchester's contemporary landscape today.