Greater Manchester
Formed in 1974 from parts of Lancashire and Cheshire but, as the name
obviously suggests, based around the city of Manchester.
Apart from Manchester the area covers the old Lancashire towns of Oldham,
Bolton, Wigan, Rochdale, the city of Salford and the former Cheshire town of
Stockport.
Greater Manchester covers 500 square miles and has a population of
2,580,000.
In recent years the city has become synonymous with the football clubs of
Manchester City and Manchester United.
The origins of the area owe a lot to the opening of the Bridgewater canal in
the 1800's which brought the regional industries of coal and in particular
cotton a ready outlet to markets up and down the country and, with the
opening of the Manchester Ship Canal to markets worldwide.
Famous sons and daughters from the region include the singer Gracie Fields
(from Rochdale), Emmeline Pankhurst (the leader of the Suffragette movement
in the early part of the 20th Century) and Anthony Burgess (less
glamourously a member of a Soviet spy ring in the 1950's and 60's).
In common with it's traditions the area is highly industrialised although
the times 'when cotton was King' are now long gone.
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