Guide to Manchester, Britain

Manchester is perfect proof that there is life in England outside London. More than that, Manchester was responsible for the Industrial Revolution, the trend that defined the world's development well into the 20th Century, the time when the world truly "took off," as one television series once put it. But when the industry in developed countries ceased being the primary driving force behind the economy, Manchester did not falter.

Manchester originated as a Roman town as early as the 1st Century AD. At that time, it was called Mancunium, located on the famous Roman tract Watling St, leading from London to the northern part of Great Britain. In the Middle Ages, long before it became an inspiration for Dickens, Manchester was an important trading post, as the Flemish wool and linen traders had settled there during the 14th Century, giving the city an early industrial air that would explode centuries later. The city was entirely ready for the big bang of industrial development in the 18th Century, when its favorable location, large coal deposits and most of all, the genius of an inventor named Richard Arkwright, who came up with the steam-powered spinning frame, all combined to produce an unprecedented outburst of development. Arkwright's invention was one of those few singular outbursts of creativity that quite literally changed the world.

Not that it all came without trouble and unrest. The city's population increased more than twenty-fold in just eighty years, the majority of newcomers finding jobs at factories in appalling conditions. This in turn created the workers' movement, eventuating in the mid-19th Century's Chartist movement. It seems that Manchester also had its share in the birth of Marxism, as young Friedrich Engels visited the city and incorporated his Manchester experiences into the Communist Manifesto he co-authored with Karl Marx.

The legacy of this period can still be seen in some districts. Rows of terraced houses are the quintessential look of old industrial England. What was certainly appealing then has now acquired a certain antiquated charm, although the people living there may not share that perspective.