Manchester

==History==
{{Main|History of Manchester}}
{{see also|Timeline of Manchester history}}

===Early history===
{{main|Mamucium}}
The [[Brigantes]] were the major [[Celtic tribes in Britain and Ireland|Celtic tribe]] in what is now known as [[Northern England]]; they had a stronghold in the locality at a sandstone outcrop on which [[Manchester Cathedral]] now stands, opposite the bank of the [[River Irwell]].<ref name="Cooper">{{cite book |first=Glynis |last=Cooper |title=Salford: An Illustrated History |publisher=The Breedon Books Publishing Company |year=2005 |isbn=1-85983-455-8|page=19}}</ref> Their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]] and [[Stretford]]. Following the [[Roman conquest of Britain]] in the 1st century, [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola|General Agricola]] ordered the construction of a [[Castra|fort]] named [[Mamucium]] in the year 79 to ensure that Roman interests in [[Deva Victrix]] ([[Chester]]) and [[Eboracum]] ([[York]]) were protected from the Brigantes.<ref name="Cooper"/> Central Manchester has been permanently settled since this time.<ref name="Roman">{{cite book| title=Halloween: from Pagan Ritual to Party Night| url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195168969.do#.UmOl33CVPp8| last=Rogers| first=Nicholas| year=2003| page=18| publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]| isbn=0-19-516896-8| access-date=7 November 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021000106/http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780195168969.do#.UmOl33CVPp8| archive-date=21 October 2013| url-status=live}}</ref> A stabilised fragment of foundations of the final version of the Roman fort is visible in [[Castlefield]]. The Roman habitation of Manchester probably ended around the 3rd century; its [[Vicus (Rome)|civilian settlement]] appears to have been abandoned by the mid-3rd century, although the fort may have supported a small garrison until the late 3rd or early 4th century.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Gregory |editor-first=Richard |title=Roman Manchester: The University of Manchester's Excavations within the Vicus 2001–5 |page=190 |publisher=Oxbow Books |year=2007 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84217-271-1}}</ref> After the [[Roman withdrawal from Britain|Roman withdrawal]] and [[Saxon invasions of Britain|Saxon conquest]], the focus of settlement shifted to the confluence of the Irwell and [[River Irk|Irk]] sometime before the [[Norman Conquest|arrival of the Normans]] after 1066.<ref name="Kidd">{{cite book|title=Manchester: A History| last=Kidd|first=Alan|year=2006|pages= 12, 15–24, 224|publisher=Carnegie Publishing|location=Lancaster|isbn=1-85936-128-5}}</ref> Much of the wider area was laid waste in the subsequent [[Harrying of the North]].<ref name="Hylton">{{cite book|title=A History of Manchester|last=Hylton|first=Stuart|year=2003|pages=1–10, 22, 25, 42, 63–67, 69|publisher=Phillimore & Co|isbn=1-86077-240-4}}</ref><ref name="Arrowsmith">{{cite book|title=Stockport: a History|last=Arrowsmith|first=Peter|year=1997|page=30|publisher=Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council|isbn=0-905164-99-7}}</ref>
[[File:McConnel & Company mills, about 1820.jpg|thumb|left|[[Cotton mill]]s in [[Ancoats]], {{Circa|1820}}]]
[[File:Peterloo Massacre.png|thumb|left|The [[Peterloo Massacre]] of 1819 resulted in 15 deaths and several hundred injured.]]
In the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086, Manchester is recorded as within the [[hundred of Salford]] and held as [[tenant in chief]] by a Norman named [[Roger of Poitou]],<ref name="doomsday">{{cite web |last1=Powell-Smith |first1=Anna |title=Open Doomsday |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/SJ8398/manchester/ |website=Open Doomsday |access-date=23 January 2020}}</ref> later being held by the family of Grelley, [[lord of the manor]] and residents of [[Manchester Castle]] until 1215 before a Manor House was built.<ref name="gatehouse">{{cite web |title=Manchester Castle |url=http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/1907.html |publisher=The Gatehouse – the comprehensive gazetteer of the medieval fortifications and castles of England and Wales |access-date=18 March 2008}}</ref> By 1421 Thomas de la Warre founded and constructed a [[collegiate church]] for the [[Manchester (ancient parish)|parish]], now [[Manchester Cathedral]]; the domestic premises of the college house [[Chetham's School of Music]] and [[Chetham's Library]].<ref name="Kidd"/><ref name="Hartwell">{{cite book|title=Pevsner Architectural Guides: Manchester|last=Hartwell|first=Clare|year=2001|pages= 11–17, 155, 256, 267–268|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=0-14-071131-7}}</ref> The library, which opened in 1653 and is still open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom.<ref name="Nicholls2004P20">{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Nicholls |title=Curiosities of Greater Manchester |publisher=Sutton Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=0-7509-3661-4}}</ref>

Manchester is mentioned as having a [[Market town|market]] in 1282.<ref>{{Cite book | title = Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 | url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40422&strquery=lancashire | last = Letters | first = Samantha | year = 2005 | page = 19 | publisher = British History Online | access-date = 5 May 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120314084039/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40422&strquery=lancashire | archive-date = 14 March 2012 | url-status = live }}</ref> Around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx of [[Flemish people|Flemish]] weavers, sometimes credited as the foundation of the region's textile industry.<ref name="Flemish">{{cite book | title=Lancashire, The Industrial and Commercial South| last=Pevsner| first=Nikolaus| year=1969| page=265| publisher=Penguin Books| location=London| isbn=0-14-071036-1}}</ref> Manchester became an important centre for the manufacture and trade of [[wool]]lens and [[linen]], and by about 1540, had expanded to become, in [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]]'s words, "The fairest, best builded, quickest, and most populous town of all Lancashire".<ref name="Kidd"/> The cathedral and Chetham's buildings are the only significant survivors of Leland's Manchester.<ref name="Hylton"/>

During the [[English Civil War]] Manchester strongly favoured the Parliamentary interest. Although not long-lasting, [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]] granted it the right to elect its own [[Members of Parliament|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.<ref>{{cite book | title= Cromwell's major generals: godly government during the English Revolution | series= Politics, culture, and society in early modern Britain | author=Durston, Christopher | year= 2001 | publisher=Manchester University Press | location= Manchester | isbn= 0-7190-6065-6 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Hw622QZHTcYC&q=%22charles+worsley%22&pg=PA86 | access-date=5 May 2009}}</ref>

Significant quantities of cotton began to be used after about 1600, firstly in linen/cotton [[fustian]]s, but by around 1750 pure cotton fabrics were being produced and cotton had overtaken wool in importance.<ref name="Kidd"/> 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.<ref name="Kidd"/><ref name="Hartwell"/> Manchester became the dominant marketplace for textiles produced in the surrounding towns.<ref name="Kidd"/> A [[commodities exchange]], opened in 1729,<ref name="Hylton"/> and numerous large warehouses, aided commerce. In 1780, [[Richard Arkwright]] began construction of Manchester's first cotton mill.<ref name="Hylton"/><ref name="Hartwell"/> In the early 1800s, [[John Dalton]] formulated his atomic theory in Manchester.

===Industrial Revolution===
Manchester was one of the centres of [[textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution]]. The great majority of [[Spinning (textiles)|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.<ref name="GMArch">{{cite book|author=McNeil, Robina|author2=Michael Nevell|title=A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Greater Manchester|publisher=Association for Industrial Archaeology|year=2000|isbn=0-9528930-3-7}}</ref>

Manchester became known as the world's largest marketplace for cotton goods<ref name="Kidd"/><ref name="Hall">{{cite book | last = Hall | first = Peter | title = Cities in Civilisation | publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson | location = London | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-297-84219-6 | chapter = The first industrial city: Manchester 1760–1830 | url = https://archive.org/details/citiesinciviliza00hall }}</ref> and was dubbed "[[Cottonopolis]]" and "Warehouse City" during the [[Victorian era]].<ref name="GMArch"/> In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term "manchester" is still used for household linen: sheets, pillow cases, towels, etc.<ref name="OED">{{cite encyclopedia | title=Manchester | encyclopaedia=Oxford English Dictionary | date=March 2016 | url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/manchester | access-date=17 December 2016 | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220181739/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/manchester | archive-date=20 December 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The industrial revolution brought about huge change in Manchester and was key to the increase in Manchester's population.

Manchester began expanding "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century as people flocked to the city for work from Scotland, Wales, Ireland and other areas of England as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation brought on by the [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.timelines.tv/index.php?t=0&e=12# | title = Timelines.tv Urban Slums | publisher = Timelines.tv | access-date = 2 February 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120218092606/http://www.timelines.tv/index.php?t=0&e=12 | archive-date = 18 February 2012 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2007/10/03/031007_migrant_history_manchester_feature.shtml|title=Manchester: migrant city|last=Schofield|first=Jonathan|work=BBC Manchester:New Kids From The Bloc|publisher=BBC|access-date=6 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925071426/http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2007/10/03/031007_migrant_history_manchester_feature.shtml|archive-date=25 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book|title=The Cotton Industry|last=Aspin|first=Chris|publisher=Shire Publications|location=Aylesbury|year=1981|isbn=0-85263-545-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/cottonindustry0000aspi/page/3 3]|url=https://archive.org/details/cottonindustry0000aspi/page/3}}</ref> It developed a wide range of industries, so that by 1835 "Manchester was without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world".<ref name=Hall/> 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.{{multiple image
| align             = right
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| image1            = View from Kersal Moor, Salford - 1820.jpg
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| caption1          = ''View from Kersal Moor'' towards Manchester by [[Sebastian Pether]], {{Circa|1820}}, then still a rural landscape. Note the [[River Irwell]] in both paintings.
<!-- Image 2 -->| image2            = Wyld, William - Manchester from Kersal Moor, with rustic figures and goats - Google Art Project.jpg
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| caption2          = ''Manchester from [[Kersal Moor]]'', by [[William Wyld]] in 1857, a view now dominated by chimney stacks as a consequence of the [[Industrial Revolution]]
}}

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.<ref name="Kidd"/> In 1878 the [[General Post Office|GPO]] (the forerunner of [[BT Group|British Telecom]]) provided its first telephones to a firm in Manchester.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.btplc.com/thegroup/btshistory/1605to1880/1878.htm|title=Events in Telecommunications History|access-date=13 March 2015|publisher=BT Archives|year=1878|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402173107/http://www.btplc.com/thegroup/btshistory/1605to1880/1878.htm|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Manchester Ship Canal]] was built between 1888 and 1894, in some sections by canalisation of the Rivers Irwell and Mersey, running {{convert|36|mi|km|0}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.peelports.com/ports/manchester-ship-canal |title=Manchester Ship Canal |publisher=Peel Ports |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520060954/https://www.peelports.com/ports/manchester-ship-canal |archive-date=20 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> from [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]] to Eastham Locks on the tidal Mersey. This enabled oceangoing 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]].<ref name="Kidd"/><!--1993, p103 --> Large quantities of machinery, including cotton processing plant, were exported around the world.

A centre of capitalism, Manchester was once the scene of bread and labour riots, as well as calls for greater political recognition by the city's working and non-titled classes. One such gathering ended with the [[Peterloo massacre]] of 16 August 1819. The economic school of [[Manchester Liberalism|Manchester Capitalism]] developed there, and Manchester was the centre of the [[Anti-Corn Law League]] from 1838 onward.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spall |first1=Richard Francis |title=Free Trade, Foreign Relations, and the Anti-Corn-Law League |journal=The International History Review |date=1988 |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=405–432 |doi=10.1080/07075332.1988.9640484 |jstor=40105891 |issn=0707-5332}}</ref>

Manchester has a notable place in the history of [[Marxism]] and left-wing politics; being the subject of [[Friedrich Engels]]' work ''[[The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844]]''; Engels spent much of his life in and around Manchester,<ref name="Engles">{{cite web|website=marxists.org|url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/engels/en-1893.htm|title=Marx-Engels Internet Archive – Biography of Engels|access-date=5 May 2009|publisher=Marx/Engels Biography Archive|year=1893|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430052112/http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/engels/en-1893.htm|archive-date=30 April 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> and when [[Karl Marx]] visited Manchester, they met at Chetham's Library. The economics books Marx was reading at the time can be seen in the library, as can the window seat where Marx and Engels would meet.<ref name="Nicholls2004P20"/> The first [[Trades Union Congress]] was held in Manchester (at the Mechanics' Institute, David Street), from 2 to 6 June 1868. Manchester was an important cradle of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] and the [[Suffragette]] Movement.<ref>{{cite book|title=Manchester: A history|last=Kidd|first=Alan|year=2006|chapter=Chapter 9 England Arise! The Politics of Labour and Women's Suffrage|publisher=Carnegie Publishing|location=Lancaster|isbn=1-85936-128-5}}</ref>

At that time, it seemed a place in which anything could happen—new industrial processes, new ways of thinking (the [[Manchester capitalism|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."<ref name="manchester innovation">{{cite book|editor=Speake, Jennifer |editor-link=Jennifer Speake |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00_0 |access-date=6 July 2007 |year=2003 |edition=4th |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-860524-2 |quote=What Manchester says today, the rest of England says tomorrow }}<br />•{{cite web |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090628122546/http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2007/03/Osborne_Our_vision_to_make_Manchester_the_creative_capital_of_Europe.aspx |archive-date=28 June 2009 |url=http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2007/03/Osborne_Our_vision_to_make_Manchester_the_creative_capital_of_Europe.aspx |title = Osborne: Our vision to make Manchester the creative capital of Europe |access-date =4 May 2009 |last = Osborne |first = George |author-link = George Osborne |date = 7 March 2007 |work=Conservative Party Website |publisher=Conservative Party |quote = The saying goes that what Manchester does today the rest of the world does tomorrow.}}<br />•{{cite web|url=http://www.mmu.ac.uk/studyatmmu/manchesterlife/|title=Manchester Life|access-date=5 May 2009|publisher=[[Manchester Metropolitan University]]|year=2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080411200443/http://www.mmu.ac.uk/studyatmmu/manchesterlife/|archive-date=11 April 2008| quote= What Manchester does today, the world does tomorrow}}</ref> Manchester's golden age was perhaps the last quarter of the 19th century. Many of the great public buildings (including [[Manchester 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.<ref name="GM Gazetteer">{{cite web |url=http://www.gmcro.co.uk/Guides/Gazeteer/gazzm2n.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211203737/http://www.gmcro.co.uk/Guides/Gazeteer/gazzm2n.htm |archive-date=11 February 2011 |title=Greater Manchester Gazetteer |publisher=Greater Manchester County Record Office |access-date=9 July 2007 |at=Places names – M to N}}</ref>

[[File:Oxford Road, Manchester 1910, Valette.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|An oil painting of [[Oxford Road, Manchester|Oxford Road]], Manchester, in 1910, by [[Pierre Adolphe Valette|Valette]]]]

Although the Industrial Revolution brought wealth to the city, it also brought poverty and squalor to a large part of the population. Historian [[Simon Schama]] noted that "Manchester was the very best and the very worst taken to terrifying extremes, a new kind of city in the world; the chimneys of industrial suburbs greeting you with columns of smoke". An American visitor taken to Manchester's blackspots saw "wretched, defrauded, oppressed, crushed human nature, lying and bleeding fragments".<ref>{{cite episode |title=Victoria and Her Sisters |series= A History of Britain |series-link= A History of Britain (TV series) |credits= [[Simon Schama]] (presenter) |network= [[BBC One]] |airdate= 4 June 2002 |number=13}}</ref>

The number of [[cotton mill]]s in Manchester itself reached a peak of 108 in 1853.<ref name="GMArch"/> Thereafter the number began to decline and Manchester was surpassed as the largest centre of cotton spinning by [[Bolton]] in the 1850s and [[Oldham]] in the 1860s.<ref name="GMArch"/> However, this period of decline coincided with the rise of the city as the financial centre of the region.<ref name="GMArch"/> Manchester continued to process cotton, and in 1913, 65% of the world's cotton was processed in the area.<ref name="Kidd"/> 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 [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|Great Depression]] and the underlying structural changes that began to supplant the old industries, including textile manufacture.

===Blitz===
{{main|Manchester Blitz}}
Like most of the UK, the Manchester area was mobilised extensively during the [[Second World War]]. For example, casting and machining expertise at [[Beyer, Peacock & Company]]'s locomotive works in [[Gorton]] was switched to bomb making; [[Dunlop Rubber|Dunlop's]] rubber works in [[Chorlton-on-Medlock]] made [[barrage balloon]]s; and just outside the city in [[Trafford Park]], engineers [[Metropolitan-Vickers]] made [[Avro Manchester]] and [[Avro Lancaster]] bombers and [[Ford of Britain|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 [[Manchester Blitz|Christmas Blitz]] on the nights of 22/23 and 24 December 1940, when an estimated {{convert|467|long ton|t|order=flip}} 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.<ref>{{cite book | last= Hardy | first= Clive | title= Manchester at War | edition= 2nd | year= 2005 | location= Altrincham| isbn= 1-84547-096-6 | pages=75–99 | chapter= The blitz | publisher=First Edition Limited }}</ref> [[Manchester Cathedral]], [[Royal Exchange, Manchester|Royal Exchange]] and [[Free Trade Hall]] were among the buildings seriously damaged; restoration of the cathedral took 20 years.<ref name="WWII">{{cite web | website=Manchester Cathedral| url= http://www.manchestercathedral.org/history/timeline | title= Timeline | access-date= 5 May 2009 | publisher= Manchester Cathedral Online | year= 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160416153101/http://www.manchestercathedral.org/history/timeline | archive-date= 16 April 2016 | url-status= dead }}</ref> In total, 589 civilians were recorded to have died as result of enemy action within the Manchester County Borough.<ref>{{cite web|last=CWGC|title=Civilian War Dead, Manchester County Borough|url=https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/4004227/manchester-county-borough/|website=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]|access-date=2023-09-15}}</ref>

===Post-Second World War===
Cotton processing and trading continued to decline in peacetime, and the exchange closed in 1968.<ref name="Kidd"/> By 1963 the port of Manchester was the UK's third largest,<ref name="UK's 3rd largest">{{cite book |title=Manchester: an Architectural History |last=Parkinson-Bailey |first=John J |year=2000 |page=127 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |isbn=0-7190-5606-3}}<br />• {{cite book |title=Lancashire, The Industrial and Commercial South |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |year=1969 |page=267 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-14-071036-1}}</ref> and employed over 3,000 men, but the canal was unable to handle the increasingly large [[Containerization|container]] ships. Traffic declined, and the port closed in 1982.<ref name="ship close">{{cite web|url=http://www.salford.gov.uk/milestones_v2.pdf |title=Salford Quays milestones: the story of Salford Quays |access-date=5 May 2009 |publisher=Salford City Council |year=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327122642/http://www.salford.gov.uk/milestones_v2.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2009}}</ref> Heavy industry suffered a downturn from the 1960s and was greatly reduced under the economic policies followed by [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s government after 1979. Manchester lost 150,000 jobs in manufacturing between 1961 and 1983.<ref name="Kidd"/>

[[File:BBC picture Arndale centre after 1996 bomb.jpg|thumb|left|[[Corporation Street, Manchester|Corporation Street]] after the [[1996 Manchester bombing|Manchester bombing on 15 June 1996]]. There were no fatalities, but it was one of the most expensive man-made disasters.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kim |last=Sengupata |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/pounds-411m-cost-after-manchester-bomb-sets-record-pounds-411m-1275416.html |title=£411m cost after Manchester bomb sets record |work=[[The Independent]] |date=28 March 1997 |access-date=3 October 2009 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522031850/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pounds-411m-cost-after-manchester-bomb-sets-record-pounds-411m-1275416.html |archive-date=22 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> A large rebuilding project of Manchester ensued.]]

Regeneration began in the late 1980s, with initiatives such as the [[Manchester Metrolink|Metrolink]], the [[Bridgewater Hall|Bridgewater Concert Hall]], the [[Manchester 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.<ref name="Regeneration"/>
[[File:Oxfordrd.jpg|thumb|[[Wilmslow Road|Oxford Road]], one of the main thoroughfares into [[Manchester city centre]]]]
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) carried out the [[1996 Manchester bombing]], the detonation of 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 {{convert|1/2|mi|m}} away. The cost of the immediate damage was initially estimated at £50&nbsp;million, but this was quickly revised upwards.<ref name="1996 IRA costs">{{cite book |title=A History of Manchester |first=Stuart |last=Hylton |year=2003 |pages=227–230 |publisher=Phillimore & Co |location=Chichester |isbn= 1-86077-240-4}}</ref> The final insurance payout was over £400&nbsp;million; many affected businesses never recovered from the loss of trade.<ref name="IRA business">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3704943.stm | title=Panorama – The cost of terrorism | access-date=5 May 2009 | publisher=BBC | date=15 May 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415021411/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3704943.stm | archive-date=15 April 2010 | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Since 2000===
Spurred by the investment after the 1996 bombing and aided by the [[2002 Commonwealth Games|XVII Commonwealth Games]], the city centre has undergone extensive regeneration.<ref name="Regeneration">{{cite book |title=Pevsner Architectural Guides: Manchester |last=Hartwell |first=Clare |year=2001 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-14-071131-7}}<br /> {{cite book |title=Manchester: an Architectural History |first=John J |last=Parkinson-Bailey |year=2000 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |isbn=0-7190-5606-3}}<br /> {{cite book |title=Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East |url=http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300105834 |last1=Hartwell |first1=Clare |last2=Hyde |first2=Matthew |last3=Pevsner |first3=Nikolaus |author-link3=Nikolaus Pevsner |year=2004 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven & London |isbn=0-300-10583-5 |access-date=7 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121084122/http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300105834 |archive-date=21 January 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> New and renovated complexes such as [[The Printworks (Manchester)|The Printworks]] and [[Corn Exchange, Manchester|Corn Exchange]] have become popular shopping, eating and entertainment areas. [[Manchester Arndale]] is the UK's largest city-centre shopping centre.<ref name="Arndale">{{cite web |url=http://www.mandg.co.uk/institutions/realestate/our-properties/ |title=Manchester Arndale |access-date=9 October 2008 |publisher=Prudential plc |year=2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804232909/http://www.mandg.co.uk/institutions/realestate/our-properties/ |archive-date=4 August 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Large city sections from the 1960s have been demolished, re-developed or modernised with the use of glass and steel. Old mills have been converted into apartments. [[Hulme]] has undergone extensive regeneration, with million-pound loft-house apartments being developed. The 47-storey, {{convert|169|m|ft|adj=on|order=flip}} [[Beetham Tower, Manchester|Beetham Tower]] was the tallest UK building outside of [[London]] and the highest residential accommodation in Europe when completed in 2006. It was surpassed in 2018 by the {{convert|201|m|ft|adj=on|order=flip}} South Tower of the [[Deansgate Square]] project, also in Manchester.<ref name="Beetham Tower">{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4944590.stm |title=City building reaches full height |access-date=9 October 2008 |publisher=BBC |date=26 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406120452/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4944590.stm | archive-date=6 April 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> In January 2007, the independent Casino Advisory Panel licensed Manchester to build the UK's only [[supercasino]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/01/30/dome_feature.shtml |title=Greenwich loses Casino Bet |access-date=9 October 2008 |publisher=BBC |date=15 February 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071213174837/http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/01/30/dome_feature.shtml |archive-date=13 December 2007 |url-status= live}}</ref> but plans were abandoned in February 2008.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/empty-promises-and-spin-944718 |title=Empty promises and spin |access-date=9 October 2008 |publisher=M.E.N. media |work=[[Manchester Evening News]] |date=26 February 2008 |author=Ottewell, David |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130203421/http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/empty-promises-and-spin-944718 |archive-date=30 January 2013 }}</ref>

On 22 May 2017, an [[Islamist terrorist]] carried out [[Manchester Arena bombing|a bombing]] at an [[Ariana Grande]] concert in the [[Manchester Arena]]; the bomb killed 23, including the attacker, and injured over 800.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-44129386 |title=Manchester Arena attack: Bomb 'injured more than 800' |publisher=BBC News |date=16 May 2018 |access-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027164115/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-44129386 |archive-date=27 October 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was the deadliest terrorist attack and first suicide bombing in Britain since the [[7 July 2005 London bombings]]. It caused [[Reactions to the Manchester Arena bombing|worldwide condemnation]] and changed the [[UK Threat Levels|UK's threat level]] to "critical" for the first time since 2007.<ref>{{cite news |title=Manchester attack: Terror threat reduced from critical to severe |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40069959 |work=BBC News |access-date=25 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527101510/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40069959 |archive-date=27 May 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Birmingham has historically been considered to be England or the UK's second city, but in the 21st century claims to this [[Second city of the United Kingdom|unofficial title]] have also been made for Manchester.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/6f4d18a6-7f3f-11e2-89ed-00144feabdc0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/6f4d18a6-7f3f-11e2-89ed-00144feabdc0 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=Splendidly pointless second city debate|first=Brian|last=Groom|work=Financial Times|date=25 February 2013|accessdate=16 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northwest/series11/week5_manchester_second_city.shtml|title=Inside Out - North West: Friday February 9, 2007|publisher=BBC|accessdate=16 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Marco|last1=Bontje|first2=Sako|last2=Musterd|year=2016|title=Inventive City-Regions: Path Dependence and Creative Knowledge Strategies|publisher=Routledge|location=London|page=173|isbn=9781317113171|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1AfDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173}}</ref>