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Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Northwest England. The city is governed by Liverpool City Council, one of five councils within the Metropolitan county of Merseyside. The population of the borough in 2002 was 441,477, and that of the Merseyside conurbation was 1,362,026. Whilst it has lost most of its manufacturing base, Liverpool is still internationally famous as a port. In sporting terms, it is home to the internationally-known football clubs Everton F.C. and Liverpool F.C.. In the year 2008, Liverpool will hold the European Capital of Culture title. Liverpool is one of England's core cities. Liverpool is Great Britain's fifth-biggest city. In the late 19th century, along with Glasgow, it laid claim to the title "Second City of the Empire". Liverpool is situated along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, with the city centre located about 5 miles inland from the Irish Sea. Liverpool has a varied topography being built across a ridge of hills rising up to a height of around 70 metres above sea-level at Everton Hill. The city's urban area runs directly into Bootle and Crosby in Sefton, Huyton and Prescot in Knowsley. It faces Wallasey and Birkenhead across the River Mersey.In 1190 the place was known as 'Liuerpul', meaning a pool or creek with muddy water. Other origins of the name have been suggested, including 'elverpool', a reference to the large number of eels in the Mersey. The origins of the city are usually dated from August 1207 when letters patent were issued by King John advertising the establishment of a new borough at Liverpool, and inviting settlers to come and take up holdings there. It is thought that the king wanted a port in the district that was free from the control of the earl of Chester. Initially it served as a dispatch point for troops sent to Ireland, soon after Liverpool Castle was built, which was removed in 1726. For four centuries, Liverpool was relatively unimportant. In the middle of the 16th century the population of Liverpool was only around 500, and the port was regarded as subordinate to Chester until the 1650s. A number of battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, including an eighteen-day siege in 1644. In 1571 the inhabitants of Liverpool sent a memorial to Queen Elizabeth, praying relief from a subsidy which they thought themselves unable to bear, wherein they styled themselves "her majesty's poor decayed town of Liverpool." Some time towards the close of this reign, Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, on his way to the Isle of Man, stayed at his house at Liverpool called the Tower; at which the corporation erected a handsome hall or seat for him in the church, where he honoured them several times with his presence. From this time until the end of the next century, Liverpool made but a slow progress in the extent of its trade and in the number of its inhabitants. Neither is there any remarkable occurrence recorded of it except the siege of it by Prince Rupert, in the English Civil Wars in 1644, some traces of which were discovered when the foundation of the Liverpool Infirmary was sunk, particularly the marks of the trenches thrown up by the prince, and some cartouches, etc., left behind by the besiegers. In 1699 Liverpool was made a parish on its own by Act of Parliament, separate from that of Walton-on-the-Hill, with two parish churches. From that time may be traced the rapid progress of population and commerce, until Liverpool had become the second metropolis of Great Britain. In the 18th century, as trade from the West Indies was added to that of Ireland and Europe, Liverpool began to grow. The first wet dock in Britain was built in Liverpool in 1715. Substantial profits from the slave trade helped the town grow and prosper. Liverpool's black community dates from this period and grew rapidly, reaching a population of 10,000 within five years. By the beginning of the 19th century, 40% of the world's trade was passing through the docks at Liverpool. During the 1840's, the Irish began arriving by the thousands due to the Great Famine 1845-1849. By 1851, approximately 25% of the city was Irish-born.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool