Manchester

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Manchester is the city at the centre of Greater Manchester, the largest built-up area in England outside London. The area of the official district called the city of Manchester is quite small, because many parts of urban Manchester lie in the surrounding boroughs. Manchester is the main city of Northern England, and of the region of England called the North West.

In the 19th Century, Manchester became world's most important cotton town. Although a small amount of cloth is still made in the city, the trade has mainly stopped, leaving a large number of fine buildings dating from that time including the Town Hall, Free Trade Hall and Central Library.

The county of Greater Manchester was formed in 1974 when the metropolitan county was formed primarily from cities and towns in Southern Lancashire and Northern Cheshire, and some mainly rural districts of Derbyshire and Yorkshire.

A renaissance of the city began in the 1980s. This was partly led by a vibrant music scene whose spirit was given the name "Madchester", led by bands such as The Happy Mondays, Joy Division, Inspiral Carpets, The Smiths and Oasis, and partly fuelled by the large number of students attending the various universtities and further education colleges. Manchester has the highest population of students in the UK in term time.

Manchester contains the United Kingdom's largest university. The University of Manchester has over 30,000 students. It also has the second largest University in the Manchester Metropolitan University as well as the University of Salford

The city has one premier league football team, Manchester City. Two other clubs based in the built-up area called "Greater Manchester" are Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers.