Manchester

Manchester (city, England), city and metropolitan district, North-Western England. It was once a port, connected by the Manchester Ship Canal (completed 1894) to Eastham on the River Mersey and formerly accessible to ocean-going vessels. It is a major industrial, cultural, and educational centre. The City of Manchester has a population of 441,200, while the wider Greater Manchester Urban Area has a population of 2,240,230, making it England's third largest conurbation after Greater London and the West Midlands (2005).