The History and Life In Manchester England
Bryan Morrissey
The city of Manchester is located in Greater Manchester, England. The reason i chose to write a blog about this city is because i’ve always been fascinated with the city of Manchester. The amount of history to see and things you can do in Manchester is off the charts. With that being said, i feel as though anyone who loves history, and or likes to go on adventures would have the time of their lives in this city. Today in this blog i will be filling you in on some history Manchester, somethings to do when touring the city, and how citizens in Manchester communicate.
History: The city of Manchester was founded back in the 1st century, but as not given city status until 1853. The city location was first inhabited by the roman army. The city was made up of a wooden fort which was given the name Mamuciam in 80 AD. The roman army stayed in the city until 407 AD, and throughout the next hundred years the fort fell apart.
During the middle ages, the english citizens that resided in the city, gave it the name Mamechester. The name came from a domesday book from the year 1086, but was later changed to Manchester. After the middle ages, the city continued to grow and the population continued to rise. In 1515, the city built a grammar school in hope to further educate the 5,000 habitants living in Manchester at the time. The population continued to grow dramatically until a plague broke out in 1603 and killed off about a quarter of Manchester’s citizens. This only hurt the cities population for a short time though as there were many poor people outside the city that were willing to come work and live in the city to replace the dead.
By the 18th and 19th century the city of Manchester had made huge strides to gaining a city status. Manchester was known for manufacturing wool, cotton, linen, and silk, and even built a cotton exchange so that people could come buy and sell cotton. The Manchester Newspaper also began in the late 18th century, as well as street lights and neighborhood patrols. by the end of the 19th century Manchester’s population reached 186,000 and was given city status in England.
Once the 20th century started, the city of Manchester took on the industrial revolution, and started selling different exports. These exports included corn, furniture, and different kinds of vegetables, along with wool, cotton, linen, and silk. By the end of the 20th century though Manchester relied on tourism and education more than they did industries. Now in the 21st century, though all the industries have lowered as far as production and income, the city is doing better than ever due to new additions of world war two history museums, and art galleries.
Activities: Now as far as things to do in Manchester while visiting, that is the least of your worries. Manchester is home to many different types of museums ranging anywhere from world war 2, to the National Football (Soccer) Museum. Now being the soccer fan that i am, i would definitely go to the National Football Museum. The reason being because the National Football (Soccer) league was founded in Manchester, and therefore allows Manchester to be home to the largest National Football Museum in England.
Another set of activities that many tourist visit Manchester for are all the festivals that are held in the city. People in Manchester not only enjoy having festivals for musical performers, but also for just about everything else. Manchester is a city that takes much pride in their history and therefore have festivals yearly that celebrate the history of their city. Music is played, good food is eaten, and cold beverages are drank to celebrate during these festivals. Some of the larger festivals held in Manchester would be the Manchester International Festival, which goes on for 21 days and focuses on musical performers. Then there is also the Manchester Jazz Festival, and the Manchester Literature Festival, and these two mostly focus on the history of this great city.
Another activity i would recommend doing when over in Manchester would be to go sight seeing. The amount of old buildings that have been turned into museums now in Manchester are ridiculous. I would suggest to go and visit the Liverpool Railway Station since in fact it is the oldest railway station in history. I would also suggest to go and visit the worlds first computer. This was the first computer ever invtented and it is located at the University of Manchester. Besides visiting moments inventions and museums, i would also highly recommend traveling through the country side. The views and open area around the city of Manchester is just amazing.
The last place i would tell you to go is to a Manchester United football game. Although you might not think of this as sight seeing, it is. As you can see in the piture below, the stadium that you would see them play in is just as large as any American National Football Team stadium in the United States. Not only would you get to see a great game in a awesome atomosphere, but you would also get to some some of the best soccer players in the world play at the same time. Going to a National Football League game would be a experience you would never regret.
How To Communicate: When visiting the city of Manchester, you may notice that communicating is kind of similar to the United States, but at the same time they have completely different slang terms and words. For example if you ask them where the bathroom is, odds are they are going to know what you are talking about, but are going to refer to it as the “bog”. The word “bog” in England means the same as bathroom in the U.S., but this may confuse tourist since they have never heard this term before.
Slang words are the main cause of misunderstanding in the U.K. and cause tourist to be confused when trying to communicate there. The best way to avoid awkward conversations when over in Machester would be to either do research on commonly used british slang before visiting the country, or even buying a dictionary that shows the difference between the english and british meaning. Though you will probably be put in a situation where you have to ask the person you are talking to what they mean, British people tend to be very understanding and helpful as far as explaining the meaning of the words.
As far as non verbal communication in Manchester, you might feel like the people there a kind of emotionless, that is not the case at all. Non verbal communication is not as important in England and therefore you will often see people not using hand jesters or facial expressions when talking. They refer to this as the “stiff upper Lip” of England. From there you should also know that British people are very private. They tend to keep a couple feet between them and the person they are conversing with, and if you don’t know them on a personal level then i would recommend not doing things such as putting your arm around their shoulder or hugging them. Being as private as they are, they will take you asking “where are you from” as some what of a insult. Instead of thinking that you are curious of where they live, they instead believe this question to be judgmental and think you are trying to place them in a social class.
Conclusion: In the end i think it is safe to say that the city of Manchester is one that everyone should try to visit. The history behind the founding of the city is amazing, and allows all tourist the ability to have plenty to do when visiting the city. Manchester is also a very good city to visit because you don’t have to learn a completely different language before visiting the city. Instead you just have to look over some of the slang that they use and how they act on personal level. Manchester is one of the most historical cities in England and i would recommend that everyone consider visiting it at some point in the future. As they say in Manchester “tarah!”.
