There doesn't seem to be any indication of ancient settlement in the city of Liverpool. In fact, the area isn't even mentioned in the 1086 Domesday book. Records from 1190 show that the area was known as 'Liuerpul', which could mean a pool of muddy water. This certainly suggests that there was no settlement here at this time. The Normans built a small castle near Liverpool but King John is credited with the creation of Liverpool when he founded the port in 1207 and invited settlers to live there. Parts of Ireland had recently been conquered so the King required an extra port to send men and supplies across the Irish Sea. Liverpool was a good choice thanks to its proximity to the sea.

Middle Ages

Liverpool Castle was built in 1235 and stood for almost 500 years. St. Nicholas Church was built in 1257 and was a sign that the area was starting to flourish. Traders came to Liverpool with weekly markets and annual fairs held there. Records books first mention a Mayor in 1351. During the 14th century, Liverpool is said to have had a population of around 1,000. If the town thought it was about to become important, the inhabitants were in for a shock. The town soon declined and by 1550, it is believed that only an estimated 600 people lived in the area.

Liverpool stayed alive because of its trade with Ireland and was boosted by the rebellions that started taking place. The Crown had to send troops to suppress the rebellious population and Liverpool was the ideal place to launch them from. By the time of the Civil War in 1642, the town had a population of 2,500. Royalist troops held the town until 1643 when the Roundheads took over. Prince Rupert led a failed attempt to recapture the town in 1644 and the loss of the battle of Marston Moor led to the Crown losing the whole of the North of England.

Slavery

Liverpool started becoming an international trader in 1648 with cargoes from the Americas arriving that year. Trade with the West Indies and Americas caused the city to grow once again and the town was made a parish in 1699. Sadly, the town was also involved in the African slave trade with the ships carrying slaves from Africa to Barbados in 1700. 40% of the globe’s Atlantic slave activity involved ships that docked at Liverpool’s port by 1715. By the end of the 18th century, only London was considered to be more important than Liverpool as a financial centre. By 1801, Liverpool had a population of almost 80,000. Slave trading was made illegal in 1807 and slavery as a whole was abandoned in British colonies in 1833.

Famine and Growth

The Great Famine in Ireland between 1845 to 1849 saw hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants make the short trip to Liverpool. It is estimated that one quarter of the city’s population was Irish in 1851. Liverpool was the only place outside of Ireland to elect an MP from the Irish Parliamentary Party to the British parliament. The area became a major port in the British Empire and had a number of important buildings created in the middle of the 19th century. The famous Grand National steeplechase was first ran in Aintree in 1837 and has remained there ever since. It is also estimated that more than 100,000 Welsh people moved to Liverpool between 1850 and 1910.

Modern Era

Liverpool was made a city in 1880 with a University built in 1881. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city had a population exceeding 700,000. More European immigrants swelled the city’s population but were to find work extremely hard to come by. Even in the relative boom time of the 1920s, Liverpool had a major unemployment problem that was only exacerbated by the worldwide Great Depression. 11,000 homes were destroyed and 2,500 people died in German air raids during the Second World War.

Despite being the home of The Beatles, Liverpool continued to suffer unemployment throughout the 21st century with the population falling below the 500,000 mark for the first time in a century. The 1980s were a tipping point with record high unemployment the trigger for the 1981 Toxteth Riots which marked the first time tear gas was used against civilians. The 1989 Hillsborough Disaster saw 96 Liverpool football fans killed during an F.A Cup Semi-Final.

Things finally took a turn for the better in the mid 1990s as unemployment dropped and the city earned prestigious titles such as World Heritage Site in 2004 and the European Capital of Culture in 2008. At the moment, Liverpool’s economy is growing faster than the UK average and its crime rate is extremely low for an urban area.