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Manchester is a city in the North West of England, UK. The city is named from the old Roman name Mamucium plus ceaster, derived from the old Latin 'Castra'. Manchester is a metropolitan borough with city status. The borough has a population of 437,000, whilst the Greater Manchester Urban Area has a population of 2,284,093, and is situated in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester which has a population of 2,539,000. [1] Greater Manchester was created as a metropolitan county in 1974, mainly from areas of south east Lancashire and north east Cheshire, and some people still consider Manchester to be part of Lancashire. The name 'Manchester' is often used to refer to the entire conurbation (which includes Trafford, Salford and Tameside). People from Manchester are called Mancunians. Many class Manchester as being the combined areas of Manchester, Trafford, Tameside, Salford and Stockport, with the other areas being towns in Lancashire or Cheshire. Manchester is situated in a bowl-shaped land area, bordered to the north and east by the Pennine moors and to the south by the Cheshire Plain. The city centre is located on the East bank of the River Irwell, near the confluence of two other rivers, the River Medlock and the River Irk. The River Mersey also flows through the south of the city. Much of the inner city, especially in the south, is flat, offering extensive views of the moors from the floors of many tall buildings. Manchester's geographic features were highly influential in its early development as the world's first industrial city. These are its climate, its proximity to a sea port at Liverpool, the availabilty of water power from its rivers, and nearby coal reserves. Manchester has a damp climate and a reputation as a rainy city. The average annual rainfall is 809 mm, meaning that this reputation is relatively undeserved.[2] This total is less than Plymouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, and Edinburgh for example. In international terms, Manchester receives substantially less rain than New York City, which receives 1200 mm of rain in an average year and the average annual rainfall total is comparable with that of Rome. The precipitation is light however, so a small volume of rain may take an hour to fall in Manchester, compared to several minutes of heavy rain experienced in Rome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester