Lancashire

Lancashire is a ceremonial county in the North West of England that is not part of a metropolitan area. Although Preston serves as the county's administrative centre, the county town of Lancaster is the county seat. According to the Local Government Act 1972 (enacted 1974), the administrative county's boundaries include a population of 1,449,300 people and an area of 1,189 square miles (3,080 km2).

However, this represents just a fraction of the mediaeval county palatine, which encompasses the great cities of Manchester and Liverpool, as well as the Furness and Cartmel peninsulas in the Lake District, and has an area of 1,909 square miles in total (4,940 km2). In many cases, these communities still have a strong sense of belonging to the county, notably in regions of Greater Manchester (such as Oldham and Bury), where Lancashire is still used as part of their postal addresses. According to the 1971 census (which took place before local government reforms), Lancashire had a population of 5,118,405, making it the most densely inhabited county in the United Kingdom at the time (other than Greater London, which had only been created in 1965).

This is the beginning of the history of Lancashire, which dates back to the 12th century. Some of its lands were considered as part of Yorkshire in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was written in the year 1086. The land which existed between both the rivers Ribble and Mersey, known as Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire in the early nineteenth century. The county's borders were set in the 18th century and included Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire counties.

During the Industrial Revolution, the county of Lancashire grew into a significant economic and manufacturing centre. Its main cities, Liverpool and Manchester, grew up around ports and cotton mills, respectively, to become the country's most populous areas. These cities were at the forefront of global commerce and the emergence of contemporary industrial capitalism during this time period. The county was home to various mill towns as well as the Lancashire Coalfield's collieries. By the 1830s, Lancashire was responsible for the processing of nearly 85 percent of all cotton made globally. This period saw the establishment of important cotton mill towns in places like Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen (Manchester), Nelson (Oldham), Preston (Rochdale), and Wigan. Particularly during wakes week in the nineteenth century, Blackpool served as a tourist destination for the residents of Lancashire's mill towns.

During a significant boundary reform in 1974, the historic county was divided into two ceremonial counties: Merseyside and Greater Manchester, which were formed by separating Liverpool and Manchester, as well as many of their surrounding conurbations, to form the metropolitan and ceremonial counties of Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Cumbria was formed by the merger of the detached northern section of Lancashire in the Lake District, which included the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, with Cumberland and Westmorland to establish the county of Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 miles of land to other county, accounting for around two-fifths of its original land area, but it did acquire some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire in the process.