5 Cities IV

An overview of Britain’s history told through the stories of five cities including: Manchester, often called the world’s first industrial city, evolved from a Roman fort (Mamucium) to a medieval market town before leading the Industrial Revolution with massive cotton and textile production, renowned as a hub for scientific advancement and radical politics; Belfast, originating as a 17th-century settlement named from the Irish Béal Feirste ("mouth of the sandbar"), which grew from a small village into a major industrial city renowned for linen and shipbuilding and Swansea founded in the early 12th century as a Norman marcher borough and evolved from a medieval market town into the world's leading copper-smelting centre, nicknamed "Copperopolis".