As the trade expanded, so did the city, with huge urban and industrial expansion. Liverpool became a key city in the cotton trade and a port for departures for and arrivals from India. In the nineteenth century, famine in Ireland led to large numbers of Irish arrivals; these were followed by Welsh communities, with the first Welsh language journal Yr Amserau established there by William Rees. During the American Civil War, the city became a popular spot for Confederate leaders to plan and purchase for their efforts against the Northern States.

Grand buildings were constructed, displaying the wealth of the merchants and of the town that they had created. In 1880, Liverpool officially became a city, and in 1881 the university opened, confirming Liverpool’s new cultural and intellectual status, as well as financial.

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, new migrants arrived in the port, with some heading on to the United States but others staying in Liverpool, leading to a growth in the city’s Jewish community and other European communities. The regular arrival of sailors added to the increasing diversity of a city that was comparable only to London in the UK in terms of the range of nationalities and cultures that had made their home there.

The economic slump of the 1920s struck Liverpool, leading to high unemployment, but the city hit back with building programmes and social improvements. During the Second World War, the city was crucial for supplies arriving into Britian and troops and weaponry leaving the country. Many members of the Merchant Navy worked through Liverpool, as well as military activities taking place there. The control centre for the Battle of the Atlantic was housed under a commercial building close to the city centre, but hidden away from public scrutiny.

In the immediate post-war period, Chinese labourers and seamen were brought to the city; despite some marrying local women, they were nearly all returned to China forcibly.

From the 1960s onwards, the city’s economic output began to falter. Factories started to close and shipping of the sort used for centuries was phased out in favour of container ships.

At the same time, the city gained a reputation for cultural creativity, with a vibrant music scene and writers who depicted and celebrated working-class life. Writing about the local and all levels of society has always been an important element for Liverpool’s own storytellers. That cultural output continued even as the city went further into decline. By the 1980s, Liverpool, along with industrial cities in the north-east of England, was a centre point for mass unemployment and rising poverty in a post-industrial society: 20% of the city’s working-age inhabitants were registered unemployed in 1985. Race riots in Toxteth in 1981 had underlined some of the socio-economic tension points of a city that was diverse but not necessarily equal. Sport, especially football, seemed to be the main success of an increasingly boarded-up city.

However, by the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, Liverpool began a process of regeneration. The dockside was remodelled. New museums were created and civic buildings and institutions were given facelifts. The city continued to celebrate its cultural legacy and its new innovations. The riots of the 1980s had led to some introspection, and Liverpool made steps to explore its diversity and to examine its history: in 2007 it opened its Slavery Museum, and in 2008 it was a European Capital of Culture.

Despite the regeneration and, in some areas, gentrification of the city, Liverpool has not lost its distinct identity. To be a Scouser is a source of pride: to know your Scouse history, whether it goes back generations or starts in the present, is equally important to many resident in the city – which is possibly why there are a number of leading museums, art galleries and archives all located centrally.

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