Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of 498,042 in 2019, it is the tenth largest English district by population, and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom with a population of 2.24 million.

Situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207, a city in 1880, and a county borough independent of the newly-created Lancashire County Council in 1889. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, and raw materials such as coal and cotton, merchants were involved in the slave trade.