text: Liverpool () is a city in North West England, with an estimated population of 478,580 in 2015. With its surrounding areas, it is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the UK, with over 2.24 million people in 2011. The local authority is Liverpool City Council, the most populous local government district within the metropolitan county of Merseyside and the largest within the Liverpool City Region. 
  
  Liverpool is located on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, and historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire. It became a borough in 1207 and a city in 1880. In 1889, it became a county borough independent of Lancashire. Its growth as a major port was paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with handling general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city merchants were involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In the 19th century, it was a major port of departure for Irish and English emigrants to the United States. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS "Titanic", the RMS "Lusitania", "Queen Mary" and "Olympic".