Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. Its population in 2019 was approximately 498,042,^[9][10] making it the tenth-largest English district by population. Liverpool's metropolitan area is the fifth-largest in the UK with a population of 2.24 million.^[11]

Liverpool is on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in North West England's county of Lancashire.^[12][13] It became a borough in 1207, a city in 1880, and a county borough independent of Lancashire 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. In the 19th century, Liverpool was a major port of departure for English and Irish emigrants to North America. It was also home to both the Cunard and White Star Lines, and was the port of registry of the ocean liners RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania, RMS Queen Mary, and RMS Olympic.