Before 1990, Łódź's economy focused on the textile industry, which in the
nineteenth century had developed in the city owing to the favourable chemical
composition of its water. Because of the growth in this industry, the city has
sometimes been called the "Polish Manchester". As a result, Łódź grew
from a population of 13,000 in 1840 to over 500,000 in 1913. By the time right
before World War I Łódź had become one of the most densely populated industrial
cities in the world, with 13,280 inhabitants per km. The textile industry
declined dramatically in 1990 and 1991, and no major textile company survives
in
