Editing Glasgow (section)

===Economic growth===
[[File:John Atkinson Grimshaw - Shipping on the Clyde (1881).jpg|thumb|right|''Shipping on the Clyde'', [[John Atkinson Grimshaw|Atkinson Grimshaw]], 1881. Shipbuilding became a symbol of Glasgow's economic importance]]

After the [[Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union]] in 1707, Scotland gained further access to the vast markets of the new British Empire, and Glasgow became prominent as a hub of international trade to and from the Americas, especially in sugar, tobacco, cotton, and manufactured goods. Starting in 1668, the city's [[Tobacco Lords]] created a deep water port at [[Port Glasgow]] about {{cvt|20|mi|km}} down the [[River Clyde]], as the river from the city to that point was then too shallow for seagoing merchant ships.<ref>[http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/abolition/ Abolition of the Slave Trade] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103172434/http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/abolition/ |date=3 January 2012}}. [[Learning and Teaching Scotland]] Online. Retrieved 26 September 2007</ref> By the late 18th century more than half of the British tobacco trade was concentrated on the River Clyde, with more than {{cvt|47000000|lb|tonnes}} of tobacco being imported each year at its peak.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theglasgowstory.com/story.php?id=TGSCE03 |title=The Glasgow Story: Industry and Technology&nbsp;– Food, Drink and Tobacco |publisher=[[The Glasgow Story]] |year=2004 |access-date=29 July 2008 |first=Ian |last=Donnachie |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206081206/http://www.theglasgowstory.com/story.php?id=TGSCE03 |archive-date=6 December 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> At the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar, tobacco and later cotton.<ref>Harris, Nathaniel (2000). ''Heritage of Scotland'', p. 70. Checkmark Books, London. {{ISBN|0816041369}}.</ref> From the mid-eighteenth century the city began expanding westwards from its medieval core at Glasgow Cross, with a [[grid plan|grid-iron street plan]] starting from the 1770s and eventually reaching George Square to accommodate much of the growth, with that expansion much later becoming known in the 1980s onwards as the [[Merchant City]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Glasgow Central Conservation Area Appraisal |date=2012 |publisher=Glasgow City Council |location=Glasgow |page=9 |url=https://glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=10838&p=0 |access-date=26 January 2023}}</ref> The largest growth in the city centre area, building on the wealth of trading internationally, was the next expansion being the grid-iron streets west of Buchanan Street riding up and over [[Blythswood Hill]] from 1800 onwards.<ref>Glasgow's Blythswood, by Graeme Smith, 2021 https://www.blythswoodsmith.co.uk/</ref>

The opening of the [[Monkland Canal]] and basin linking to the [[Forth and Clyde Canal]] at [[Port Dundas]] in 1795, facilitated access to the extensive iron-ore and coal mines in [[Lanarkshire]]. After extensive [[river engineering]] projects to dredge and deepen the River Clyde as far as Glasgow, shipbuilding became a major industry on the upper stretches of the river, pioneered by industrialists such as [[Robert Napier (engineer)|Robert Napier]], [[John Elder (shipbuilder)|John Elder]], [[George Thomson (shipbuilder)|George Thomson]], [[Sir William Pearce, 1st Baronet|Sir William Pearce]] and [[Alfred Yarrow|Sir Alfred Yarrow]]. The River Clyde also became an important source of inspiration for artists, such as [[John Atkinson Grimshaw]], [[John Knox (artist)|John Knox]], [[James Kay (artist)|James Kay]], [[Sir Muirhead Bone]], [[Robert Eadie]] and [[L.S. Lowry]], willing to depict the new industrial era and the modern world, as did [[Stanley Spencer]] downriver at [[Port Glasgow]].