How Glasgow's great river made the city a success
IT IS a famous saying - the Clyde made Glasgow and Glasgow made the Clyde ... The success of the River Clyde in the 17th and 18th centuries was down to the city's location facing the Americas. Merchants began to make commercial links and Glasgow became the international centre for the tobacco trade. However, the shallow Clyde was not navigable for the largest ocean-going ships and in 1662, Glasgow Council purchased land and built harbours where there was deeper water, at what would become Port Glasgow. There was mounting pressure to deepen the river so that large boats could reach the...
Source: glasgowtimes.co.uk