   #copyright

England

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Great
Britain

   CAPTION: England


   Flag of England Coat of arms of England
   Flag of England Coat of arms
   Motto: Dieu et mon droit
   (French for "God and my right")
   Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems
   Location of England
   Capital              London
                        51°30.4167′N 0°7.65′W
   Largest city         London
   Official language(s) English ( de facto)
   Unification
    - by Athelstan      AD 927
   Area
    - Total             130,395 km² ( 1^st in UK)
                        50,346 sq mi
   Population
    - 2005 est.         50,431,700 ^1 ( 1^st in UK)
    - 2001 census       49,138,831 ^2
    - Density           383/km² (1^st in UK)
                        976/sq mi
   GDP ( PPP)           2006
    - Total             $ 1.8 trillion IMF 2006
    - Per capita        $ 35,300 IMF 2006
   Currency             Pound sterling ( GBP)
   Time zone            GMT ( UTC0)
    - Summer ( DST)     BST ( UTC+1)
   Internet TLD         .uk^4
   Calling code         +44
   Patron Saint         St. George
   ^1Office for National Statistics - UK population grows to more than 60
   million

   ^2Office for National Statistics - 2001 census Population profile -
   England.
   ^3Figures for the UK
   ^4 ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused. The .eu domain is also shared
   with other European Union member states.

   England (pronounced IPA: /ˈɪŋglənd/) is a nation in northwest Europe
   and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United
   Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its inhabitants account
   for more than 83% of the total population of the United Kingdom, whilst
   the mainland territory of England occupies most of the southern
   two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with
   Scotland to the north and Wales to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered
   by the North Sea, Irish Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and English Channel.

   England was formed as a country during the 10th century and takes its
   name from the Angles — one of a number of Germanic tribes who settled
   in the territory during the 5th and 6th centuries. The capital city of
   England is London, which is the largest city in the British Isles,
   capital of the United Kingdom and one of the world's Global Cities.

   England ranks as one of the most influential and far-reaching centres
   of cultural development in the world; it is the place of origin of both
   the English language and the Church of England, was the historic centre
   of the British Empire, and the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

   The Kingdom of England was an independent state until 1 May 1707, when
   the Acts of Union resulted in a political union with the Kingdom of
   Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.

   England's National Day is St George's Day ( Saint George being the
   patron saint), which is on 23 April. However, compared to other
   country's national days it is little celebrated.

Etymology

   England is named after the Angles (Old English genitive case, "Engla" -
   hence, Old English "Engla Land"), the largest of a number of Germanic
   tribes who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries, who are
   believed to have originated in Angeln, in modern-day northern Germany.

   Their name has had a variety of different spellings. The earliest known
   reference to these people is under the name Anglii by Tacitus in
   chapter 40 of his Germania, written around 98. He gives no precise
   indication of their geographical position within Germania, but states
   that, together with six other tribes, they worshipped a goddess named
   Nerthus, whose sanctuary was situated on "an island in the Ocean."

   The terms Angelfolc, Anglorum and Anglis were all used by Bede in
   Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the
   English People) when referring to England and the English people.

   The origin of the word itself is uncertain. It may come directly from
   the Germanic god Ingwaz or Ingui, and the Ingvaeones federation of
   which the Angles were part.

   When England was confederated in 802, it was under the Saxon King
   Egbert of Wessex. The capital was Winchester and the official language
   was the Late West Saxon dialect of Old English. The confederacy was
   otherwise dominated by Angles, however, so it bore the name 'Engla
   Land.'

History

   Bones and flint tools found in Norfolk and Suffolk show that homo
   erectus lived in what is now England around 700,000 years ago. At this
   time, part of England was linked to Europe by a large land bridge. The
   current position of the English Channel was a large river flowing
   westwards and fed by tributaries that would later become the Thames and
   the Seine.

   Archaeological evidence has shown that England was inhabited by humans
   long before the rest of the British isles because of its more
   hospitable climate. Tacitus wrote that there was no great difference
   between these people and and those in northern Gaul.

Roman conquest of Britain

   By AD 43, the time of the main Roman invasion of Britain, Britain had
   already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by
   forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. Like other regions on
   the edge of the empire, Britain had long enjoyed trading links with the
   Romans and their economic and cultural influence was a significant part
   of the British late pre-Roman Iron Age, especially in the south.

Anglo-Saxon England

   An Anglo-Saxon helmet found at Sutton Hoo
   Enlarge
   An Anglo-Saxon helmet found at Sutton Hoo

   The History of Anglo-Saxon England covers the history of early
   mediaeval England from the end of Roman Britain and the establishment
   of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Conquest by the
   Normans in 1066.

   Fragmentary knowledge of Anglo-Saxon England in the 5th and 6th
   centuries comes from the British writer Gildas (6th century) the
   Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (a history of the English people begun in the 9th
   century), saints' lives, poetry, archaeological findings, and
   place-name studies.

   The dominant themes of the 7th to 10th centuries were the spread of
   Christianity and the political unification of England. Christianity is
   thought to have came from two directions — Rome from the south and
   Scotland and Ireland to the north and west.

   Heptarchy is a term used to refer to the existence (as believed) of the
   seven petty kingdoms which eventually merged to become the Kingdom of
   England during the early 10th century. These included Northumbria,
   Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex.

   The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms tended to coalesce by means of warfare. As
   early as the time of Ethelbert of Kent, one king could be recognised as
   Bretwalda, or "Lord of Britain". Generally speaking, the title fell in
   the 7th century to the kings of Northumbria, in the 8th to those of
   Mercia, and finally, in the 9th, to Egbert of Wessex, who in 825
   defeated the Mercians at Ellendun. In the next century his family came
   to rule all England.

Kingdom of England

   Originally, England (or Angleland) was a geographical term to describe
   the territory of Britain which was occupied by the Anglo-Saxons, rather
   than a name of an individual nation state.

   The Kingdom of England was not founded until the separate petty
   kingdoms were unified under Alfred the Great King of Wessex, who later
   proclaimed himself King of the English after liberating London from the
   Danes in 886.

   For the next few hundred years, the Kingdom of England would fall in
   and out of power between several West-Saxon and Danish kings. For over
   half a century, the unified Kingdom of England became part of a vast
   Danish empire under Cnut, before regaining independence for a short
   period under the restored West-Saxon lineage of Edward the Confessor.

   The Kingdom of England continued to exist as an independent
   nation-state right through to the Acts of Union and the Union of
   Crowns. However the political ties and direction of England were
   changed forever with the arrival of the Norman conquest in 1066.

Norman conquest

   The Bayeux Tapestry
   Enlarge
   The Bayeux Tapestry

   The Norman conquest of England was the conquest of the Kingdom of
   England by William the Conqueror ( Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the
   Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. It is
   an important watershed in English history for a number of reasons. The
   conquest linked England more closely with Continental Europe and
   lessened Scandinavian influence. The success of the conquest created
   one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe, created the most
   sophisticated governmental system in Europe, changed the English
   language and culture, and set the stage for English-French conflict
   that would last into the 19th century.

   The events of the conquest also paved the way for a pivotal historical
   document to be produced - the Domesday Book. The Domesday Book was the
   record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for
   William the Conqueror. The survey was similar to a census by a
   government of today and is England's earliest surviving public records
   publication.

   The Norman conquest, to this day, remains the last successful military
   conquest of England.

Great Britain and the United Kingdom

   When the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland merged to form
   the unified Kingdom of Great Britain under the Acts of Union in 1707,
   both England and Scotland lost their individual political, though not
   legal, identities. This union has subsequently changed its name twice:
   firstly on the merger with the Kingdom of Ireland following the Act of
   Union in 1800 creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
   in 1801, and then following the secession from the union of the Irish
   Free State under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the
   United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Throughout these
   changes, England retained a separate legal identity from its partners,
   with a separate legal system from those in Northern Ireland and
   Scotland, and eventually the strong feelings of the Welsh were
   acknowledged when it was decided that the name would henceforth be
   "England and Wales". Wales gained even more of an identity when, like
   Scotland, it gained its own department within the UK government, the
   Welsh Office.

Politics

   A Mediaeval manuscript, showing the Parliament of England in front of
   the king c. 1300
   Enlarge
   A Mediaeval manuscript, showing the Parliament of England in front of
   the king c. 1300

   There has not been a Government of England since 1707 when the Kingdom
   of England merged with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of
   Great Britain, although both kingdoms had been ruled by a single
   monarch since 1603 under James I. Prior to the Acts of Union 1707,
   England was ruled by a monarch and the Parliament of England.

   The Scottish and Welsh governing institutions were created by the UK
   parliament along with strong support from the majority of people of
   Scotland and Wales, and are not yet independent of the rest of Britain.
   However, this gave each country a separate and distinct political
   identity, leaving England (83% of the UK population) as the only part
   of Britain directly ruled in nearly all matters by the British
   government in London. In Cornwall, a region of England claiming a
   distinct national identity, there has been a campaign for a Cornish
   assembly along Welsh lines by nationalist parties such as Mebyon
   Kernow.

   Regarding parliamentary matters, a long-standing anomaly called the
   West Lothian question has come to the fore. Before Scottish devolution,
   purely-Scottish matters were debated at Westminster, but subject to a
   convention that only Scottish MPs could vote on them. The "Question"
   was that there was no "reverse" convention: Scottish MPs could and did
   vote on issues relating only to England and Wales. Welsh devolution has
   removed the anomaly for Wales, but not for England: Scottish and Welsh
   MPs can vote on English issues, but Scottish and Welsh issues are not
   debated at Westminster at all. This problem is exacerbated by an
   over-representation of Scottish MPs in the government, sometimes
   referred to as the Scottish mafia; as of September 2006, seven of the
   twenty-three Cabinet members are Scottish, including the Chancellor of
   the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Defence Secretary.

   In terms of national administration, England's affairs are managed by a
   combination of the UK government, the UK parliament, a number of
   England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage, and the Regional
   Assemblies (a kind of nascent executive for each English Region).

   There are calls for a devolved English Parliament, and some English
   people and parties go further by calling for the dissolution of the
   Union entirely. However, the approach favoured by the current Labour
   government was (on the basis that England is too large to be governed
   as a single sub-state entity) to propose the devolution of power to the
   Regions of England. Lord Falconer claimed a devolved English parliament
   would dwarf the rest of the United Kingdom. Referendums would decide
   whether people wanted to vote for directly-elected regional assemblies
   to watch over the work of the non-elected Regional Development
   Agencies.

   During the campaign, a common criticism of the proposals was that
   England did not need "another tier of bureaucracy". On the other hand,
   many said that they were not decentralising enough, and amounted not to
   devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation,
   with no real power being removed from central government, and no real
   power given to the regions, which would not even gain the limited
   powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative
   powers of the Scottish Parliament (note: Welsh powers are now being
   expanded). They said that power was simply re-allocated within the
   region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of
   Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Late in
   the process, responsibility for regional transport was added to the
   proposals. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment
   at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent
   Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution
   campaign. However, a referendum on this issue in North East England on
   4 November 2004 rejected this proposal, and plans for referendums in
   other Regions (such as Yorkshire) were shelved.

Subdivisions

   East
   London
   South East
   South West
   East Midlands
   West Midlands
   Yorks & the Humber
   North East
   North West

   Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the
   county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old,
   pre-unification England (such as the Kingdoms of Sussex and Kent) and
   further Mediaeval reorganisations (sometimes using duchies such as
   Lancashire and Cornwall). These historical county lines were usually
   drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of
   England. The counties each had a county town and many county names were
   drawn from these (for example Nottinghamshire, from Nottingham).

   Since the latter part of the 19th Century there has been a series of
   local government reorganisations. The solution to the emergence of
   large urban areas was the creation of large metropolitan counties
   centred on cities (an example being Greater Manchester). In the 1990s
   reform of local government, there began the creation of unitary
   authorities, where districts gained the administrative status of a
   county. Today, there exists some confusion between the ceremonial
   counties (which do not necessarily form an administrative unit) and the
   metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties.

   Non-metropolitan counties (or "shire counties") are divided into one or
   more districts. At the very lowest level, England is divided into
   parishes, though these are not to be found everywhere (many urban areas
   for example are unparished). Parishes are prohibited from existing in
   Greater London.

   England is now also divided into 9 regions, which do not have an
   elected authority and exist to co-ordinate certain local government
   functions across a wider area. London is a special case, and is the one
   region which currently has a representative authority as well as a
   directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of
   London remain the local form of government in the city.

Geography

   A satellite view of England and Wales.
   Enlarge
   A satellite view of England and Wales.

   England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of
   Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle
   of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by
   Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of
   Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21
   nautical mile) sea gap.

   Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous
   in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east
   and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated
   by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying
   marshland in the east, the Fens, much of which has been drained for
   agricultural use.

   The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in English
   the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area";
   these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by
   some people to boost the ranking of their own city. However, by any
   definition London is by far the largest English city and one of the
   largest and busiest cities in the world. Manchester and Birmingham now
   vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in central and
   northern England, are of substantial size and influence. These include:
   Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, Bristol, Coventry, Leicester,
   Nottingham and Hull.

   The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, directly links England to the
   European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the
   tunnel.

   The largest natural harbour in England is at Poole, on the
   south-central coast. Some regard it as the second largest harbour in
   the world, after Sydney, Australia, although this fact is disputed (see
   harbours for a list of other large natural harbours).

Climate

   England has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year
   round, though the seasons are quite variable in temperature. However,
   temperatures rarely fall below −5°C (23°F) or rise above 30°C (86°F).
   The prevailing wind is from the southwest, bringing mild and wet
   weather to England regularly from the Atlantic Ocean. It is driest in
   the east and warmest in the southeast, which is closest to the European
   mainland. Snowfall can occur in Winter and early Spring, though it is
   not that common away from high ground.

   The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F)
   on August 10, 2003 at Brogdale, near Faversham, in Kent. The lowest
   temperature ever recorded in England is −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) on January
   10, 1982 at Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire.

Major rivers

   View of the River Thames from the terrace at Somerset House, by Antonio
   Canaletto.
   Enlarge
   View of the River Thames from the terrace at Somerset House, by Antonio
   Canaletto.
     * Severn (the longest river in Great Britain)
     * Thames
     * Trent
     * Humber
     * Tyne
     * Tees
     * Ribble
     * Ouse
     * Mersey
     * Dee
     * Avon

Major conurbations

   The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the
   urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the
   15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census)
    1. Greater London (8,278,251)
    2. West Midlands (2,284,093)
    3. Greater Manchester (2,244,931)
    4. West Yorkshire (1,499,465)
    5. Liverpool (816,216)
    6. Tyneside (756,765)
    7. Nottingham (666,358)
    8. Sheffield (640,720)
    9. Bristol (551,066)
   10. Brighton (461,181)
   11. Portsmouth (442,252)
   12. Leicester (441,213)
   13. Coventry (436,000)
   14. Bournemouth/Poole (383,713)
   15. Reading (369,804)

Economics

   The Bank of England; the Central bank of the United Kingdom.
   Enlarge
   The Bank of England; the Central bank of the United Kingdom.

   England's economy is the largest of the four economies of the United
   Kingdom, with 100 of Europe's 500 largest companies based in London.
   One of the world's most highly industrialised countries, it is a leader
   in shipbuilding, textiles production and chemical products. The central
   bank of the United Kingdom, where interest rates are set and monetary
   policy is carried out, is the Bank of England in London.

   Tourism is the sixth largest industry in the UK, contributing 76
   billion pounds to the economy. It employs 1,800,000 full-time
   equivalent people — 6.1% of the working population (2002 figures).

   The largest centre for tourism is London, which attracts millions of
   international tourists every year.

   London is also home to the London Stock Exchange, the main stock
   exchange in the UK and the largest in Europe where shares and bonds are
   bought and sold.

   As part of the United Kingdom, England is a major centre of world
   economics. Its capital London, is an international leader in finance
   and the largest financial centre in Europe. England follows the
   Anglo-Saxon economic model, and is home to the Bank of England.

   London, the nation's capital exports mainly manufactured goods and
   imports things such as petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter,
   metals, and meat. England also exports large amounts of meat, exporting
   over 30,000 tonnes of beef last year, worth around £75,000,000, with
   France, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain being the
   biggest importers of beef from England.

   As part of the United Kingdom, England's official currency is Pound
   sterling (also known as British pound).

Demographics

   England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse
   nation in the United Kingdom with 50,431,700 inhabitants, or 83.8% of
   the UK's total. This would make England the 25th largest country by
   population if it were a sovereign state. The 2001 census records
   roughly around 9% of England's inhabitants as being non-white in
   origin. The country's population is 'ageing', with a declining
   percentage of the population under age 16 and a rising one of over 65.
   Population continues to rise and in every year since 1901, with the
   exception of 1976, there have been more births than deaths. England is
   one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, with 383 people
   per square kilometre, making it second only to the Netherlands.

   There is a debate over the extent to which the population of England
   (and indeed that of Britain as a whole) is composed of long-standing
   indigenous stock or descended from various groups of settlers and
   immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The Cheddar Man has been
   cited as demonstrating that a substantial proportion of the present day
   population may be descended from groups that populated the island in
   prehistory (The Times, 8 March 1997). The often given view of English
   ethnicity is that it is a mixed one with large influences from various
   waves of Celtic, Norse, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.

   The economic prosperity of England has also made it a destination for
   economic migrants from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the
   Republic of Ireland. This was particularly true during the Industrial
   Revolution.

Culture

   England has a vast culture that encompasses elements both old and new.
   Modern culture of England is sometimes difficult to identify and
   separate clearly from the culture of the wider United Kingdom, so
   intertwined are its composite nations. However, the traditional and
   historic culture of England is more clearly defined.

   English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing
   the historic sites, artifacts and environments of England.

   The English have played a significant role in the development of the
   arts and sciences.

Architecture

   England has played a big part in the advancement of architecture,
   boasting some of the finest buildings and architecture in the world.

   England is home to some of the finest mediaeval castles and forts in
   the world (see Castles in England), including Warwick Castle, the Tower
   of London and Windsor Castle (the largest inhabited castle in the world
   and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, it is the oldest
   in continuous occupation). It also has some of the most exclusive
   country houses and historic homes in the world (see List of historic
   houses in England).

   English architects have devised a number of styles over the centuries,
   including Tudor style architecture, English Baroque, Victorian
   architecture.

   Some of the best known English architects include Norman Foster,
   designer of 30 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin).
   Salisbury Cathedral by John Constable, ca. 1825.
   Enlarge
   Salisbury Cathedral by John Constable, ca. 1825.

Art

   England is home to the National Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool,
   Tate St. Ives, and the Tate Modern. Significant figures in English art
   include William Blake, William Hogarth, J.M.W. Turner and John
   Constable in the 18th and early 19th centuries, through to the
   influential William Morris in the late 19th, to L. S. Lowry during the
   20th century, and most recently names such as David Hockney and Damien
   Hirst in the present day.

Cuisine

   Dishes originating in England include:
     * Full English breakfast
     * Sunday Roast
     * Mince pies
     * Pork pie
     * Steak and Kidney Pie
     * Shepherds pie
     * Fish and chips
     * Bangers and mash
     * Lancashire Hotpot
     * Pasty
     * Toad in the hole

   Non-English dishes such as chicken tikka, korma, stir-fries, and
   vindaloo are also popular in England.

Engineering and innovation

   Famous English engineers include Isambard Kingdom Brunel, best known
   for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous
   steamships, and numerous important bridges.

   Recent English inventors include James Dyson, inventor of the Dual
   Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner.

   Other notable figures in the fields of engineering and innovation
   include:
     * Tim Berners-Lee (Inventor of the world wide web)
     * James Blundell (Performed the first blood transfusion)
     * Frank Whittle (Inventor of the jet engine)
     * Edwin Beard Budding (Inventer of the lawnmower)
     * Thomas Fowler (Inventor of the thermosiphon)
     * Richard Trevithick (Builder of the earliest steam locomotive)
     * Joseph Swan (Developer of the light bulb)

Folklore

   English folklore is rich and diverse. Many of the land's oldest legends
   share themes and sources with the Celtic/Gaelic folklore of Wales,
   Scotland and Ireland, a typical example being the legend of Herne the
   Hunter, which shares many similarities with the traditional Welsh
   legend of Gwyn ap Nudd.

   Successive waves of pre-Norman invaders and settlers, from the Romans
   onwards, via Saxons, Jutes, Angles, Norse to the Norman Conquest have
   all influenced the myth and legend of England. Some tales, such as that
   of The Lambton Wyrm show a distinct Norse influence, whilst others,
   particularly some of the events and characters associated with the
   Arthurian legends show a distinct romano-gaulic slant.

   The most famous of English folktales concerns the legends of King
   Arthur, although it would be wrong to associate these stories as purely
   English in origin as they also concern Wales and to a lesser extent
   Ireland and Scotland, and therefore should be considered as part of the
   folklore of the British Isles as a whole.

   Post-Norman stories include the tales of Robin Hood, which exists in
   many forms, and stories of other folk heroes such as Hereward The Wake
   and Dunn of Cumbria who, although being based on historical characters,
   have grown to become legends in their own right.

   Finally, other historical figures (such as Sir Francis Drake and
   'Drakes Drum') have legends associated with them who move them out of
   the realm of historical fact and into the realm of mythology.
   William Shakespeare; an English poet and playwright widely regarded as
   the greatest writer of the English language, as well as one of the
   greatest in Western literature.
   Enlarge
   William Shakespeare; an English poet and playwright widely regarded as
   the greatest writer of the English language, as well as one of the
   greatest in Western literature.

Literature

   The English language boasts a rich and prominent literary heritage.
   England has produced a wealth of significant literary figures including
   playwrights William Shakespeare, [arguably the most famous in the
   history of the English language], Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John
   Webster, as well as writers Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Jane Austen,
   William Makepeace Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Charles
   Dickens, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Virginia Woolf and Harold
   Pinter. Others, such as Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton and J.K. Rowling
   have been among the best-selling novelists of the last century. Among
   the poets, Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sydney, Thomas
   Kyd, John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Alexander Pope, Lord Byron, John
   Keats, John Milton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and many others remain read
   and studied around the world. Among men of letters, Samuel Johnson,
   William Hazlitt and George Orwell are some of the most famous.

Music

   Composers from England have often not achieved recognition as broad as
   that earned by their literary counterparts, and particularly during the
   nineteenth century were overshadowed in international reputation by
   other European composers; however, many works of earlier composers such
   as Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and Henry Purcell are still frequently
   performed today, and a revival of England's musical status began during
   the twentieth century with the prominence of composers such as Edward
   Elgar, Gustav Holst, William Walton, and Benjamin Britten.

   In popular music, English bands such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The
   Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Kinks, Black Sabbath, Iron
   Maiden, The Clash, Radiohead, Cream, Oasis and Queen have all been
   cited as among the most influential and best-selling Rock bands of all
   time, along with solo artists such as David Bowie, Kate Bush, Robbie
   Williams and Elton John. England is also credited with being the
   birthplace of many pop-culture movements such as glam rock, drum and
   bass, "baggy", grindcore, progressive rock, punk, shoegazing and acid
   house.

Science and philosophy

   Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics
   include Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Christopher
   Wren, and Andrew Wiles.

   England played an important role in the development of Western
   philosophy, particularly during the Enlightenment. Jeremy Bentham,
   leader of the Philosophical Radicals, and his school are recognised as
   the men who unknowingly laid down the doctrines for Socialism.
   Bentham's impact on English law is also considerable. Aside from
   Bentham, major English philosophers include Francis Bacon, Thomas
   Hobbes, John Locke, John Stuart Mill and Bernard Williams.

Sport

   England, during the nineteenth century, was the location of the
   codification of a number of modern sports, including association and
   rugby football (both the union and league codes in rugby football),
   cricket, tennis and badminton. Of these, association football remains
   the country's most popular spectator sport. England contains more UEFA
   grade A stadiums than any other, and is home to some of the sport's top
   clubs. The England national football team are considered one of the
   game's superpowers (currently ranked 5th by FIFA and 7th by Elo),
   having won the World Cup in 1966 when it was hosted in England. Since
   then, however, they have failed to reach a final of a major
   international tournament, though they reached the semi-finals of the
   World Cup in 1990 and the quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006 and Euro 2004
   .

   The England national rugby union team and England cricket team are
   often among the best performing in the world, with the rugby union team
   winning the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and the cricket team winning The
   Ashes in 2005. Rugby union clubs such as Leicester Tigers and the
   Northampton Saints have had success in the Europe-wide Heineken Cup. At
   rugby league, the England national rugby league team are to compete
   more regularly after 2006, when England will become a full test nation
   in lieu of the Great Britain national rugby league team, when that team
   is retired after the 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations.

   Sport England is the governing body responsible for distributing funds
   and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in England.

   The 2012 Summer Olympics are to be hosted by London, England. It will
   run from 26 July to 12 August 2012. London will become the first city
   to have hosted the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously
   done so in 1908 and 1948.

Language

   Beowulf is one of the oldest surviving epic poems in what is
   identifiable as a form of the English language.
   Enlarge
   Beowulf is one of the oldest surviving epic poems in what is
   identifiable as a form of the English language.

English language

   As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of
   millions of people around the world, originated as the language of
   England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not
   officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in the
   Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to
   Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England,
   "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived.

   Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest
   (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime
   by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its
   use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official
   business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the
   following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion
   among all classes and for all official business except certain
   traditional ceremonies, some of which survive to this day. But Middle
   English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French
   influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance,
   many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent
   years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable
   for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words.

   It is most commonly accepted that because of the legacy and impact of
   the British Empire, the English language is now the world's unofficial
   lingua franca, while English common law is also the foundation of legal
   systems throughout the English-speaking countries of the world.

Additional languages

   British law does not recognise any language as being official, but
   English is the only language used in England for general official
   business. The other national languages of the UK ( Welsh, Irish and
   Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only
   Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for
   organisations which do business in Wales).

   The only non- Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish
   language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in
   the nineteenth century but has been revived and is spoken in various
   degrees of fluency, currently by around 2000 people. This has no
   official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use,
   but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the
   European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County
   Council has produced a draft strategy to develop these plans. There is,
   however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the
   language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish
   Border, and Welsh is still spoken by some natives around Oswestry,
   Shropshire, on the Welsh border.

   Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a
   sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates
   that 250,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or
   preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England.
   Unlike Cornish, BSL is an official language of the UK although most
   British government departments and hospitals have limited facilities
   for deaf people. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL
   interpreters.

   Different languages from around the world, especially from the former
   British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to
   England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic
   minority communities, with Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Polish,
   Greek, Turkish and Cantonese being the most common languages that
   people living in Britain consider their first language. These are often
   used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of
   the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as
   needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative
   ordinances.

   Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority
   populations in England, including Romany.

   Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a many
   distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong
   accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country. Use of
   foreign non-standard varieties of English (such as Caribbean English)
   is also increasingly widespread, mainly because of the effects of
   immigration and post-colonialism.

Religion

   There is enormous diversity in religious belief in England, as well as
   a considerable percentage who profess no religious belief. Levels of
   religious observance in England have, however, gone into a state of
   decline.

Christianity

   Stained glass from Rochester Cathedral, Kent, England. Note the use of
   the Flag of England in this work.
   Enlarge
   Stained glass from Rochester Cathedral, Kent, England. Note the use of
   the Flag of England in this work.

   Christianity reached England through missionaries from Scotland and
   from Continental Europe; the era of St. Augustine (the first Archbishop
   of Canterbury) and the Celtic Christian missionaries in the north
   (notably St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert). The Synod of Whitby in 685
   ultimately led to the English Church being fully part of Roman
   Catholicism. In 1536, the Church was split from Rome over the issue of
   the divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. The split led
   to the emergence of a separate ecclesiatical authority, and later the
   influence of the Reformation, resulting in the Church of England and
   Anglicanism. Unlike the other three constituent countries of the UK,
   the Church of England is an established church (although the Church of
   Scotland is a 'national church' recognised in law).

   The 16th-century break with Rome under the reign of King Henry VIII and
   the dissolution of the monasteries had major consequences for the
   Church (as well as for politics). The Church of England remains the
   largest Christian church in England; it is part of the Anglican
   communion. Many of the Church of England's cathedrals and parish
   churches are historic buildings of significant architectural
   importance.

   Other major Christian Protestant denominations in England include the
   Methodist Church, the Baptist Church and the United Reformed Church.
   Smaller denominations, but not insignificant, include the Religious
   Society of Friends (the "Quakers") and the Salvation Army - both
   founded in England. There are also Afro-Caribbean Churches, especially
   in the London area.

   The Catholic Church re-established a hierarchy in England in the 19th
   century. Attendances were considerably boosted by immigration,
   especially from Ireland.

Other religions

   Throughout the second half of the 20th century, immigration from South
   Asia and the Middle East has resulted in a considerable growth in
   Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism in England. Cities and towns with large
   Muslim communities include Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bradford,
   Leicester, London, Luton, Manchester and Oldham.

   The Jewish community in England is mainly located in the Greater London
   area, particularly the north west suburbs such as Golders Green.

Transport

Air

   The British Airports Authority runs many of England's airports, its
   flagship being London Heathrow Airport, the largest traffic volume
   international airport in Europe and one of the world's busiest
   airports, and London Gatwick Airport, the second largest. The third
   largest is Manchester International Airport, in Manchester, which is
   run by Manchester Airport Group, which also owns various other
   airports.

   Other major airports include London Stansted Airport in Essex, about
   thirty miles (50 km) north of London and Birmingham International
   Airport, in Birmingham.

   The largest airline in England is British Airways, who operate
   long-distance flights from the UK all over the globe. Others include
   bmi, Easyjet, and Virgin Atlantic.

Rail

   The British railway system is one of the most dense in the world. It
   touches nearly every developed area in the country and carries both
   passengers and freight.

   The London Underground is the oldest and most extensive underground
   railway in the world, and currently consists of 253 miles (407
   kilometres) of line of line across 260 stations.

   In October 2006, Transport For London awarded £363 000 000 to the
   Balfour Beatty and Carillion consortium for the development of a new
   East London railway. Construction is set to begin in 2007 and is hoped
   to be completed in 2010, in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Road

Water

   There is about 4,400 miles of navigable waterways in England, of which
   roughly half is owned by British Waterways. It is estimated that 165
   million journeys are made by people on Britain's waterways annually.

English people

   As an ethnic group, the English trace their heritage to the
   Romano-Britons, Anglo-Saxons, the Danish-Vikings that formed the
   Danelaw during the time of Alfred the Great and the Normans.

   Regardless of ethnic connotations, the simplest view is that an English
   person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality,
   regardless of his or her racial origin. It has, however, been a
   notoriously complicated, emotive and controversial identity to delimit.

   Centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a
   situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an
   "unmarked" state. The English frequently include their neighbours in
   the wider term of "British", while the Scots and Welsh tend to be more
   forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific
   terms. This reflects a more subtle form of English-specific patriotism
   in England; St George's Day, the country's national day, is barely
   celebrated.

   It is believed amongst English nationalist circles that the 'natural
   culture' of England is comprised of legacies of Brythonic tribes of
   Celts and Anglo-Saxons appearing in waves of gradual migration. It also
   is seen as being influenced by the Scandinavian legends such as
   Beowulf, and by the Norman Conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a
   common early location for English identity.

   Modern celebration of English identity is often found around its
   sports, one field in which the British Home Nations often compete
   individually. The English Association football team, Rugby Union team
   and Cricket team often cause increases in the popularity of celebrating
   Englishness.

   According to research and the analysis of names in Britain in 2006, the
   town of Ripley in Derbyshire has the highest proportion of people of
   ethnic-English origin. The analysis put 42.2 million adult voters in
   mainland Britain into 200 ethnic groups, based on both given names and
   surnames. Of Ripley's inhabitants, 88.5 percent have an English-ethnic
   background. Heanor, also in Derbyshire, was in second place, followed
   by Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, and Boston, Lincolnshire.

Nomenclature

   The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes
   who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries. There are two
   distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country.

   The majority of European languages use names similar to "England":
     * "England" ( Danish, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish)
     * "Engeland" (Dutch)
     * "Inglismaa" ( Estonian)
     * "Angleterre" (French)
     * "Англия" (Angliya) (Russian, Bulgarian)
     * "Anglaterra" ( Catalan)
     * "Inghilterra" ( Italian)
     * "Ingilterra" ( Maltese, Egyptian)
     * "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
     * "İngiltere" ( Turkish)
     * "Anglia" ( Latin, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
     * "Anglija" ( Slovene, Lithuanian, Latvian, Ukrainian)
     * "Engleska" ( Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian)
     * "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") ( Greek)
     * "Englanti" ( Finnish)
     * "Ingalaterra" ( Basque)

   The Celtic names are quite different:
     * " Bro-Saoz" ( Breton)
     * " Pow Sows" ( Cornish)
     * " Sasana" ( Irish)
     * " Sasainn" ( Scottish Gaelic)
     * " Lloegr" ( Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
     * " Sostyn" ( Manx)

   Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are
   all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which
   arrived at about the same time as the Angles.

   The names in Asian languages:
     * "انگلستان" ("Inglistan") ( Persian)
     * "אנגליה" (Anglia) (Hebrew)
     * "イングランド" (Ingurando) ( Japanese)
     * "Engalaantha" ( Sri Lankans (Sinhalese))
     * "இங்கிலாந்து" (In-gi-laan-dhu) (Sri Lankans (Tamils)
     * "Nước Anh" ( Vietnamese))
     * "Inggeris" (Indonesian))
     * "อังกฤษ" (Ang-grit) ( Thai)
     * "英格兰" (Yīnggélán) (Chinese)

   See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for
   England.

   Alternative names include:
     * the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning
       "foreign" (which coincidentally resembles "Britain")
     * " Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and
       Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white
       (Latin alba) cliffs of Dover, this term has also been interpreted
       as a relative of Alba, today the Scots Gaelic name for Scotland.
       Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole
       island of Great Britain and is still sometimes seen that way
       today — but is more often used for England.
     * More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this
       other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations
       respectively from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II)
       and William Blake ( And did those feet in ancient time).

   Slang terms sometimes used for the people of England include
   "Sassenachs" or "Sasanachs" (from the Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic
   respectively, both originally meaning "Saxon"), "Limeys" (in reference
   to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent
   scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English and New Zealand
   English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative
   words for British.

National symbols and insignia

   The two main traditional symbols of England are the St George's cross
   (the English flag), and the Three Lions coat of arms, both derived from
   the great European powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of
   Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou.

   Also, an icon of the Crown of St. Edward is used on all government and
   official coat of arms of nearly every public institution and service,
   as well as some older street furniture.

   Other National symbols exist, but have varying degrees of official
   usage. The National Tree of England is the Oak tree, the national
   flower is the rose, and the national animal is the Lion.

St George's Cross

   The St George's Cross is a red cross on a white background. It is the
   official national flag of England. In the past it was rarely seen
   flying, but in recent times has experienced an increase in popularity.
   It is believed to have been adopted for the uniform of English soldiers
   during the Crusades of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
   From about 1277 it officially became the national flag of England. St
   George's Cross was originally the flag of Genoa and was adopted by
   England and the City of London in 1190 for their ships entering the
   Mediterranean to benefit from the protection of the powerful Genoese
   fleet. The maritime Republic of Genoa was rising and going to become,
   together with its rival Venice, one of the most important powers in the
   world. The English Monarch paid an annual tribute to the Doge of Genoa
   for this privilege. The cross of St George would become the official
   Flag of England.

   A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th
   centuries. It became associated with St George and England, along with
   other countries and cities (such as Georgia, Milan and the Republic of
   Genoa), which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a
   banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the Union Jack
   (more properly known as the Union Flag, except when used at sea) which
   English and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606, was adopted for
   all purposes to unite the whole of Great Britain under a common flag.
   The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it is
   widely flown by Church of England properties and at sporting events.
   The Flag of St. George has gained popularity in recent years, and is
   widely seen flown out of houses, or on cars during important football
   tournaments in which England is competing. (Paradoxically, the latter
   is a fairly recent development; until the late 20th century, it was
   commonplace for fans of English teams to wave the Union Flag, rather
   than the St George's Cross).

Three Lions

   The "Three Lions" is the unofficial crest of England and was first used
   by Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in the late 12th century (although
   it is also possible that Henry I may have bestowed it on his son Henry
   before then).

   Although the "Three Lions" are not used in any official capacity on
   their own (e.g. governmental or Royal events), they do feature in the
   first and fourth quarters of the Royal Coat of Arms of the United
   Kingdom. However, the arms of both the Football Association and the
   England and Wales Cricket Board are based on the three lions design. In
   recent years, it has been common to see banners of the arms flown at
   English football matches, in the same way the Lion Rampant is flown in
   Scotland.

   In 1996, Three Lions was the official song of the England football team
   for the 1996 European Football Championship, which were held in
   England.

   Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true
   symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin
   line.

Rose

   The Tudor Rose, is a traditional symbol of England.
   Enlarge
   The Tudor Rose, is a traditional symbol of England.

   The Tudor rose is the national floral emblem of England, and was
   adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of the Wars of
   the Roses.

   The rose is used in a variety of contexts in its use for England's
   representation. On technicallity, the rose of England should always be
   a Tudor, or half-red-half-white rose, symbolising the end of both the
   War of the Roses and subsequent marriage between the House of Lancaster
   and the House of York. This is reflected in the Royal coat of arms of
   the United Kingdom and the crest of the FA. However, the rose of
   England is often displayed as a red rose (which also symbolises
   Lancashire), such as the badge of the England national rugby union
   team. A white rose (which also symbolises Yorkshire) is also used on
   different occasions.

National anthem

   England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the
   United Kingdom as a whole has " God Save The Queen" as its national
   anthem.

   The following though are widely regarded as unofficial English national
   hymns:
     * " I Vow to Thee, My Country": Words by Cecil Spring-Rice, Music by
       Gustav Holst
     * " Land of Hope and Glory": Words by A C Benson, Music by Edward
       Elgar (although this refers to all of the United Kingdom, not only
       England)
     * " Nimrod": Music by Edward Elgar
     * " Jerusalem": Words by William Blake, Music by Hubert Parry

   To a lesser extent, Heart of Oak, the unofficial Royal Navy anthem has
   also been proposed. Music by Dr. William Boyce (1711-1779). English
   words by the famous actor David Garrick (1716-1779) in 1759.

   " God Save The Queen" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is
   usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches)
   against teams from outside the UK (although "Land of Hope and Glory"
   has also been used as the English anthem for the Commonwealth Games and
   the England national rugby league team). "Jerusalem" has been sung
   before England cricket matches. " Rule Britannia" (Britannia being the
   Roman name for England and Wales combined but also a personification of
   the United Kingdom) was often used in the past for the English national
   football team when they played against another of the home nations but
   more recently "God Save The Queen" has been used by both the rugby
   union and football teams.

Education in England

   The education system in England is run by the Department for Education
   and Skills, or DfES. The education is split into several types; Private
   schools provide a paid for education on top of taxes, and are also
   known as Public or Independent schools, and State schools, funded
   through taxes. Education is the responsibility of Department for
   Education and Skills at national level and, in the case of publicly
   funded compulsory education, of Local Education Authorities. The
   education structures for Wales and Northern Ireland are broadly similar
   to the English system, but there are significant differences of
   emphasis in the depth and breadth of teaching objectives in Scotland.
   Traditionally the English system emphasises depth of education, whereas
   the Scottish system emphasises breadth.

Gallery of images

   Tower of London, London.

   The Palace of Westminster - the political centre of the United Kingdom.

   Canterbury Cathedral

   Stonehenge- a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument in
   Wiltshire.

   Statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, opposite the Palace
   of Westminster in central London. Another cast of the same statue is
   found in Oslo, Norway.

   The White cliffs of Dover, Kent.

   A portrait of Henry VIII of England, c.1536.

   The London skyline, as seen in 2005.

   The Robin Hood Memorial in Nottingham.

   The Throne room at Buckingham Palace, London.

   Manchester Town Hall is an example of Victorian architecture found in
   Manchester, England.

   The Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, England, by acclaimed engineer,
   Isambard Kingdom Brunel

   The Queen Victoria Statue, at Piccadilly Gardens in central Manchester.

   Borrowdale in the Lake District- one of twelve National parks of
   England and Wales.

   An idyllic/ cliché image of Big Ben, central London.

   Westminster Abbey; The traditional place of coronation and burial site
   for English monarchs.

   York Minster, an Anglican Gothic cathedral in York, Northern England.
   York Minster is the largest Medieval church in the United Kingdom and
   the Commonwealth of Nations.

   Statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester.

   Nelson's Column, Statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson

   The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford.

   The London Eye

   The London Underground

   Buckingham Palace

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
