England - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/England

England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
England
England /ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United
Kingdom.[7][8][9] Its 51,092,000[6] inhabitants account for
more than 83% of the total UK population,[10] while its
mainland territory occupies most of the southern two-thirds
of the island of Great Britain. England is bordered by
Scotland to the north, Wales to the west and the North Sea,
Flag Royal Coat of Arms
Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel.
The capital is London, the largest metropolitan area in Great Motto: Dieu et mon droit (French)
Britain, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by "God and my right"
many measures.[note 1]
Anthem: None officially specific to England; the anthem of
England became a unified state in 927 AD and takes its the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen". See also De
name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who Facto National anthem of England.
settled there during the 5th and 6th centuries. It has had a
significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world being
the place of origin of the English language, the Church of
England, and English law, which forms the basis of the
common law legal systems of countries around the world. In
addition, England was the birth place of the Industrial
Revolution, thus being the first country in the world to
industrialise.[11] It is home to the Royal Society, which laid
the foundations of modern experimental science.[12] England
has the world's oldest parliamentary system,[13] and
consequently, other constitutional, governmental and legal Location of England (inset – orange)
in the United Kingdom (camel)
innovations that stemmed from England have been widely
in the European continent (white)
adopted by other nations.

England is a predominantly lowland country, although there Capital London

are upland regions in the north (including the Lake District, (and largest city) 51°30′N 0°7′W

Pennines and Yorkshire Moors) and in the south and south Official languages English1
west (including Dartmoor, the Cotswolds, and the North and
Recognised
South Downs). The population of England is concentrated in Cornish2
regional languages
London and the South East, as well as conurbations in the
Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire, all Ethnic groups (2006 90% White, 5.3% South Asian,
[1][2]
of which developed as major industrial regions during the ) 2.7% Black, 1.6% Mixed race,
19th century. 0.7% Chinese, 0.6% Other

Demonym English
The Kingdom of England (including Wales) continued as a
separate state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union, Government Constitutional monarchy
putting into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union - Monarch Elizabeth II
the previous year, resulted in political union with the - Prime Minister of the Gordon Brown MP
Kingdom of Scotland to create the united Kingdom of Great United Kingdom
Britain.[14] In 1800, Great Britain was united with Ireland
Legislature Parliament of the United
through another Act of Union 1800 to become the United
Kingdom
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free
State was established as a separate dominion, but the Royal Unified
and Parliamentary Titles Act in 1927 reincorporated into the - by Athelstan AD 927
kingdom six Irish counties to officially create the current
Area
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- Total 130,395 km2
50,346 sq mi
Population

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- 2007 estimate 51,092,0003

Contents - 2001 census 49,138,831
- Density 392/km2
1 Etymology and usage 1,015/sq mi
2 History GDP (PPP) 2006 estimate
3 Government and politics - Total $1.9 trillion[3]
4 Law and criminal justice - Per capita US$38,000[4]
5 Geography
GDP (nominal) 2006 estimate
6 Economics - Total $2.2 trillion[5]
7 Demography - Per capita $44,000[5]
8 Culture
9 Language HDI (2006) ▲ 0.940 (high)
10 Religion Currency Pound sterling (GBP)

11 Education Time zone GMT (UTC0)

12 Healthcare - Summer (DST) BST (UTC+1)
13 Transport
14 People Internet TLD .uk4
15 Nomenclature
Calling code 44
16 National symbols, insignia and anthems
17 Notes Patron saint St. George
18 References 1 English is established by de facto usage.
19 External links 2 Cornish is officially recognised as a Regional or Minority language under
the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
3 [6]
4 Also .eu, as part of the European Union. ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is
Etymology and usage unused. All these top level domain names are assigned to the United
Kingdom as a whole, with no separate allocation to the countries which
See also: Terminology of the British Isles comprise it.

England is named after the Angles, the largest of the Germanic tribes who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries,
and who are believed to have originated in the peninsula of Angeln, in what is now Denmark and northern Germany.[15]
(The further etymology of this tribe's name remains uncertain, although a popular theory holds that it need be sought no
further than the word angle itself.) The Angles' name has had various spellings. The earliest known reference to these
people is under the Latinised version Anglii used by Tacitus in chapter 40 of his Germania,[16] written around 98 AD.
He gives no precise indication of their geographical position within Germania, but states that, with six other tribes, they
worshipped a goddess named Nerthus, whose sanctuary was situated on "an island in the Ocean".

The early 8th century historian Bede, in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English
People), refers to the English people as Angelfolc (in English) or Angli (in Latin).[17] According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, the first known usage of "England" referring to the southern part of the island of Great Britain was in 897,
with the modern spelling first used in 1538.

England is officially defined as "subject to any alteration of boundaries under Part IV of the Local Government Act
1972, the area consisting of the counties established by section 1 of that Act, Greater London and the Isles of Scilly."[18]

History
Early history

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Stonehenge, a Neolithic and
Bronze Age megalithic
monument in Wiltshire,
thought to have been erected
c.2000–2500 BC.
Bones and flint tools found in Norfolk and Suffolk show that Homo erectus lived in
what is now England about 700,000 years ago.[19] At this time, Great Britain was
joined to mainland 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. This area was greatly depopulated during the period
of the last major ice age, as were other regions of the British Isles. In the subsequent
recolonisation, after the thawing of the ice, genetic research shows that present-day
England was the last area of the British Isles to be repopulated,[20] about 13,000 years
ago. The migrants arriving during this period contrast with the other of the inhabitants
of the British Isles, coming across lands from the south east of Europe, whereas earlier
arriving inhabitants came north along a coastal route from Iberia. These migrants would
later adopt the Celtic culture that came to dominate much of western Europe.

In the summer of 55 BC, Julius Caesar invaded Britain with an army of two legions. Caesar
set out from Gaul and was hampered by the weather while crossing the English Channel. He
landed in southern England and although he established a beachhead, his cavalry was unable
to land to support the infantry and a storm damaged the fleet. Faced with being cut off from
support and the Roman territory of Gaul, Caesar ordered the ships repaired and retreated.[21]
He returned the following year with a larger force and a bigger fleet designed to be able to
withstand conditions in the English Channel and to be better at landing. Although the five
legions and 2,000 cavalry, a combined force of about 30,000 men, successfully landed the
fleet again suffered storm damage. After Caesar fought his way across the River Thames the
Britons adopted guerrilla tactics. Caesar secured a treaty with Cassivellaunus, a warlord
leading the British resistance, and some other chiefs of the local tribes before returning to Roman Britain in 125
Gaul.[22] Despite the decay of the treaty in the early 1st century AD, which had stipulated AD, showing native
tribes, cities, main roads
that the Trinovantes – a tribe who were allied with Rome – were unharmed, Rome did not get and legions deployed.
involved in Britain until 43 AD.[23]

Boudica, queen of the Iceni, led a major uprising of the Briton tribes against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
[24][25]
David Mattingly estimates that in the period of the conquest (43–83 AD), between 100,000 and 250,000 were
killed, out of a total population of some two million.[26] With the fall of the Roman Empire 400 years later, the Romans
left the province of Britannia, much of which later came to be known as England.[27]

Medieval England

The History of Anglo-Saxon England covers the history of early mediæval 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.[28][29] 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
seventh to tenth centuries were the spread of Christianity and the political unification of
England. Christianity is thought to have come from three directions—from Rome to the south,
and Scotland and Ireland to the north and west, respectively. From about 500 AD, it is
believed England was divided into seven petty kingdoms, known as the Heptarchy:
Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex.[30] The Anglo-Saxon
An Anglo-Saxon helmet kingdoms tended to coalesce by means of warfare. As early as the time of Ethelbert of Kent,
found at Sutton Hoo, one king could be recognised as Bretwalda ("Lord of Britain"). Generally speaking, the title
probably belonging to fell in the 7th century to the kings of Northumbria; in the 8th to those of Mercia; and in the
Raedwald of East 9th to Egbert of Wessex, who in 825 defeated the Mercians at the Battle of Ellendun. In the
Anglia circa 625.
next century, his family came to rule England.[31] The "Great Heathen Army" of Danish
Vikings pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century.[32]

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Originally, England was a geographical term to describe the part of Britain occupied by the
Anglo-Saxons, rather than a name of an individual nation-state. It became politically united
through the expansion of the kingdom of Wessex, whose king Athelstan brought the whole of
England under one ruler for the first time in 927, although unification did not become
permanent until 954, when Edred defeated Eric Bloodaxe and became King of England.[33]

In 1016, England was conquered by the Danish king Canute the Great and became the centre
of government for his short-lived empire. With the accession of Edward the Confessor, heir of
the native English dynasty, in 1042, England once again became a separate kingdom. Its ties
and nature, however, were forever changed following the Norman Conquest in 1066.[34]
England took its first Census when the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086 for tax
The signing of the
purposes.[35] Over 10% of England’s population entered in the Domesday Book were Magna Carta in 1215. It
slaves.[36] More than 90% of the English population (of about two million) lived in the was one of the first
steps towards the idea of
countryside.[37]
modern democracy.
The next few hundred years saw England as a major part of expanding and dwindling empires
based in France with the "Kings of England" using England as a source of troops to enlarge their personal holdings in
France for years (Hundred Years' War) starting with Edward III;[38] in fact, the English crown did not relinquish its last
foothold on mainland France until Calais was lost in 1558, during the reign of Mary Tudor (the Channel Islands are still
crown dependencies, though not part of the UK).[39]

In the 13th century Wales (the remaining Romano-Celts) was brought under the control
of English monarchs through conquest. This was formalised in the Statute of Rhuddlan
in 1284 and Wales was legally annexed to the Kingdom of England by the Laws in
Wales Acts 1535–1542. Wales shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity
originally called England and later England and Wales.[31] An epidemic of catastrophic
proportions, the Black Death first reached England in the summer of 1348.[40] The
Black Death is estimated to have killed between a third and two-thirds of Europe's
population. England alone lost as much as 70% of its population, which passed from
seven million to two million in 1400. The plague repeatedly returned to haunt England Fifteenth-century miniature
throughout the 14th to 17th centuries.[40] The Great Plague of London in 1665–1666 depicting the English victory
was the last plague outbreak.[41] over France at the Battle of
Agincourt.

Early Modern period

During the English Reformation in the 16th century, the external authority of the
Roman Catholic Church in England was abolished and replaced with Acts of Royal
Supremacy and the establishment of the Church of England ("Anglican Church") under
the Supreme Governance of the English monarch. This occurred during the reign of
Henry VIII. The English Reformation differed from its European counterparts in that its
roots were more political than theological.[note 2]

The English Reformation paved the way for the spread of Anglicanism in the church
and other institutions.
Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I
made to commemorate the
The period known as the English Civil War (1642–1651) saw political machinations and English victory over the
armed conflicts between supporters of the Long Parliament (Roundheads) and of King Spanish Armada in 1588.
Charles I (Royalists) in 1642 to 1645 and 1648 to 1649, followed by conflict between
supporters of the Rump Parliament and of King Charles II in 1649 to 1651. The War
ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. It had led to the trial and
execution of Charles I, the exile of his son Charles II, the replacement of the English monarchy with the Commonwealth
of England (1649–1653) and personal rule by Oliver Cromwell during The Protectorate (1653–1659).

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After Cromwell's death in 1659, a brief return, lead by Cromwell's weak son, to
Commonwealth rule was attempted before Parliament invited Charles II to return to
England in 1660 and restore the monarchy. During the interregnum, the Church of
England's monopoly on Christian worship in England came to an end and the Protestant
Ascendancy consolidated in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established a precedent
that British monarchs could not govern without parliamentary consent, although this
would not be cemented until the Glorious Revolution later in the century.

Although embattled for centuries, the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland
had been drawing increasingly together since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th
The Restoration under Charles century[42] and in 1603, with the Scottish king James VI accession to the English
II restored peace after the Civil crown, the two countries became linked by a personal union, being ruled by the same
War.
Stuart dynasty.[42][43] Following a number of attempts to unite the Kingdoms, a Treaty
of Union was agreed on 22 July 1706 by representatives of the English and Scottish
parliaments,[44] and put into effect by the Acts of Union which resulted in political union between the states with the
creation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 May 1707.[42] The Kingdom of Ireland was joined to Great Britain
with the 1801 Act of Union to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which lasted until the Irish Free
State was established in 1922. Six Irish counties reverted to the kingdom shortly thereafter, resulting in the current
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Within the Union

After the Union, England and Wales retained their separate legal identity since the continuance of the separate Scottish
legal system was enshrined in the Articles of the Treaty of Union. Wales was already part of the Kingdom of England but
the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 made it explicit that laws passed for England were automatically applicable to Wales.
The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 also referred to the formerly Scottish burgh of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The border town
changed hands several times and was finally conquered by England in 1482 but was not officially incorporated into
England. Contention about whether Berwick was in England or Scotland was ended by the union of the two in 1707.[45]

Berwick remains within the English legal system and so is regarded today as part of England (though there has been
suggestion in Scotland that Berwick should be invited to 'return to the fold').[46] The county of Monmouthshire has long
been an ambiguous area with its legal identity passing between England and Wales at various periods. In the Local
Government Act 1972, it was made part of Wales. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are crown dependencies and
are not part of England.

Government and politics

There has not been a Government of England since 1707, when the Acts of Union 1707,
putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year,
joined the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the united Kingdom of
Great Britain.[47] Prior to this, England was ruled by a monarch and the Parliament of
England. However, following the establishment of devolved government for Scotland and
Wales in 1999, England was left as the only country within the United Kingdom still governed
in matters by the UK government and the UK parliament in London.[note 3]

Since Westminster is the UK parliament but also legislates on matters that affect England
alone, devolution of national matters to parliament/assemblies in Scotland, Wales, and
Northern Ireland has refocused attention on the anomaly called the West Lothian question.
The "question" is why Scottish and Welsh MPs should continue to be able to vote on
legislation relating only to England while English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate on A mediæval manuscript,
[note 4] showing the Parliament
devolved matters. This constitutional arrangement resulted in the Labour government of England in front of
only winning a 2004 vote to impose higher tuition fees on students in England due to the the king c. 1300
support of Scottish Labours MPs.[48] This "question" is also exacerbated by the large number
of Scottish MPs in the government, a group sometimes disparagingly called the Scottish mafia, and by having a Prime
Minister, Gordon Brown, who represents a Scottish constituency that is unaffected by the policy decisions he takes.

There are calls for a devolved English parliament, such as by former minister Frank Field MP,[49] and there is opinion

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poll evidence of public support for the idea.[50] Some minor English parties go further, calling for the dissolution of the
Union.[51] 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.[52] The Conservative
Party, on the other hand, are considering proposals to ban Scottish MPs from voting on English only legislation in
Westminster.[53] Today, therefore, England's affairs are managed by a combination of the UK government, the UK
parliament, and England-specific quangos such as English Heritage.

Politics

A total of 529 of the current 646 MPs in the House of Commons represent English
constituencies, which will rise to 533 out of 650 at the next general election.

The Palace of Westminster, the
seat of the Parliament of the
United Kingdom.
English MPs elected.[54]
At the 2005 General Election the majority of England's MPs had been Labour
candidates, with 284 MPs elected, with 35.4% of the popular vote in the 529 English
constituencies. The Conservative Party won more votes than any other single
party—with 35.7% of the vote in England—achieving 194 Conservative MPs. The
Liberal Democrats were the third largest party, winning 47 MPs with 22.5% of the vote.
One candidate for Respect and one Kidderminster Hospital campaigner were the other

Subdivisions and local government

The upper-tier subdivisions of England are the nine Regions of England or European Union
government office regions.[55] A London referendum in 1998 on the question of having a
directly elected assembly and directly elected mayor produced a large majority in favour and
it was intended that other regions would also be given their own elected regional assemblies.
However, a rejection by a referendum in 2004 of a proposed assembly in the North East
region stopped this idea in its tracks.[note 5] During the campaign, a common criticism of the
proposals was that England did not need "another tier of bureaucracy".[56]

Below the regional level, London consists of 32 London boroughs and the rest of England has
either county councils and district councils or unitary authorities. At the lowest level, much of
England is divided into parishes though parishes are prohibited from existing in Greater Manchester Town Hall
London.

Law and criminal justice

The English common law legal system, developed over the centuries, is also the
foundation of many legal systems throughout the English-speaking countries of the
world.[57]

It continued to apply in England and Wales after the Treaty of Union because the terms
of the Treaty specifically guaranteed the continued existence of Scotland's separate
legal system, which meant that England's system has also remained separate.

The Royal Courts of Justice The essence of English common law is that it is made by judges sitting in courts,
applying their common sense and knowledge of legal precedent (stare decisis) to the
facts before them. The court system is headed by the Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales, consisting of
the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Appellate
Committee of the House of Lords (usually just referred to as "The House of Lords") is presently the highest court for
both criminal and civil cases in England and Wales though recent constitutional changes will see the powers of the
House of Lords transfer to a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.[58] A decision of the highest appeal court in
England and Wales, the House of Lords, is binding on every other court in the hierarchy, and they will follow its
directions.

Crime in England and Wales increased between 1981 and 1995, but fell 42% overall from 1995 to 2006/7.[59] However,

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despite this fall in crime rates, the prison population of England and Wales almost doubled during the same period to
over 80,000, giving England and Wales the highest rate of incarceration in Western Europe at 147 inmates per 100,000
population.[60] Her Majesty's Prison Service, which reports to the Ministry of Justice, manages most of the prisons within
England and Wales.[61]

Geography
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 mainland Britain, divided from France only by a 24-statute mile (52 km or 21
nautical mile)[62] sea gap. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, directly links England
to mainland Europe. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel.[63]

Much of England consists of rolling hills, but it is generally more mountainous in the
A view of Borrowdale from
north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. Other hilly Grayrigg Forest in the Lake
areas in the north and Midlands are the Lake District, the North York Moors, and the District.
Peak District. The approximate dividing line between terrain types is often indicated by
the Tees-Exe line. To the south of that line, there are larger areas of flatter land,
including East Anglia and the Fens, although hilly areas include the Cotswolds, the
Chilterns, and the North and South Downs.

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).
The rolling terrain of the North
Climate York Moors

England has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round, although 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 south-west,
bringing mild and wet weather to England regularly from the Atlantic Ocean. It is driest
in the east and warmest in the south, which is closest to the European mainland.
Snowfall can occur in winter and early spring, although it is not that common away
from high ground.

The highest temperature recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on 10 August 2003
at Brogdale, near Faversham, in Kent.[64] The lowest temperature recorded in England
is −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) on 10 January 1982 at Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire.

Major rivers

England has a number of important rivers including the Severn (the longest river and The River Avon under the
largest river basin in Great Britain), Tees, Thames, Trent, Humber, Tyne, Wear, Ribble, Pulteney Bridge in Bath,
Somerset
Ouse, Mersey, Dee, Aire, Avon and Medway.

Major conurbations

London is by far the largest urban area in England and one of the largest and busiest
cities in the world. Other cities, mainly in central and northern England, are of
substantial size and influence. The list of England's largest cities or urban areas is open
to debate because, although the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up
urban area", this can be hard to define, particularly because administrative areas in
England often do not correspond with the limits of urban development, and many towns A view of Sheffield, one of
and cities have, over the centuries, grown to form complex urban agglomerations. England's largest cities
[65][66]
For the official definition of a UK (and therefore English) city, see City status in
the United Kingdom.

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According to the ONS urban area populations for continuous built-up areas, these are the 15 largest conurbations
(population figures from the 2001 census):

Population

Rank Urban Area[67] (2001 Localities Major localities

Census)

1 Greater London Urban Area 8,278,251 67 Croydon, Barnet, Ealing, Bromley

2 West Midlands Urban Area 2,284,093 22 Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall
Greater Manchester Urban
3 2,240,230 57 Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Stockport, Oldham
Area
4 West Yorkshire Urban Area 1,499,465 26 Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield
Newcastle upon Tyne, North Shields, South Shields,
5 Tyneside 879,996 25
Gateshead, Jarrow
6 Liverpool Urban Area 816,216 8 Liverpool, St Helens, Bootle, Huyton-with-Roby
Nottingham, Beeston and Stapleford, Carlton, Long
7 Nottingham Urban Area 666,358 15
Eaton
Sheffield, Rotherham, Chapeltown,
8 Sheffield Urban Area 640,720 7
Mosborough/Highlane
9 Bristol Urban Area 551,066 7 Bristol, Kingswood, Mangotsfield, Stoke Gifford
Brighton/Worthing Brighton, Worthing, Hove, Littlehampton, Shoreham,
10 461,181 10
/Littlehampton Lancing
11 Portsmouth Urban Area 442,252 7 Portsmouth, Gosport, Waterlooville, Fareham
12 Leicester Urban Area 441,213 12 Leicester, Wigston, Oadby, Birstall
13 Bournemouth Urban Area 383,713 5 Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, New Milton
Reading/Wokingham Urban
14 369,804 5 Reading, Bracknell, Wokingham, Crowthorne
Area
Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar,
15 Teesside 365,323 7
Billingham

Economics
England's economy is among the largest in the world. It
follows the Anglo-Saxon economic model. England's
economy is the largest of the four economies of the United
Kingdom, with 100 of Europe's 500 largest corporations
based in London.[69] As part of the United Kingdom,
England is a major centre of world economics. One of the
The City of London is a major business and commercial
world's most highly industrialised countries, England is a
centre, ranking alongside New York City and Tokyo as the
leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors and in key
leading centre of global finance.[68]
technical industries, particularly aerospace, the arms industry
and the manufacturing side of the software industry.

London exports mainly manufactured goods and imports materials such as petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber,
butter, metals, and meat.[70] England exported more than 30,000 tons of beef last year, worth around £75,000,000, with
France, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain being the largest importers of beef from England.[71]

The central bank of the United Kingdom, which sets interest rates and implements monetary policy, is the Bank of
England in London. London is also home to the London Stock Exchange, the main stock exchange in the UK and the
largest in Europe. London is one of the international leaders in finance[72] and the largest financial centre in Europe.

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Traditional heavy and manufacturing industries have declined sharply in England in recent decades, as they have in the
United Kingdom as a whole. At the same time, service industries have grown in importance. For example, 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.

England's official currency is the Pound Sterling (also known as the British pound or GBP).[73][74]

Demography
With 50,431,700 inhabitants (84% of the UK total),[10] England is the most populous
and most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom. If it were a sovereign state,
England would have the fourth largest population in the European Union and would be
the 25th largest country by population in the world.

The population of England grew from 8.3 million in 1801 to 30.5 million in 1901.[67]
England's population continues to grow: with the exception of 1976, there have been
more births than deaths every year since 1901.[10] While the percentage of people over
65 increases, the percentage of people under 16 is falling, meaning the country's
population is ageing overall. With a density of 383 people per square kilometre
(992/sq mi),[75] it is the most densely populated country in Europe, having recently
overtaken the Netherlands.
Ceremonial Counties of
The generally accepted view is that the ethnic background of the English populace, England, colour-coded to show
population. The City of London
before 19th and 20th century immigration, was a mixed European one deriving from is not included.
historical waves of Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Norman invasions, along
with the possible survival of pre-Celtic ancestry.[76]

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.

Since the fall of the British Empire, many denizens of former colonies have migrated to Britain including the Indian
sub-continent and the British Caribbean. A BBC-published report of the 2001 census, by the Institute for Public Policy
Research stated that the vast majority of immigrants settled in London and the South East of England. The largest groups
of residents born in other countries were from the Republic of Ireland, India, Pakistan, Germany, and the Caribbean.
Although Germany was high on the list, this was mainly the result of children being born to British forces personnel
stationed in that country.[77]

Ethnic makeup of England
(2005 est.)
About half the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to foreign-born
immigration. In 2004 the number of people who became British citizens rose to a record
140,795—a rise of 12% on the previous year. The number had risen dramatically since
2000. The overwhelming majority of new citizens come from Africa (32%) and Asia
(40%), the largest three groups being people from India, Pakistan and Somalia.[78] One
in five babies in the UK are born to immigrant mothers according to official statistics
released in 2007. 21.9% of births in the UK in 2006 were to mothers born outside the
United Kingdom compared with 15.3% in 2001.[79] As of 2007, 22% of primary school
children and 17.7% of children at secondary school in England were from ethnic
minority families.[80]

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In 2006, an estimated 591,000 migrants[82][83] arrived to live in the UK for at least a

year, while 400,000 people emigrated from the UK for a year or more, with Australia,
Spain, France, New Zealand and the U.S. most popular destinations.[84][85] Largest
group of arrivals were people from the Indian subcontinent who accounted for
two-thirds of net immigration, mainly fueled by family reunion.[86] One in six were
from Eastern European countries. They were outnumbered by immigrants from New
Commonwealth countries.[87]

The European Union allows free movement between the member states.[88] While
France and Germany put in place controls to curb Eastern European migration, the UK Ridley Road Market in Dalston,
[89] London. As of 2008, 40% of
and Ireland did not impose restrictions in 2004. The Home Office publishes
London's total population was
quarterly statistics on the number of applications to the Worker Registration Scheme. from an ethnic minority
Figures published in August 2007 indicate that 656,395 people were accepted on to the group.[81]
scheme between 1 May 2004 and 30 June 2007, of whom 430,395 were Polish
nationals. Many Poles work in seasonal occupations and a large number is likely to
move back and forth including between Ireland and other EU Western nations. A quarter of Eastern European migrants,
often young and well-educated, planned to stay in Britain permanently. Most of them originally intended to go home but
changed their minds later. The 2008 economic crisis in the UK and the growing economy in Poland reduced the
economic incentive for Poles to migrate to the UK. By the last quarter of 2008, approximately half of those that had
come to the UK to work had returned home.[90]

Culture
England has a vast and influential culture that encompasses elements both old and new.
The 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 English traditional and historic culture remains distinct albeit with
substantial regional differences.[91]

English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic
sites, artefacts and environments of England. London's British Museum, British Library
The British Museum, London.
and National Gallery contain the finest collections in the world.[92]

The English have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Many of the most important
figures in the history of modern western scientific and philosophical thought were either born in, or at one time or other
resided in, England. Major English thinkers of international significance include scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton,
Francis Bacon, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin and New Zealand-born Ernest Rutherford, philosophers such as John
Locke, John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Bertrand Russell and Thomas Hobbes, and economists such as David Ricardo,
and John Maynard Keynes. Karl Marx wrote most of his important works, including Das Kapital, while in exile in
London, and the team that developed the first atomic bomb began their work in England, under the wartime codename
Tube Alloys.[93]

Architecture

See also: List of historic houses in England and List of castles in England

England has played a significant part in the advancement of Western architecture. It is

home to the most notable medieval castles and forts in the world, including Warwick
Castle, the Tower of London and Windsor Castle (the largest inhabited castle in the
world and the oldest in continuous occupation). It is known for its numerous grand
country houses, and for its many medieval and later churches and cathedrals, such as
York Minster.[94]

English architects have contributed to many styles over the centuries, including Tudor The Broadway Tower is a folly,
or mock tower in
architecture, English Baroque, the Georgian style and Victorian movements such as Worcestershire.
Gothic Revival. Among the best-known contemporary English architects are Norman
Foster and Richard Rogers.

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Cuisine

Although highly regarded in the Middle Ages, English cuisine later became a source of
fun among Britain's French and European neighbours, being viewed until the late 20th
century as crude and unsophisticated by comparison with continental tastes. However,
with the influx of non-European immigrants (particularly those of south and east Asian
origins) from the 1950s onwards, the English diet was transformed. Indian and Chinese
cuisine in particular were absorbed into British culinary life, with restaurants and
takeaways appearing in almost every town in Britain, and 'going for an Indian'
becoming a regular part of British social life. A distinct hybrid food style composed of
dishes of Asian origin, but adapted to British tastes, emerged and was subsequently Sunday roast consisting of roast
beef, roast potatoes, vegetables
exported to other parts of the world. Many of the well-known Indian dishes in the
and Yorkshire pudding
western world, such as Tikka Masala and Balti, are in fact dishes of this sort.[95]

Dishes forming part of the old tradition of English food include:

Apple pie Fish and chips Pork pie

Bangers and mash Full English breakfast Scouse
Bedfordshire clanger Gravy Shepherd's pie
Black Pudding Jellied eels Spotted Dick
Bubble and Squeak Lancashire hotpot Steak and kidney pie
Cornish pasty Lincolnshire sausage Sunday roast
Cottage pie Mince pies Toad in the hole
Devonshire Cream Tea Pie and mash Yorkshire pudding
Faggot and peas Ploughman's lunch

Engineering and innovation

As birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, England was home to many significant

inventors during the late 18th and early 19th century. 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, hence revolutionising
public transport and modern-day engineering.

In addition, England produced numerous scientists and inventors such as Richard

Arkwright, who invented the first industrial spinning machine, while Charles Babbage
was the 19th century inventor of the first computer; Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers
invented the modern computer, and many of its associated concepts and initial
technologies. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, and much of the
technologies on which it is based (HTTP, HTML). James Blundell performed the first
blood transfusion. Hubert Cecil Booth invented the vacuum cleaner, and James Dyson
invented the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner. Edwin Beard Budding invented the
lawnmower. George Cayley invented the seat belt. Christopher Cockerell invented the Isaac Newton, promulgator of
universal gravitation,
hovercraft, while John Dalton was a pioneer of atomic theory. Michael Faraday, best Newtonian mechanics and
known for his revolutionary electric motor, also came from England. Thomas Fowler infinitesimal calculus.
invented the thermosiphon, while Robert Hooke discovered Hooke's law of elasticity.
Turn of the 20th century inventor E. Purnell Hooley invented tarmac. Thomas
Newcomen and Thomas Savery were both inventors of the first steam engines. Perhaps
the most famous is Isaac Newton, who promulgated universal gravitation, Newtonian
mechanics and infinitesimal calculus. Other inventors include Stephen Perry, inventor
of the rubber band; Percy Shaw, inventor of the "cat's eye" road safety device; George
Stephenson and son Robert Stephenson, railway pioneers; Joseph Swan, joint inventor
and developer (with American Thomas Edison) of the light bulb; Richard Trevithick,
builder of the earliest steam locomotives; Jethro Tull, inventor of the seed drill; Frank
Whittle, inventor of the jet engine; and Joseph Whitworth, inventor of many of the Clifton Suspension Bridge,
Bristol, designed by Brunel and
modern techniques and technologies used in precision engineering. completed in 1864.

Folklore

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English folklore is rich and diverse. Many of the land's oldest legends share themes and
sources with the Celtic 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 influenced the myth and
legend of England. Some tales, such as that of The Lambton Worm show a distinct
Norse influence, while others, particularly the events and characters associated with the
Arthurian legends show a distinct Romano-Gaulic slant.[96]

Among the most famous English folk-tales are the legends of King Arthur, although it
would be wrong to regard these stories as purely English in origin as they also concern
Wales and, to a lesser extent, Ireland and Scotland. They should therefore be The Robin Hood Memorial, by
considered as part of the folklore of the British Isles as a whole. Nottingham Castle.

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 Fulk FitzWarin who, although being based on historical
characters, have grown to become legends in their own right.

Literature

The English language has a rich and prominent literary heritage. England has produced a
wealth of significant literary figures including playwrights William Shakespeare, Christopher
Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Webster, as well as writers Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Jane
Austen, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens,
Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster,
Virginia Woolf, George Orwell and Harold Pinter. Others, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S.
Lewis, J. K. Rowling, Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie 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, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, John Keats, William Shakespeare,
John Milton, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, T. S. Eliot (American-born, but a British subject from the English poet and
1927) and many others remain read and studied around the world. Among men of letters, playwright widely
Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt and George Orwell are some of the most famous. England regarded as the greatest
writer in the English
continues to produce writers working in branches of literature, and in a wide range of styles; language and one of the
contemporary English literary writers attracting international attention include Martin Amis, greatest in Western
Julian Barnes and Zadie Smith. literature.[97][98][99]

Music

Composers from England have not achieved recognition as broad as that earned by
their literary counterparts, and, particularly during the 19th 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 throughout the world today. A revival of
England's musical status began during the 20th century with the prominence of
composers such as Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, William Walton, Eric Coates, Ralph
Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius and Benjamin Britten. The Beatles as they arrive at
JFK Airport, New York City on
In popular music, however, English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most 7 February 1964
influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as The Beatles, Led
Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Queen, and The Rolling Stones are among the highest
selling in the world.[100] England is also credited with being the birthplace of many musical genres and movements such
as hard rock, British invasion, heavy metal, britpop, glam rock, drum and bass, progressive rock, punk rock, gothic rock,
shoegazing, acid house, UK garage, trip hop, grime and dubstep.

Science and philosophy

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Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics include Sir Isaac
Newton, Michael Faraday, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Priestley, J. J.
Thomson, Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Christopher Wren,
Alan Turing, Francis Crick, Joseph Lister, Tim Berners-Lee, Andrew Wiles and Richard
Dawkins. Some experts claim that the earliest concept of a Metric system was invented
by John Wilkins, first secretary of the Royal Society in 1668.[101]

England played a major role in the development of Western philosophy, particularly

during the Enlightenment. Jeremy Bentham, leader of the Philosophical Radicals
influenced the development of English Law and of socialism.[102] although the
Levellers and other radical movements of the Civil War were significant. Major English
philosophers include William of Ockham, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke,
Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Bertrand Russell and Bernard Charles Darwin.
Williams.

Sport

Modern sports were codified in England during the 19th century, among them cricket,
rugby union and rugby league, Association football, tennis and badminton. Of these,
association football, cricket and rugby remain the country's most popular spectator
sports.[104]

England contains more UEFA Elite stadia than any other country, and is home to some
of the sport's top clubs. Among these, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester United and
Nottingham Forest have won the European Cup. The England national football team England's new Wembley
are currently ranked 6th by FIFA[105] and 4th by Elo)[106] and won the World Cup in Stadium. It is the most
1966 when it was hosted in England. Since then, they have failed to reach a final of a expensive stadium ever
major international tournament, although they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup built.[103]
in 1990 and the European Championship in 1996, as well as the quarter-finals of the
World Cup in 2002 and 2006 and of the European Championships in 2004. More
recently, England failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 championships when it lost 2–3 to
Croatia on 21 November 2007 in its final qualifying match. England, playing at home at
Wembley Stadium, needed just a draw to ensure qualification. This is the first time
since the 1994 World Cup that England has failed to qualify for a major football
championship and first time since 1984 that the team will miss the UEFA European
Championship. On 22 November 2007, the day after the defeat to Croatia, England
sacked their manager, Steve McClaren and his assistant Terry Venables, ostensibly as a The Wimbledon
Championships, a Grand Slam
direct consequence of its failure to qualify for Euro 2008.[107] tournament, is held in
Wimbledon, London every
The England national rugby union team won the 2003 Rugby World Cup (and finishing June/July.
as runners-up in 2007). Rugby union clubs such as Leicester Tigers, London Wasps and
the Northampton Saints have had success in the Europe-wide Heineken Cup.

At rugby league, the England national rugby league team are ranked third in the world and first in Europe. They have
taken part in three World Cup's finishing second in 1975 and 1995, hosting the competition in the latter. In 2008 the
team will once again contest the World Cup in Australia. From 2008 England will become a full test nation in lieu of the
Great Britain national rugby league team, when that team is retired. At a domestic level, England is host to large clubs
like Leeds Rhinos, St Helens and Wigan Warriors, all of whom have won the World Club Challenge and have produced
some of the world's greats. It is in Huddersfield in 1895 that the game was born.

The England cricket team is a composite England and Wales Cricket Team. It has seen mixed fortunes in recent years
but won The Ashes in 2005, and is currently ranked the fourth best Test nation in the world. The 2009 ICC World T20
will be hosted in England and Wales, and the 2018 Cricket World Cup may also be hosted in England.

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

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1948.

Language
English

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 the Frisian languages. 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 Places in the world where English is spoken.
Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under Countries where it is the majority language are dark
blue; countries where it is an official but not majority
the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo- language are light blue.
Norman 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 classes and for official business except certain traditional ceremonies, some of
which survive to this day. 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, willing to incorporate foreign-influenced words.

It is most commonly accepted that—thanks in large part to the British Empire, and now the
United States—the English language is now the world's unofficial lingua franca. English
language learning and teaching is an important economic sector, including language schools,
tourism spending, and publishing houses.

Beowulf is one of the

Other languages oldest surviving epic
poems in what is
There is no UK legislation in respect of language use within England,[108] but English is the identifiable as a form of
only language used in England for general official business. The only non-Anglic native the English language.
spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall,
which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency, currently by
about 2,000 people.[109] 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 there are
over 100,000 Welsh speakers in London and areas such as Oswestry on the Welsh border.[110]

Most deaf people within England use British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf
Association estimates that 250,000 people throughout the UK use BSL as their first or preferred language,[111] but does
not give statistics specific to England. BSL is not an official language of the UK and most British government
departments and hospitals have limited facilities for deaf sign language users. The Disability Discrimination Act gives
sign language users the right to request 'reasonable adjustment', which is generally interpreted to mean that interpreters
should be provided wherever practical. 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 Bengali, Hindi, Sinhala, Tamil, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujarati, 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 large cities, but this occurs on an "as
needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances.

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Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany. The use of
Yiddish by the Jewish population has dwindled, although an increasing number are able to speak Hebrew.

Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are 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.

Religion
Due to immigration in the past decades, there is an enormous diversity of religious belief in England, as well as a growing
percentage that have no religious affiliation. Levels of attendance in various denominations have begun to decline.
[112][113]
England is classed largely as a secular country even allowing for the following affiliation percentages :
Christianity: 71.6%, Islam: 3.1%, Hindu: 1.1%, Sikh: 0.7%, Jewish: 0.5%, and Buddhist: 0.3%, No religion: 14.6%.[114]
The EU Eurobarometer poll of 2005 found that 38% of people in the UK believed in a god, 40% believed in "some sort
of spirit or life force" and 20% did not believe in either.[115]

Christianity

See also: Churches Together in England

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 664 ultimately led to the English Church being fully part of Roman
Catholicism. Early English Christian documents surviving from this time include the 7th
century illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels and the historical accounts written by the
Venerable Bede. England has many early cathedrals, most notably York Minster
(1080), Durham Cathedral (1093) and Salisbury Cathedral (1220), 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 ecclesiastical authority, and later
the influence of the Reformation, resulting in the Church of England and Anglicanism. Canterbury Cathedral in Kent,
Unlike the other three constituent countries of the UK, the Church of England is an the centre of the Church of
England and the worldwide
established church (although the Church of Scotland is a 'national church' recognised in Anglican Communion.
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 Roman Catholic Church re-established a hierarchy in England in the 19th century. Attendances were considerably
boosted by immigration, especially from Ireland and more recently Poland.

The Church of England remains the official established church of England.

Other religions

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Throughout the second half of the 20th century, immigration from many colonial
countries, often from South Asia and the Middle East have resulted in a considerable
growth in Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism in England. Cities and towns with large Muslim
communities include Birmingham, Blackburn, Coventry, Bolton, Bradford, Leicester,
London, Luton, Manchester, Oldham and Sheffield. Cities and towns with large Sikh
communities include London, Slough, Staines, Hounslow, Southall, Reading, Ilford,
Barking, Dagenham, Leicester, Leeds, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and others.

The Jewish community in England is mainly in the Greater London area, particularly
A Sikh gurudwara in the
the north west suburbs such as Golders Green;[116] although Manchester, Leeds and Chapeltown area of Leeds.
Gateshead also have significant Jewish communities.[117][118] England was also the
founding place for many Neopagan religions, notably Wicca.[119] Many people in England identify themselves as
Atheists or Agnostics, while many others are apathetic and do not have specific religious beliefs or disbeliefs.

Education
See also: List of universities in England

There is a long history of the promotion of education in England in schools, colleges

and universities. England is home to the oldest existing schools in the English speaking
world: The King's School, Canterbury and The King's School, Rochester, believed to be
founded in the 6th and 7th century respectively. At least eight existing schools in
England were founded in the first millennium. Sherborne School was granted a royal
charter in 1550, but may have been the site of a school since the 8th century.[120] Most Christ Church, University of
of these ancient institutions are now fee-paying schools; however, some state schools Oxford.
are also very old, most notably Beverley Grammar School founded in 700. The oldest
surviving girls' school in England is Red Maids' School founded in 1634. The most
famous schools in England are now fee-paying institutions, including Winchester
College (founded 1382), Eton College (1440), St Paul's School (1509), Rugby School
(1567) and Harrow School (1572).[121]

England is also home to the two oldest universities in the English speaking world:
Oxford University (12th century) and Cambridge University (early 13th century). There
are now more than 90 universities in England.[122]
The chapel of King's College,
Primary and secondary education in England is administered by the Department for Cambridge University.
Children, Schools and Families. Schools are of two main types: state schools funded
through taxation and free to all, and private schools (also known as "public" or "independent" schools) funded through
fees. Standards are monitored by regular inspections of state-funded schools by the Office for Standards in Education,
and of private schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.

University education is the responsibility of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Students attending
English Universities now have to pay tuition fees towards the cost of their education, as do English students who choose
to attend a Scottish university (though Scottish students attending Scottish universities get their fees paid for them by the
Scottish Government.)

Healthcare

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The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England
responsible for provided the majority of healthcare in the country. The NHS provides
most services at no cost to the patient though there are charges associated with eye
tests, dental care, prescriptions, and many aspects of personal care.

The NHS began on 5 July 1948, putting into effect the provisions of the National Health
Service Act 1946. Private health care has continued parallel to the NHS, paid for
largely by private insurance, but it is used by less than 8% of the population, and Norfolk and Norwich
generally as a top-up to NHS services. Recently the private sector has been increasingly University Hospital. The NHS
used to increase NHS capacity despite a large proportion of the public opposing such is England's publicly funded
healthcare system.
involvement.[123]

The NHS is largely funded from general taxation (including a proportion from National Insurance payments).[124] The
UK government department responsible for the NHS is the Department of Health, headed by the Secretary of State for
Health (Health Secretary), who sits in the British Cabinet. Most of the expenditure of The Department of Health
(£98.6 billion in 2008–9)[125] is spent on the NHS.

Transport
The government department overseeing transport is the Department for Transport.

The growth in private car ownership in the latter half of the 20th century led to major
road-building programmes. Important trunk roads built include the A1 Great North
Road from London to Newcastle and Edinburgh, and the A580 "East Lancs." road
between Liverpool and Manchester. The M6 motorway is the country's longest
motorway running from Rugby through North West England to the Scottish border.
Other major roads include the M1 motorway from London to Leeds up the east of the Heathrow Terminal 5. London
Heathrow Airport has the most
country, the M25 motorway which encircles London, the M60 motorway which
international passenger traffic
encircles Manchester, the M4 motorway from London to South Wales, the M62 of any airport in the world.
motorway from Liverpool to Manchester and Yorkshire, and the M5 motorway from [126][127]
Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.

Most of the British National Rail network of 16,116 kilometres (10,014 mi) lies in
England. Urban rail networks are also well developed in London and other cities,
including the Manchester Metrolink and the London Underground. The London
Underground is the oldest and most extensive underground railway in the world, and as
of 2007 consists of 407 km (253 mi) of line[128] and serves 275 stations.

There are around 7,100 km (4,400 mi) of navigable waterways in England, of which
roughly half is owned by British Waterways. An estimated 165 million journeys are
made by people on Britain's waterways annually. The Thames is the major waterway in
England, with imports and exports focused at the Port of Tilbury, one of the three major
ports in the UK. Ports in the UK handled over 560 million tonnes of domestic and
international freight in 2005.
A Eurostar high speed train.
London Heathrow Airport is England's largest airport, the largest airport by passenger
volume in Europe and one of the world's busiest airports. London Gatwick Airport is
England's second largest airport, followed by Manchester Airport. Other major airports include London Stansted Airport
in Essex, about 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of London, Luton Airport and Birmingham International Airport.

People

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The ancestry of the English, considered as an ethnic group, is mixed; it can be traced to the
mostly Celtic Romano-Britons,[129] to the eponymous Anglo-Saxons,[130] the Danish-
Vikings[131] that formed the Danelaw during the time of Alfred the Great and the Normans,
[132][133]
among others. The 19th and 20th centuries, furthermore, brought much new
immigration to England.

Ethnicity aside, the simplest view is that an English person is someone who was born or lives
in England, holds British nationality and regards themselves as English, 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. Over the last
five years, celebrations of St George's Day, England's national day, have increased year on
year.[134]

Statue of Alfred the Modern celebration of English identity is often found around its sports, one field in which the
Great in Winchester British Home Nations often compete individually. The English football team, rugby union
team and cricket team often cause increases in the popularity of celebrating Englishness.

Substantial populations descended from English colonists and immigrants exist in the United States, Canada, Australia,
South Africa and New Zealand. In the 1980 U.S. Census 50 million Americans claimed English ancestry.[135] About 70%
of Australia's population in 1999 were of Anglo-Celtic origins.[136]

Nomenclature
The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the fifth and sixth
centuries.

Most Celtic languages use names referring to the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes that arrived at about the
same time as the Angles. For example, the Scottish Gaelic name is Sasainn, the Irish name is Sasana, and the Cornish
name is Pow Sows. The name for England in Welsh is Lloegr, an ancient geographic term, not Saxon-related; but the
inhabitants are referred to as "Saeson". Most other European languages use names derived from the Angles - for
example, French Angleterre, Spanish and Portuguese Inglaterra, Đngiltere in Turkish, and Anglia in Polish and
Romanian (Αγγλία in Greek). In German, Danish, Swedish and some other languages, the identical form England is used.
Many languages in other parts of the world use similar words, such as Ingriis in Somali and 英倫 (Ying-lun) in
Cantonese.

Informal names sometimes used for England include:

The slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani bila yati meaning "foreign".[137]
The ancient name "Albion", supposedly referring to the white (Latin: alba) cliffs of Dover.[138] Although it refers
to the whole island of Great Britain, it is occasionally, and incorrectly, used for England. Following the Roman
conquest of Britain, the term contracted to mean only the area north of Roman control and is today a relative of
Alba, the Celtic languages name for Scotland.
More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle... this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land",
quotations from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II) and William Blake (And did those feet in
ancient time) respectively.

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", and originally a Scottish Highland term for Lowland Scots),
"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.

National symbols, insignia and anthems

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England - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England

The two main symbols of England are the St George's Cross (the English flag), and the
Three Lions coat of arms of England. Other national symbols exist, but have varying
degrees of official usage, such as the oak tree and the rose. England's National Day is St
George's Day (Saint George being the patron saint), which is on 23 April.[139]

St. George's Cross

Saint George slaying the
The St. George's Cross is a red cross on a white background and is the flag of England. dragon, by Paolo Uccello, c.
1470.
It is believed to have been adopted for the uniform of English soldiers during the
Crusades of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries.[140] From about 1277 it 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, 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
The flag of England is the St
privilege. The cross of St George would become the official Flag of England. George's Cross. The red cross
appeared as an emblem of
A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It England during the Middle
became associated with St. George and England, along with other countries and cities Ages and the Crusades and is
(such as Georgia, Milan and the Republic of Genoa), which claimed him as their patron one of the earliest known
emblems representing England.
saint and used his cross as a banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the
Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack, especially at sea) which English and Scottish
ships had used at sea since 1606, was adopted for 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.

Until recently, the flag was not commonly flown in England with the British Union Flag being used instead. This was
certainly evident at the 1966 football World Cup when English fans predominantly flew the latter. However, since
devolution in the United Kingdom, the St George Cross has experienced a growth in popularity and is now the
predominant flag used in English sporting events.[141]

Three Lions

The coat of arms of England are described as gules, three lions passant guardant or armed and
langued Azure.[142] The earliest surviving record of their use was by Richard I ("Richard the
Lionheart") in the late 12th century.

Since union with Scotland and Northern Ireland, the arms of England are no longer used on their own;
instead they form a part of the conjoined Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. However, both
the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board use logos based on the three lions.
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.

Royal Standard of England is based on the Royal coat of arms of England.

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

Rose

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England - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.[143]

The rose is used in a variety of contexts in its use for England's representation. The Rose of
England is a Royal Badge, and is a Tudor, or half-red-half-white rose,[144] symbolising the end of
the Wars of the Roses and the subsequent marriage between the House of Lancaster and the
House of York. This symbolism 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.

Anthem

England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has "God Save the
Queen". However, the following are often considered unofficial English national anthems:

"I Vow to Thee, My Country"

"Land of Hope and Glory"
"Nimrod"
"Jerusalem"
"Heart of Oak"

"God Save the Queen" is usually played for English sporting events, such as football matches, against teams from outside
the UK,[145] although "Land of Hope and Glory" was used as the English anthem for the 2002 Commonwealth
Games.[146] Since 2004, "Jerusalem" has been sung before England cricket matches,[147] and "Rule Britannia"
("Britannia" being the Roman name for Great Britain, 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. More recently,
however, "God Save the Queen" has been used by the rugby union and football teams.[145]

Notes
1. ^ The official definition of LUZ (Larger Urban Zone) is used by the European Statistical Agency (Eurostat) when describing
conurbations and areas of high population. This definition ranks London highest, above Paris (see Larger Urban Zones (LUZ)
in the European Union); and a ranking of population within municipal boundaries also puts London on top (see Largest cities
of the European Union by population within city limits). However, research by the University of Avignon in France ranks
Paris first and London second when including the whole urban area and hinterland, that is the outlying cities as well (see
Largest urban areas of the European Union).
2. ^ "The Reformation must not be confused with the changes introduced into the Church of England during the 'Reformation
Parliament' of 1529–36, which were of a political rather than a religious nature, designed to unite the secular and religious
sources of authority within a single sovereign power: the Anglican Church did not until later make substantial change in
doctrine".Scruton, Roger (1996). A Dictionary of Political Thought (2 ed.). Pan Books. ISBN 978-0333647868.
3. ^ Groups such as Mebyon Kernow who proclaim a distinct national identity for Cornwall and campaign for a Cornish
assembly would dispute this claim.
4. ^ Scottish and Welsh MPs are also unable to vote on devolved issues affecting their own constituencies.
5. ^ "The Government is now expected to tear up its twelve-year-old plan to create eight or nine regional assemblies in England
to mirror devolution in Scotland and Wales.""Prescott's dream in tatters as North East rejects assembly". The Times.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article503255.ece. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.

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England - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England

Wacher, John (2001), Roman Britain, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0-7509-2766-6

External links
Official website of the United Kingdom Government (http://www.direct.gov.uk/)
Office for National Statistics (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/)
English Heritage (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/) – national body protecting and promoting English history
and heritage.
English Nature (http://www.english-nature.org.uk/) – wildlife and the natural world of England.
England-related pages from the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/)
England travel guide from Wikitravel
Enjoy England (http://www.enjoyengland.com/) – The official website of the English Tourist Board
Enjoy England's Travel Blog (http://enjoyengland.typepad.com/) – Discover England's best hidden gems
UK & Ireland Genealogy (http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England"
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