England i/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
England's terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north (for example, the mountainous Lake District, Pennines, and Yorkshire Dales) and in the south west (for example, Dartmoor and the Cotswolds). The former capital of England was Winchester until replaced by London in 1066. Today London is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. England's population is about 53 million, around 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, and is largely concentrated in London, the South East and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century. Meadowlands and pastures are found beyond the major cities.
The Kingdom of England—which after 1284 included Wales—was a sovereign state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, the Irish Free State was established as a separate dominion, but the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 reincorporated into the kingdom six Irish counties to officially create the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Read more about England: Toponymy, Economy, Healthcare, Education, Sports, National Symbols
Other articles related to "england":
... Louis of France, the future King Louis VIII, invades England in support of the barons, landing in Thanet ... he is proclaimed, but not crowned, King of England at Old St Paul's Cathedral ... October 18 or 19 – John, King of England, dies at Newark Castle, Nottinghamshire he is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry, with William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, as regent ...
... (the future King Henry IV) while he resided at the Breton court during his banishment from England ... She was convicted in 1419 and imprisoned for about four years in Pevensey Castle in Sussex, England ...
... Main article National symbols of England The St George's Cross has been the national flag of England since the 13th century ... and the Three Lions featured on the Royal Arms of England ... The Tudor rose was adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of the Wars of the Roses as a symbol of peace ...
... became popular in wider circles in London and South East England in the middle of the 19th century (Charles Dickens mentions a "fried fish warehouse" in Oliver Twist, first published ... while a Mr Lees pioneered the concept in the North of England, in Mossley, in 1863 ... business throughout London and the South of England in the latter part of the 19th century ...
... in Scotland, some of the injured subsequently died in England where the law was different ... In England the coroner investigates death and if the coroner's jury found that death was due to neglect then the coroner could indict charges of manslaughter against the named parties ... guidance from the Home Office and was instructed to conduct inquests on those who had died in England in the normal way ...
Famous quotes containing the word england:
“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first. Stumping it through England for seven years made Cobden a consummate debater. Stumping it through New England for twice seven trained Wendell Phillips.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We have been able to have fine poetry in England because the public do not read it, and consequently do not influence it. The public like to insult poets because they are individual, but once they have insulted them, they leave them alone.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“If men will believe it, sua si bona norint, there are no more quiet Tempes, nor more poetic and Arcadian lives, than may be lived in these New England dwellings. We thought that the employment of their inhabitants by day would be to tend the flowers and herds, and at night, like the shepherds of old, to cluster and give names to the stars from the river banks.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)