england

? ]] ]]Rather, William took over a pre-existing England and gave it an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day.While Old English languageOld English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time.England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market.The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I of England James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United KingdomUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present)For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics - ''Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England''Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Acts of Union 1536-1543, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union 1707Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retains separate legal systems and identities. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights.All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question.Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England.The current British Labour PartyLabour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A Northern England referendums, 2004referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal.Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralisationdecentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, 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. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Joel Barnett, Baron BarnettBarnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support.Some euroscepticismeurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model.Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester, HampshireWinchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions - ''Main article: Subdivisions of England''Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the Counties of Englandcounty. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Kingdom of EssexEssex and Sussex; DuchyDuchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called Hundred (division)hundreds.These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the Traditional counties of England, Scotland and Walestraditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors.The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England.The solution was the creation of large Metropolitan Counties of Englandmetropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into Unitary authorities in Englandunitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government.London is a special case, and is the one Regions of Englandregion which currently has a representative Greater London Authorityauthority as well as a directly elected Mayor of Londonmayor. The 32 London boroughLondon boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city.Other than Greater London, the official regions are:

North East England

North West England

Yorkshire and the Humber

West Midlands (region)West Midlands

East Midlands

East of England

South West England

South East EnglandOutside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography - ''Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England'' 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, much of which has been drained for agricultural use.The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British 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. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the list of English districts by populationtop six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a Regions of Englandregion and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it.The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the EuropeEuropean Continental Europemainland. The English/FranceFrench border is halfway along the tunnel.The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 degree Celsius°C (101.3 Fahrenheit°F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. ? news.bbc.co.ukThe lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 degree Celsius°C (-15 Fahrenheit°F) on January 10, 1982 in Shropshire. metoffice.com

Major rivers - from the terrace at Somerset House, by Antonio Canaletto.]]

River ThamesThames

River SevernSevern

River TrentTrent

Humber

River Ouse, YorkshireYorkshire Ouse

River Tyne, EnglandTyne

River MerseyMersey

River Dee, WalesDee

River AvonAvon''Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom''

Major Conurbations - See main article: List of towns in England''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)#Greater London (8,278,251)#West Midlands conurbationWest Midlands (2,284,093)#Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066)#Sussex coast!Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampto n? (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #South East Dorset conurbationBournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading, BerkshireReading (369,804) #Teeside (365,323)

Economy - ''Main article: Economy of England''

Demographics - ''Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England''England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands.This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman EmpireRoman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (Continental EuropeEuropean refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish peopleIrish), 1880–1940 (Irish peopleIrish, Jews), 1950— (Irish peopleIrish, British Afro-Caribbean communityCaribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, Eastern EuropeEast Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees).The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.

English identity - 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. However, it is quite commonplace to hear inhabitants of England refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguisticslinguist would put it, an "unmarked" state, (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionists (Ireland)Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Irish RepublicanismRepublicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one.A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalismnationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the British National FrontNational Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. ''See English nationalism.''The success of the England football team in the early 21st Century has seen a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross" and it now seems that efforts to reclaim the flag from the far right are being successful. While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is far, far greater than at the end of the 20th Century.Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will also avoid the pitfall of being too precise in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.

Culture - .]]''Main article: Culture of England''

English literature

*Sir Thomas Browne

*Geoffrey Chaucer

*John Milton

*William Shakespeare

*Jane Austen

*George Orwell

List of national parks of England and Wales

England/Food and DrinkFood and Drink

English folklore

English art

*English school of painting

Music of England

Languages - is one of the oldest surviving epic poems in what is identifiable as a form of the 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 Germanic languagesGermanic family, it is closely related to Scots languageScots, Frisian languageFrisian and Low Saxon languageLow Saxon. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English languageOld English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived.Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest of EnglandNorman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman languageNorman 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 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 (language)Latin and Greek (language)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.The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English languageEnglish is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh languageWelsh, Irish languageIrish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic languageScottish 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 languagesCeltic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 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 cornwall.gov.uk - a draft strategy to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots languageScots is spoken by some adjacent the Anglo-Scottish Border.Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. 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, including Punjabi languagePunjabi, Hindi languageHindi, Urdu languageUrdu, Bengali languageBengali, Gujarati languageGujarati, Chinese languageChinese and Vietnamese languageVietnamese. 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 languageRomany.Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct Regional accents of English speakers#EnglandEnglish regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.

Nomenclature - The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th century5th and 6th century6th centuries.There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country. The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":

"England" (Danish languageDanish, German languageGerman, Swedish languageSwedish, Norwegian languageNorwegian)

"Engeland" (Dutch languageDutch)

"Inglismaa" (Estonian languageEstonian)

"Angleterre" (French languageFrench)

"Inghilterra" (Italian languageItalian)

"Inglaterra" (Spanish languageSpanish, Portuguese languagePortuguese, Galician languageGalician)

"Anglia" (Hungarian languageHungarian, Polish languagePolish, Romanian languageRomanian, Albanian languageAlbanian)

"Anglija" (Russian languageRussian, Slovenian languageSlovene, Lithuanian languageLithuanian, Ukrainian languageUkrainian)

"Engleska" (Croatian languageCroatian, Serbian languageSerbian)

"Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek languageGreek)

"Englanti" (Finnish languageFinnish)The Celtic languagesCeltic names are quite different, deriving from the languages of tribes existing throughout the British Isles, often for thousands of years before even the Romans arrived:

"Bro-Saoz" (Breton languageBreton)

"Pow Sows" (Cornish languageCornish)

"Sasana" (Irish languageIrish)

"Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)

"Lloegr" (Welsh languageWelsh), but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.

"Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic)Yet more linguistic diversity was contributed by the Saxons, another Germanic tribe which arrived at about the same as the Angles.See: wikt:EnglandWiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England."England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct.Alternative names include:

the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani languageHindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"

"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, EnglandDover, 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 (play)Richard II'') and William Blake (''And did those feet in ancient time'').The inhabitants of England are the English. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the Scots Gaelic), "Limeys" (in reference to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English#VocabularyAustralian English and New Zealand English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative words for British.

Symbols and insignia - combines the ''Three Lions'' with the Tudor rose.]]The two traditional symbols of England are the St. George's cross (the English flag) and the ''Three Lions'' coat of arms of Englandcoat of arms (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou. The three lions were first definitely 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). Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin line.A red cross acted as a symbol for many crusadeCrusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with St George and England, along with other countries and cities (such as Georgia (country) 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 Flag (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. (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).The rose is widely recognised as the national flower of England and is used in a variety of contexts. Predominantly, this is a red rose (which also symbolises Lancashire), such as the badge of the England national rugby union teamEnglish Rugby Union team. However, a white rose (which also symbolises Yorkshire) or a "tudor rose" (symbolising the end of the Wars of the RosesWar of the Roses) may also be used on different occasions.The Three Lions badge performs a similar role for the English national football team and English national cricket team.

National anthems - Although England does not have an official anthem of its own, the following are widely regarded as English national hymns:

"And did those feet in ancient timeJerusalem:" Words by William Blake, Music by Hubert Parry

"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 Great Britain, not only England)

"Enigma VariationsNimrod": Music by Edward Elgar"God Save The Queen" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches), although "Land of Hope and Glory" has also been used as the English anthem for the Commonwealth Games. "Rule Britannia" despite being a song about Britain as a whole was often used for the English national football team when they play against another of the home nations but more recently "God Save The Queen" has been used by both the rugby and football teams. Many believe that English teams should use their own anthems, most popular of which is the use of "Jerusalem".

See also -

English language

English law

English (people)

List of monarchs of England - Kings of England family tree

List of English people

Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named)

UK topics

List of not fully sovereign nations

Education in England

External links - wikiquoteEngland CommonscatEngland

wikitravel

enjoyengland.com - The official website of the English Tourist Board - Enjoy England

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