ENGLANENGLANDD

MaintenanceMaintenance• History• Etymology and usage• Government and politics• Geography• Economics• Culture• Cuisine• Sport• Language• Religion• Education• Transport• National symbols

HistoryHistoryBones and flint tools found in Norfolk and Suffolk show thatHomo erectus lived in what is now England about 700,000 yearsago. At this time, Great Britain was joined to mainland Europe bya large land bridge. The current position of the English Channelwas a large river flowing westwards and fed by tributaries thatwould later become the Thames and the Seine. This area wasgreatly depopulated during the period of the last major ice age,as were other regions of the British Isles. In the subsequentrecolonisation, after the thawing of the ice, genetic researchshows that present-day England was the last area of the BritishIsles to be repopulated, about 13,000 years ago. The migrantsarriving during this period contrast with the other of theinhabitants of the British Isles, coming across lands from thesouth east of Europe, whereas earlier arriving inhabitants camenorth along a coastal route from Iberia. These migrants wouldlater adopt the Celtic culture that came to dominate much ofwestern Europe.

Stonehenge, a Neolithic andBronze Age megalithic monument inWiltshire, thought to have been erectedc.2000–2500 BC.

Etymology and usageEtymology and usageEngland 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 thepeninsula of Angeln, in what is now Denmark and northernGermany. (The further etymology of this tribe's name remainsuncertain, although a popular theory holds that it need besought no further than the word angle itself, and refers to afish-hook-shaped region of Holstein.)The Angles' name has had various spellings. The earliestknown reference to these people is under the Latinised versionAnglii used by Tacitus in chapter 40 of his Germania, writtenaround 98 AD. He gives no precise indication of theirgeographical position within Germania, but states that, withsix other tribes, they worshipped a goddess named Nerthus,whose sanctuary was situated on "an island in the Ocean".

Government and politicsGovernment and politicsThere 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 ofGreat Britain. 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 in1999, England was left as the only country within the United Kingdom still governed inmatters by the UK government and the UK parliament in London.Since Westminster is the UK parliament but also legislates on matters that affect Englandalone, devolution of national matters to parliament/assemblies in Scotland, Wales, andNorthern 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 onlegislation relating only to England while English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate ondevolved matters. This constitutional arrangement resulted in the Labour government onlywinning a 2004 vote to impose higher tuition fees on students in England due to the supportof Scottish Labours MPs. This "question" is also exacerbated by the large number ofScottish 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 thatis unaffected by the policy decisions he takes.

There are calls for a devolved English parliament, such as by formerminister Frank Field MP, and there is opinion poll evidence of publicsupport for the idea. Some minor English parties go further, calling forthe dissolution of the Union. However, the approach favoured by thecurrent Labour government was (on the basis that England is too largeto be governed as a single sub-state entity) to propose the devolutionof power to the Regions of England. Lord Falconer claimed a devolvedEnglish parliament would dwarf the rest of the United Kingdom. TheConservative Party, on the other hand, are considering proposals toban Scottish MPs from voting on English only legislation inWestminster.Today, therefore, England's affairs are managed by a combination ofthe UK government, the UK parliament, and England-specific quangossuch as English Heritage.

PoliticsPoliticsThe Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

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.At the 2005 General Election, the Conservative Party won more votes than

any other single party, with 35.7% of the vote. However, Labour won a majority of England's MPs, having 284 MPs elected, on the basis of just

35.4% of the popular vote with the Conservative Party winning just 194 MPs. The Liberal Democrats were the third party winning 47 MPs with 22.5% of

the vote, and the only other MPs elected were one for Respect and a Kidderminster Hospital campaigner.

Subdivisions and localSubdivisions and local governmentgovernmentThe upper-tier subdivisions of England are the nine Regions of England orEuropean Union government office regions. A Londonreferendum in 1998 on the question of having a directly electedassembly and directly elected mayor produced a large majority infavour and it was intended that other regions would also be giventheir own elected regional assemblies. However, a rejection by areferendum in 2004 of a proposed assembly in the North East regionstopped this idea in its tracks. During the campaign, a commoncriticism of the proposals was that England did not need "another tierof bureaucracy".Below the regional level, London consists of 32 London boroughs and the restof England has either county councils and district councils or unitaryauthorities. At the lowest level, much of England is divided into parishesthough parishes are prohibited from existing in Greater London.

Manchester Town Hall

GeographyGeographyEngland comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of GreatBritain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It isbordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer tocontinental Europe than any other part of mainland Britain, divided fromFrance only by a 24-statute mile (52 km or 21 nautical mile)sea gap. TheChannel Tunnel, near Folkestone, directly links England to mainlandEurope. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel.Much of England consists of rolling hills, but it is generally more mountainous inthe north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east andwest. Other hilly areas in the north and Midlands are the Lake District, theNorth York Moors, and the Peak District. The approximate dividing linebetween terrain types is often indicated by the Tees-Exe line. To the southof that line, there are larger areas of flatter land, including East Anglia and theFens, although hilly areas include the Cotswolds, the Chilterns, and theNorth 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 largenatural harbours).

A view of Borrowdale from Grayrigg Forest in the Lake DistrictA view of Borrowdale from Grayrigg Forest in the Lake District

ClimateClimate

England has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all yearround, although the seasons are quite variable intemperature. However, temperatures rarely fall below −5 °C(23 °F) or rise above 30 °C (86 °F). The prevailing wind isfrom the south-west, bringing mild and wet weather toEngland regularly from the Atlantic Ocean. It is driest in theeast and warmest in the south, which is closest to theEuropean mainland. Snowfall can occur in winter and earlyspring, although it is not that common away from highground.The highest temperature recorded in England is 38.5 °C(101.3 °F) on 10 August 2003 at Brogdale, near Faversham,in Kent. The lowest temperature recorded in England is −26.1 °C(−15.0 °F) on 10 January 1982 at Edgmond, near Newport, inShropshire.

The rolling terrain of the North YorkMoors

Major riversMajor rivers

London is by far the largest urban area in England and one of the largest andbusiest 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 orurban areas is open to debate because, although the normal meaning of city is "acontinuously built-up urban area", this can be hard to define, particularly becauseadministrative areas in England often do not correspond with the limits of urbandevelopment, and many towns and cities have, over the centuries, grown to formcomplex urban agglomerations. Various definitions of cities can be used. For the officialdefinition of a UK (and therefore English) city, see City status in the United Kingdom.

The River Avon under the Pulteney Bridge in Bath, Somerset

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

Major conurbationsMajor conurbationsA view of Sheffield, one of England's largest cities

Capital:London

Official languages: English

Ethnic groups : 90% White, 5.3% South Asian,2.7% Black, 1.6% Mixed race,0.7% Chinese, 0.6% OtherGovernment:Constitutionalmonarchy

Monarch:Queen Elizabeth II  

Prime Minister:Gordon Brown MP

Area:130,395 km2

Population: 51,092,000 

EconomicsEconomicsEngland's economy is the among the largest in in the world. Itfollows the Anglo-Saxon economic model. England's economyis the largest of the four economies of the United Kingdom,with 100 of Europe's 500 largest corporations based inLondon.As part of the United Kingdom, England is a majorcentre of world economics. One of the world's most highlyindustrialised countries, England is a leader in the chemicaland pharmaceutical sectors and in key technical industries,particularly aerospace, the arms industry and themanufacturing side of the software industry.London exports mainly manufactured goods and importsmaterials such as petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber,butter, metals, and meat.[55] England exported more than30,000 tons of beef last year, worth around £75,000,000, withFrance, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spainbeing the largest importers of beef from England.

The City of London is a major business and commercial centre, ranking alongside New The City of London is a major business and commercial centre, ranking alongside New York City and Tokyo as the leading centre of global finance.York City and Tokyo as the leading centre of global finance.

CultureCulture England has a vast and influential culture that encompasses elements both oldand new. The modern culture of England is sometimes difficult to identify andseparate clearly from the culture of the wider United Kingdom, so intertwinedare its composite nations. However the English traditional and historic cultureremains distinct albeit with substantial regional differences.English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing thehistoric sites, artefacts and environments of England. London's British Museum,British Library and National Gallery contain the finest collections in the world.The English have played a significant role in the development of the arts andsciences. Many of the most important figures in the history of modern westernscientific and philosophical thought were either born in, or at one time or otherresided in, England. Major English thinkers of international significance includescientists such as Sir Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Michael Faraday, CharlesDarwin and New Zealand-born Ernest Rutherford, philosophers such as JohnLocke, John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Bertrand Russell and Thomas Hobbes, andeconomists such as David Ricardo, and John Maynard Keynes. Karl Marx wrote most ofhis important works, including Das Kapital, while in exile in Manchester, and the teamthat developed the first atomic bomb began their work in England, under the wartimecodename Tube Alloys.

The British Museum, London.

England has played a significant part in the advancement ofWestern architecture. It is home to the most notable medievalcastles and forts in the world, including Warwick Castle, theTower of London and Windsor Castle (the largest inhabitedcastle in the world and the oldest in continuous occupation). Itis known for its numerous grand country houses, and for itsmany medieval and later churches and cathedrals.English architects have contributed to many styles over thecenturies, including Tudor architecture, English Baroque, theGeorgian style and Victorian movements such as GothicRevival. Among the best-known contemporary Englisharchitects are Norman Foster and Richard Rogers.

The Broadway Tower is a folly, or mock tower in Worcestershire

Architecture

CuisineCuisine

Although highly regarded in the Middle Ages, English cuisinelater became a source of fun among Britain's French andEuropean neighbours, being viewed until the late 20th centuryas crude and unsophisticated by comparison with continentaltastes. However, with the influx of non-European immigrants(particularly those of south and east Asian origins) from the1950s onwards, the English diet was transformed. Indian andChinese cuisine in particular were absorbed into Britishculinary life, with restaurants and takeaways appearing inalmost every town in Britain, and 'going for an Indian‘becoming a regular part of British social life. A distinct hybridfood style composed of dishes of Asian origin, but adapted toBritish tastes, emerged and was subsequently exported toother parts of the world. Many of the well-known Indiandishes in the western world, such as Tikka Masala and Balti,are in fact dishes of this sort.

Sunday roast consisting of roast beef, roast potatoes, vegetables and Yorkshire pudding

SportSport

Modern sports were codified in

England during the 19th century,

among them cricket, rugby union and

rugby league, football, tennis and

badminton. Of these, association

football, cricket and rugby remain the

country's most popular spectator

sports.

England's new Wembley Stadium. It is the most expensive stadium ever built.

The Wimbledon Championships, a Grand Slam tournament, is held in Wimbledon, London every June/July.

LanguageLanguage

Places in the worldwhere English isspoken. Countrieswhere it is themajority languageare dark blue;countries where it isan official but notmajority languageare light blue.

English

As its name suggests, the English language,today spoken by hundreds of millions ofpeople around the world, originated as thelanguage of England, where it remains theprincipal tongue today (although not officiallydesignated as such). An Indo-European language inthe Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, itis closely related to Scots and the Frisianlanguages. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms mergedinto England, "Old English" emerged; some of itsliterature and poetry has survived.

Other languagesOther languagesThere is no UK legislation in respect of language use withinEngland, but English is the only language used in England forgeneral official business. The only non-Anglic native spokenlanguage in England is the Cornish language, a Celticlanguage spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the19th century but has been revived and is spoken in variousdegrees of fluency, currently by about 2,000 people. This hasno official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for officialuse, but is nonetheless supported by national and localgovernment under the European Charter for Regional orMinority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced adraft strategy to develop these plans. There is, however, noprogramme as yet for public bodies to actively promote thelanguage. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the AngloScottish Border, and there are over 100,000 Welshspeakers in London and areas such as Oswestry on the Welshborder

Other languages have also traditionallybeen spoken by minority populationsin England, including Romany. The useof Yiddish by the Jewish population hasdwindled, although an increasingnumber are able to speak Hebrew.

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

ReligionReligionDue to immigration in the past decades, there is anenormous diversity of religious belief in England, aswell as a growing percentage that have no religiousaffiliation. Levels of attendance in variousdenominations have begun to decline. England isclassed largely as a secular country even allowingfor the following affiliation percentages :Christianity: 71.6%, Islam: 3.1%, Hindu: 1.1%,Sikh: 0.7%, Jewish: 0.5%, and Buddhist: 0.3%, Noreligion: 14.6%. The EU Eurobarometer poll of2005 shows that only 38% of people in the UKbelieve in a god, while 40% believe in "some sort ofspirit or life force" and 20% do not believe in either.

ChristianityChristianity

Christianity reached England through missionaries from Scotland andfrom Continental Europe; the era of St. Augustine (the firstArchbishop of Canterbury) and the Celtic Christian missionaries inthe north (notably St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert). The Synod of Whitbyin 664 ultimately led to the English Church being fully part of RomanCatholicism. Early English Christian documents surviving from thistime include the 7th century illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels and thehistorical accounts written by the Venerable Bede. England has manyearly cathedrals, most notably York Minster (1080), Durham Cathedral (1093)and Salisbury Cathedral (1220), In 1536, the Church was split from Romeover 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 laterthe influence of the Reformation, resulting in the Church of England andAnglicanism.

Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the centre of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

EducationEducation There is a long history of the promotion of education in England in schools, colleges anduniversities. England is home to the oldest existing schools in the English speakingworld: The King's School, Canterbury and The King's School, Rochester, believed to befounded in the 6th and 7th century respectively. At least eight existing schools inEngland were founded in the first millennium. Sherborne School was granted a royalcharter in 1550, but may have been the site of a school since the 8th century. Most ofthese ancient institutions are now fee-paying schools, however some state schools arealso very old, most notably Beverley Grammar School founded in 700. The oldestsurviving girls' school in England is Red Maids' School founded in 1634. The most famousschools in England are now fee-paying institutions, including Winchester College(founded 1382), Eton College (1440), St Paul's School (1509), Rugby School (1567) andHarrow School (1572).England is also home to the two oldest universities in the English speaking world: OxfordUniversity (12th century) and Cambridge University (early 13th century). There are nowmore than 90 universities in England.Primary and secondary education in England is administered by the Department forChildren, Schools and Families. Schools are of two main types: state schools fundedthrough taxation and free to all, and private schools (also known as "public" or"independent" schools) funded through fees. Standards are monitored by regularinspections of state-funded schools by the Office for Standards in Education, and ofprivate schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.University education is the responsibility of the Department for Innovation, Universitiesand Skills. Students attending English Universities now have to pay tuition fees towardsthe cost of their education, as do English students who choose to attend a Scottishuniversity (though Scottish students attending Scottish universities get their fees paid for them by theScottish Government.)

Christ Church, University of Oxford.

The chapel of King's College, Cambridge University.

TransportTransport

Heathrow Terminal 5. London Heathrow Airport has the most international passenger traffic of any airport in the world.

A Eurostar high speed train.

The government department overseeing transport is the Department for Transport.

National symbolsNational symbols

Saint George slaying the dragon, by Paolo Uccello, c. 1470.

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

St. George's CrossSt. George's CrossThe St. George's Cross is a red cross on a white background and is the flag of England.It is believed to have been adopted for the uniform of English soldiers during theCrusades of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries.] From about 1277 it became the nationalflag of England.St. George's Cross was originally the flag of Genoa and was adopted by England and theCity of London in 1190 for their ships entering the Mediterranean to benefit from the protection of thepowerful Genoese fleet. The maritime Republic of Genoa was rising and going to become, with its rivalVenice, one of the most important powers in the world. The English Monarch paid an annual tribute tothe Doge of Genoa for this privilege. The cross of St George would become the official Flag of England.A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associatedwith St. George and England, along with other countries and cities (such as Georgia, Milan and theRepublic of Genoa), which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. It remainedin national use until 1707, when the Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack, especially at sea) whichEnglish and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606, was adopted for purposes to unite the whole ofGreat Britain under a common flag. The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it iswidely 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 usedinstead. This was certainly evident at the 1966 football World Cup when English fans predominantly flewthe latter. However, since devolution in the United Kingdom, the St George Cross has experienced agrowth in popularity and is now the predominant flag used in English sporting events.

The flag of England is the St George's Cross. The red cross appeared as an emblem of England during the Middle Ages and the Crusades and is one of the earliest known emblems representing England.

The coat of arms of England are described as gules, threelions passant guardant or[citation needed]. The earliestsurviving 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 ofEngland are no longer used on their own; instead they form apart of the conjoined Royal coat of arms of the UnitedKingdom. However, both the Football Association and theEngland and Wales Cricket Board use logos based on the threelions. In recent years, it has been common to see banners ofthe arms flown at English football matches, in the same waythe Lion Rampant is flown in Scotland.In 1996, Three Lions was the official song of the England footballteam for the 1996 European Football Championship, which were heldin England.

Three Lions

The Tudor rose is the national floral emblem of England, andwas adopted as a national emblem of England around the timeof the Wars of the Roses.The rose is used in a variety of contexts in its use forEngland's representation. The Rose of England is a RoyalBadge, and is a Tudor, or half-red-half-white rose,symbolising the end of the Wars of the Roses and thesubsequent marriage between the House of Lancaster and theHouse of York. This symbolism is reflected in the Royal coat ofarms of the United Kingdom and the crest of the FA. However,the rose of England is often displayed as a red rose (whichalso symbolises Lancashire), such as the badge of the Englandnational rugby union team. A white rose (which alsosymbolises Yorkshire) is also used on different occasions.

Rose

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