2/22/2017 EnglandWikipedia

England
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

England(/lnd/)isacountrythatispartoftheUnited
England
Kingdom.[4][5][6]ItshareslandborderswithScotlandtothe
northandWalestothewest.TheIrishSealiesnorthwestof
EnglandandtheCelticSealiestothesouthwest.Englandis
separatedfromcontinentalEuropebytheNorthSeatothe
eastandtheEnglishChanneltothesouth.Thecountry
coversfiveeighthsoftheislandofGreatBritain(whichlies Flag
intheNorthAtlantic)initscentreandsouthandincludes
over100smallerislandssuchastheIslesofScilly,andthe Anthem:Variousproposed
Predominantly"GodSavetheQueen"
IsleofWight.

TheareanowcalledEnglandwasfirstinhabitedbymodern
humansduringtheUpperPalaeolithicperiod,buttakesits
namefromtheAngles,oneoftheGermanictribeswho
settledduringthe5thand6thcenturies.Englandbecamea
unifiedstateinthe10thcentury,andsincetheAgeof
Discovery,whichbeganduringthe15thcentury,hashada
significantculturalandlegalimpactonthewiderworld.[7]
TheEnglishlanguage,theAnglicanChurch,andEnglish
lawthebasisforthecommonlawlegalsystemsofmany
othercountriesaroundtheworlddevelopedinEngland,
andthecountry'sparliamentarysystemofgovernmenthas Locationof England ( darkgreen )

inEurope( green&darkgrey )
beenwidelyadoptedbyothernations.[8]TheIndustrial intheUnitedKingdom ( green )
Revolutionbeganin18thcenturyEngland,transformingits
Status Country
societyintotheworld'sfirstindustrialisednation.[9]
Capital London
England'sterrainmostlycompriseslowhillsandplains, andlargestcity 5130N07W
especiallyincentralandsouthernEngland.However,there Nationallanguage English
areuplandsinthenorth(forexample,themountainous
LakeDistrict,andthePennines)andinthesouthwest(for Regionallanguages Cornish
example,DartmoorandtheCotswolds).Thecapitalis Ethnicgroups(2011) 85.4%White
London,whichisthelargestmetropolitanareainboththe 7.8%Asian
3.5%Black
UnitedKingdomandtheEuropeanUnion.[nb1]England's 2.3%Mixed
populationofover53millioncomprises84%ofthe 0.4%Arab
populationoftheUnitedKingdom,largelyconcentrated 0.6%Other[1]
aroundLondon,theSouthEast,andconurbationsinthe
Midlands,theNorthWest,theNorthEast,andYorkshire, Religion ChurchofEngland
whicheachdevelopedasmajorindustrialregionsduringthe Demonym English
19thcentury.[10] Type Constituentunit
TheKingdomofEnglandwhichafter1535included Sovereignstate UnitedKingdom
Walesceasedbeingaseparatesovereignstateon1May Legaljurisdiction Englandand
1707,whentheActsofUnionputintoeffecttheterms Wales
agreedintheTreatyofUnionthepreviousyear,resultingin Government Partofaconstitutional
apoliticalunionwiththeKingdomofScotlandtocreatethe monarchy
KingdomofGreatBritain.[11][12]In1801,GreatBritainwas Monarch ElizabethII
unitedwiththeKingdomofIrelandthroughanotherActof
ParliamentoftheUnitedKingdom
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UniontobecometheUnitedKingdomofGreatBritainand HouseofCommons 533MPs(of650)

Ireland.In1922theIrishFreeStatesecededfromthe Establishment
UnitedKingdom,leadingtothelatterbeingrenamedthe AngloSaxon 5th6thcentury
UnitedKingdomofGreatBritainandNorthernIreland. settlement
Unification 10thcentury
UnionwithScotland 1May1707

Contents Area
Land 130,279km2
1 Toponymy (50,301sqmi)[2]
2 History Population
2.1 Prehistoryandantiquity 2015estimate 54,786,300
2.2 MiddleAges 2011census 53,012,456
2.3 EarlyModern Density 420.5/km2
2.4 LateModernandcontemporary
(1,089.1/sqmi)
3 Governance
3.1 Politics GDP(nominal) 2015[3]estimate
3.2 Law Total $2.340trillion
3.3 Regions,counties,anddistricts Percapita $56,890
4 Geography
4.1 Landscapeandrivers Currency Poundsterling(GBP)
4.2 Climate Timezone GMT(UTC)
4.3 Majorconurbations Summer(DST) BST(UTC+1)
5 Economy
5.1 Scienceandtechnology Dateformat dd/mm/yyyy(AD)
5.2 Transport Drivesonthe left
6 Healthcare
7 Demography Callingcode +44
7.1 Population Patronsaint SaintGeorge
7.2 Language
7.3 Religion ISO3166code GBENG
8 Education
9 Culture Wikisourcehasoriginal
9.1 Architecture textrelatedtothisarticle:
9.2 Folklore Englandportal
9.3 Cuisine
9.4 Visualarts
9.5 Literature,poetryandphilosophy
9.6 Performingarts
9.7 Cinema
9.8 Museums,libraries,andgalleries
10 Sports
11 Nationalsymbols
12 Seealso
13 Notes
14 References
14.1 Bibliography
15 Externallinks

Toponymy
Thename"England"isderivedfromtheOldEnglishnameEnglaland,whichmeans"landoftheAngles".[13]
TheAngleswereoneoftheGermanictribesthatsettledinGreatBritainduringtheEarlyMiddleAges.The
AnglescamefromtheAngelnpeninsulaintheBayofKielareaoftheBalticSea.[14]Theearliestrecordeduse
oftheterm,as"Englalonde",isinthelateninthcenturytranslationintoOldEnglishofBede'sEcclesiastical
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HistoryoftheEnglishPeople.Thetermwasthenusedinadifferentsensetothemodernone,meaning"the
landinhabitedbytheEnglish",anditincludedEnglishpeopleinwhatisnowsoutheastScotlandbutwasthen
partoftheEnglishkingdomofNorthumbria.TheAngloSaxonChroniclerecordedthattheDomesdayBookof
1086coveredthewholeofEngland,meaningtheEnglishkingdom,butafewyearslatertheChroniclestated
thatKingMalcolmIIIwent"outofScotlandeintoLothianinEnglaland",thususingitinthemoreancient
sense.[15]AccordingtotheOxfordEnglishDictionary,itsmodernspellingwasfirstusedin1538.[16]

TheearliestattestedreferencetotheAnglesoccursinthe1stcenturyworkbyTacitus,Germania,inwhichthe
LatinwordAngliiisused.[17]Theetymologyofthetribalnameitselfisdisputedbyscholarsithasbeen
suggestedthatitderivesfromtheshapeoftheAngelnpeninsula,anangularshape.[18]Howandwhyaterm
derivedfromthenameofatribethatwaslesssignificantthanothers,suchastheSaxons,cametobeusedfor
theentirecountryanditspeopleisnotknown,butitseemsthisisrelatedtothecustomofcallingtheGermanic
peopleinBritainAngliSaxonesorEnglishSaxons.[19]InScottishGaelic,anotherlanguagewhichdevelopedon
theislandofGreatBritain,theSaxontribegavetheirnametothewordforEngland(Sasunn)[20]similarly,the
WelshnamefortheEnglishlanguageis"Saesneg".

AnalternativenameforEnglandisAlbion.ThenameAlbionoriginallyreferredtotheentireislandofGreat
Britain.ThenominallyearliestrecordofthenameappearsintheAristotelianCorpus,specificallythe4th
centuryBCDeMundo:[21]"BeyondthePillarsofHerculesistheoceanthatflowsroundtheearth.Initaretwo
verylargeislandscalledBritanniatheseareAlbionandIerne".[21][22]Butmodernscholarlyconsensusascribes
DeMundonottoAristotlebuttoPseudoAristotle,i.e.itwaswrittenlaterintheGraecoRomanperiodor
afterwards.ThewordAlbion()orinsulaAlbionumhastwopossibleorigins.Iteitherderivesfroma
cognateoftheLatinalbusmeaningwhite,areferencetothewhitecliffsofDover(theonlypartofBritain
visiblefromtheEuropeanmainland)[23]orfromthephrasethe"islandoftheAlbiones"[24]inthenowlost
MassaliotePeriplus,thatisattestedthroughAvienus'OraMaritima[25]towhichtheformerpresumablyserved
asasource.AlbionisnowappliedtoEnglandinamorepoeticcapacity.[26]AnotherromanticnameforEngland
isLoegria,relatedtotheWelshwordforEngland,Lloegr,andmadepopularbyitsuseinArthurianlegend.

History
Prehistoryandantiquity

Theearliestknownevidenceofhumanpresenceintheareanowknown
asEnglandwasthatofHomoantecessor,datingtoapproximately
780,000yearsago.Theoldestprotohumanbonesdiscoveredin
Englanddatefrom500,000yearsago.[27]Modernhumansareknownto
haveinhabitedtheareaduringtheUpperPaleolithicperiod,though
permanentsettlementswereonlyestablishedwithinthelast6,000
years.[28][29]Afterthelasticeageonlylargemammalssuchas
mammoths,bisonandwoollyrhinocerosremained.Roughly
11,000yearsago,whentheicesheetsbegantorecede,humans
repopulatedtheareageneticresearchsuggeststheycamefromthe Stonehenge,aNeolithicmonument
[30]
northernpartoftheIberianPeninsula. Thesealevelwaslowerthan
nowandBritainwasconnectedbylandbridgetoIrelandandEurasia.[31]Astheseasrose,itwasseparated
fromIreland10,000yearsagoandfromEurasiatwomillennialater.

TheBeakerculturearrivedaround2,500BC,introducingdrinkingandfoodvesselsconstructedfromclay,as
wellasvesselsusedasreductionpotstosmeltcopperores.[32]ItwasduringthistimethatmajorNeolithic
monumentssuchasStonehengeandAveburywereconstructed.Byheatingtogethertinandcopper,whichwere

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