England is a
country that is part of the
United Kingdom. It shares land borders with
Wales to its west and
Scotland to its north. The
Irish Sea lies northwest and the
Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from
continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
by the
North Sea to the east and the
English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of
Great Britain, which lies in the
North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
, and includes
over 100 smaller islands, such as the
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
and the
Isle of Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the
Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the
Angles, a
Germanic tribe deriving its name from the
Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the
Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The
English language, the
Anglican Church, and
English law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, be ...
—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 terrain is chiefly low hills and
plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there is upland and mountainous terrain in the north (for example, the
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
and
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...
) and in the west (for example,
Dartmoor and the
Shropshire Hills). The capital is
London, which has the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom. England's population of 56.3 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom,
largely concentrated around London, the
South East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
, and conurbations in the
Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
, the
North West, the
North East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
, and
Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century.
[2011 Census – Population and household estimates for England and Wales, March 2011]
Accessed 31 May 2013.
The
Kingdom of England – which after 1535 included Wales – ceased being a separate
sovereign state on 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
Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...
(through another
Act of Union) to become the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the
Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being
renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Toponymy
The name "England" is derived from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
name , which means "land of the
Angles". The Angles were one of the
Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the
Early Middle Ages. The Angles came from the
Anglia peninsula in the
Bay of Kiel area (present-day German state of
Schleswig-Holstein) of the
Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as "", is in the late-ninth-century translation into Old English of
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
's ''
Ecclesiastical History of the English People''. The term was then used in a different sense to the modern one, meaning "the land inhabited by the English", and it included English people in what is now south-east Scotland but was then part of the English kingdom of
Northumbria. The ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'' recorded that the
Domesday Book of 1086 covered the whole of England, meaning the English kingdom, but a few years later the ''Chronicle'' stated that King
Malcolm III
Malcolm III ( mga, Máel Coluim mac Donnchada, label=Medieval Gaelic; gd, Maol Chaluim mac Dhonnchaidh; died 13 November 1093) was King of Scotland from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" ("ceann mòr", Gaelic, literally "big head" ...
went "out of Scotlande into
Lothian
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Sco ...
in Englaland", thus using it in the more ancient sense.
The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by
Tacitus, ''
Germania
Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...
'', in which the
Latin word is used.
The etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars; it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an ''angular'' shape. How and why a term derived from the name of a tribe that was less significant than others, such as the
Saxons, came to be used for the entire country and its people is not known, but it seems this is related to the custom of calling the Germanic people in Britain ''Angli Saxones'' or English Saxons to distinguish them from continental Saxons (Eald-Seaxe) of Old Saxony between the Weser and Eider rivers in Northern Germany. In
Scottish Gaelic, another language which developed on the island of Great Britain, the Saxon tribe gave their name to the word for England (); similarly, the Welsh name for the English language is "". A romantic name for England is
Loegria, related to the
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
word for England, , and made popular by its use in
Arthurian legend. ''
Albion
Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...
'' is also applied to England in a more poetic capacity, though its original meaning is the island of Britain as a whole.
History
Prehistory and antiquity
The earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of ''
Homo antecessor'', dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago. Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the
Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years.
After the
last ice age only large mammals such as
mammoths,
bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
and
woolly rhinoceros remained. Roughly 11,000 years ago, when the
ice sheets began to recede, humans repopulated the area; genetic research suggests they came from the northern part of the
Iberian Peninsula. The sea level was lower than the present day and Britain was connected by
land bridge to Ireland and
Eurasia.
As the seas rose, it was separated from Ireland 10,000 years ago and from Eurasia two millennia later.
The
Beaker culture arrived around 2,500 BC, introducing drinking and food vessels constructed from clay, as well as vessels used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores. It was during this time that major
Neolithic monuments such as
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...
and
Avebury were constructed. By heating together tin and copper, which were in abundance in the area, the Beaker culture people made
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
, and later iron from iron ores. The development of iron
smelting allowed the construction of better
plough
A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
s, advancing agriculture (for instance, with
Celtic fields), as well as the production of more effective weapons.
During the
Iron Age,
Celtic culture Celtic culture may refer to:
*the culture of Celts
*the culture of Celts (modern)
*the culture of Celtic nations:
**Culture of Ireland
**Culture of Scotland
**Culture of the Isle of Man
**Culture of Wales
**Culture of Cornwall
** Culture of Brittan ...
, deriving from the
Hallstatt and
La Tène cultures, arrived from Central Europe.
Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
was the spoken language during this time. Society was tribal; according to
Ptolemy's there were around 20 tribes in the area. Earlier divisions are unknown because the Britons were not literate. Like other regions on the edge of the Empire, Britain had long enjoyed trading links with the Romans. Julius Caesar of the
Roman Republic attempted to
invade twice in 55 BC; although largely unsuccessful, he managed to set up a
client king from the
Trinovantes.
The Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD during the reign of Emperor
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
, subsequently
conquering much of Britain, and the area was incorporated into the Roman Empire as
Britannia province
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
. The best-known of the native tribes who attempted to resist were the
Catuvellauni led by
Caratacus. Later, an uprising led by
Boudica
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...
, Queen of the
Iceni, ended with Boudica's suicide following her defeat at the
Battle of Watling Street
The Boudican revolt was an armed uprising by native Celtic tribes against the Roman Empire. It took place c. 60–61 AD in the Roman province of Britain, and was led by Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni. The uprising was motivated by the Romans' ...
. The author of one study of Roman Britain suggested that from 43 AD to 84 AD, the Roman invaders killed somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 people from a population of perhaps 2,000,000. This era saw a
Greco-Roman
The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...
culture prevail with the introduction of
Roman law,
Roman architecture,
aqueducts,
sewers, many agricultural items and silk. In the 3rd century, Emperor
Septimius Severus died at
Eboracum (now
York), where
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
* Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...
was subsequently proclaimed emperor a century later.
There is debate about when Christianity was first introduced; it was no later than the 4th century, probably much earlier. According to
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
, missionaries were sent from Rome by
Eleutherius at the request of the chieftain
Lucius of Britain in 180 AD, to settle differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials, which were disturbing the church. There are traditions linked to Glastonbury claiming an introduction through
Joseph of Arimathea, while others claim through Lucius of Britain. By 410, during the
decline of the Roman Empire
The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...
, Britain was left exposed by the
end of Roman rule in Britain
The end of Roman rule in Britain was the transition from Roman Britain to post-Roman Britain. Roman rule ended in different parts of Britain at different times, and under different circumstances.
In 383, the usurper Magnus Maximus withdrew tr ...
and the withdrawal of Roman army units, to defend the frontiers in continental Europe and partake in civil wars.
Celtic Christian monastic and missionary movements flourished:
Patrick Patrick may refer to:
* Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
* Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
(5th-century Ireland) and in the 6th century
Brendan (
Clonfert),
Comgall (
Bangor),
David (Wales), Aiden (Lindisfarne) and
Columba
Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...
(
Iona
Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...
). This period of Christianity was influenced by ancient Celtic culture in its sensibilities, polity, practices and theology. Local "congregations" were centred in the monastic community and monastic leaders were more like chieftains, as peers, rather than in the more hierarchical system of the Roman-dominated church.
Middle Ages
Roman military withdrawals left Britain open to invasion by pagan, seafaring warriors from north-western continental Europe, chiefly the Saxons,
Angles,
Jutes and Frisians who had long raided the coasts of the Roman province. These groups then began to settle in increasing numbers over the course of the fifth and sixth centuries, initially in the eastern part of the country.
Their advance was contained for some decades after the Britons' victory at the
Battle of Mount Badon
The Battle of Badon /ˈbeɪdən/ also known as the Battle of Mons Badonicus ( la, obsessio isBadonici montis, "Blockade/Siege of the Badonic Hill"; ''Bellum in monte Badonis'', "Battle on Badon Hill"; ''Bellum Badonis'', "Battle of Badon"; Old W ...
, but subsequently resumed, overrunning the fertile lowlands of Britain and reducing the area under
Brittonic control to a series of separate enclaves in the more rugged country to the west by the end of the 6th century. Contemporary texts describing this period are extremely scarce, giving rise to its description as a
Dark Age
The ''Dark Ages'' is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire Middle Ages, in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that characterises it as marked by economic, intellectual and cultural decline.
The conce ...
. The nature and progression of the
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is consequently subject to considerable disagreement; the emerging consensus is that it occurred on a large scale in the south and east but was less substantial to the north and west, where Celtic languages continued to be spoken even in areas under Anglo-Saxon control.
Roman-dominated Christianity had, in general, been replaced in the conquered territories by
Anglo-Saxon paganism, but was reintroduced by missionaries from Rome led by
Augustine from 597 onwards. Disputes between the Roman- and Celtic-dominated forms of Christianity ended in victory for the Roman tradition at the
Council of Whitby
In the Synod of Whitby in 664, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite ins ...
(664), which was ostensibly about
tonsures (clerical haircuts) and the date of Easter, but more significantly, about the differences in Roman and Celtic forms of authority, theology, and practice.
During the settlement period the lands ruled by the incomers seem to have been fragmented into numerous tribal territories, but by the 7th century, when substantial evidence of the situation again becomes available, these had coalesced into roughly a dozen kingdoms including
Northumbria,
Mercia,
Wessex,
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
,
Essex,
Kent and
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. Over the following centuries, this process of political consolidation continued. The 7th century saw a struggle for hegemony between Northumbria and Mercia, which in the 8th century gave way to Mercian preeminence. In the early 9th century Mercia was displaced as the foremost kingdom by Wessex. Later in that century escalating attacks by the
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
culminated in the conquest of the north and east of England, overthrowing the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Wessex under
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...
was left as the only surviving English kingdom, and under his successors, it steadily expanded at the expense of the kingdoms of the
Danelaw. This brought about the political unification of England, first accomplished under
Æthelstan in 927 and definitively established after further conflicts by
Eadred in 953. A fresh wave of Scandinavian attacks from the late 10th century ended with the conquest of this united kingdom by
Sweyn Forkbeard
Sweyn Forkbeard ( non, Sveinn Haraldsson tjúguskegg ; da, Svend Tveskæg; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from 986 to 1014, also at times King of the English and King of Norway. He was the father of King Harald II of D ...
in 1013 and again by his son
Cnut in 1016, turning it into the centre of a short-lived
North Sea Empire that also included
Denmark and
Norway. However, the native royal dynasty was restored with the accession of
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
in 1042.
A dispute over the succession to Edward led to the
Norman Conquest in 1066, accomplished by an army led by
Duke William of Normandy. The
Normans themselves originated from
Scandinavia and had settled in Normandy in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. This conquest led to the almost total dispossession of the English elite and its replacement by a new French-speaking aristocracy, whose speech had a profound and permanent effect on the English language.
Subsequently, the
House of Plantagenet
The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in b ...
from Anjou inherited the English throne under
Henry II, adding England to the budding
Angevin Empire of fiefs the family had inherited in France including
Aquitaine.
[.] They reigned for three centuries, some noted monarchs being
Richard I,
Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
,
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
and
Henry V Henry V may refer to:
People
* Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026)
* Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125)
* Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161)
* Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227)
* Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...
.
The period saw changes in trade and legislation, including the signing of the ''
Magna Carta
(Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...
'', an English legal charter used to limit the sovereign's powers by law and protect the privileges of freemen. Catholic
monasticism
Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...
flourished, providing philosophers, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were founded with royal patronage. The
Principality of Wales became a Plantagenet fief during the 13th century and the
Lordship of Ireland was given to the English monarchy by the Pope.
During the 14th century, the Plantagenets and the
House of Valois both claimed to be legitimate claimants to the
House of Capet and with it France; the two powers clashed in the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
. The
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
epidemic
hit England; starting in 1348, it eventually killed up to half of England's
inhabitants
Domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law," which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time to time, a person has only one ...
. From 1453 to 1487 civil war occurred between two branches of the royal family – the
Yorkists
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
and
Lancastrians – known as the
Wars of the Roses. Eventually it led to the Yorkists losing the throne entirely to a Welsh noble family the
Tudors, a branch of the Lancastrians headed by
Henry Tudor who invaded with Welsh and Breton mercenaries, gaining victory at the
Battle of Bosworth Field
The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Augu ...
where the Yorkist king
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
was killed.
Early modern
During the
Tudor period, the
Renaissance reached England through Italian courtiers, who reintroduced artistic, educational and scholarly debate from classical antiquity. England began to develop
naval skills, and exploration to the West intensified.
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
broke from communion with the Catholic Church, over issues relating to his divorce, under the
Acts of Supremacy in 1534 which proclaimed the monarch head of the
Church of England. In contrast with much of European Protestantism, the
roots of the split were more political than theological. He also legally incorporated his ancestral land Wales into the Kingdom of England with the
1535–1542 acts. There were internal religious conflicts during the reigns of Henry's daughters,
Mary I and
Elizabeth I. The former took the country back to Catholicism while the latter broke from it again, forcefully asserting the supremacy of
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
. The
Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor age of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I ("the Virgin Queen"). Historians often depict it as the
golden age in English history. Elizabethan England represented the apogee of the
English Renaissance and saw the flowering of art, poetry, music and literature. The era is most famous for its drama, theatre and playwrights. England during this period had a centralised, well-organised, and effective government as a result of vast Tudor reforms.
Competing with
Spain, the first English colony in the Americas was founded in 1585 by explorer
Walter Raleigh in
Virginia and named
Roanoke. The Roanoke colony failed and is known as the lost colony after it was found abandoned on the return of the late-arriving supply ship. With the
East India Company, England also competed with the
Dutch and
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
in the East. During the Elizabethan period, England was at war with Spain. An
armada
Armada is the Spanish and Portuguese word for naval fleet, which also adopted into English, Malay and Indonesian for the same meaning, or an adjective meaning 'armed'; Armáda () is the Czech and Slovak word for armed forces.
Armada may also refe ...
sailed from Spain in 1588 as part of a wider plan to invade England and re-establish a Catholic monarchy. The plan was thwarted by bad coordination, stormy weather and successful harrying attacks by an English fleet under
Lord Howard of Effingham. This failure did not end the threat: Spain launched two further armadas, in
1596
Events
January–June
* January 6– 20 – An English attempt led by Francis Drake to cross the Isthmus of Panama ends in defeat.
* January 28 – Francis Drake dies of dysentery off Portobelo.
* February 14 – Archbishop John Whitg ...
and
1597
Events
January–June
* January 24 – Battle of Turnhout: Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas, in the Netherlands.
* February – Bali is discovered, by Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman.
* February 5 ...
, but both were driven back by storms. The political structure of the island changed in 1603, when the
King of Scots,
James VI, a kingdom which had been a long-time rival to English interests, inherited the throne of England as James I, thereby creating a
personal union.
[.; ] He styled himself
King of Great Britain, although this had no basis in English law. Under the auspices of James VI and I the Authorised
King James Version of the Holy Bible was published in 1611. It was the standard version of the Bible read by most Protestant Christians for four hundred years until modern revisions were produced in the 20th century.
Based on conflicting political, religious and social positions, the
English Civil War was fought between the supporters of
Parliament and those of King
Charles I, known colloquially as
Roundheads and
Cavaliers respectively. This was an interwoven part of the wider multifaceted
Wars of the Three Kingdoms, involving
Scotland and
Ireland. The Parliamentarians were victorious,
Charles I was executed and the kingdom replaced by the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
. Leader of the Parliament forces,
Oliver Cromwell declared himself
Lord Protector
Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') was a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometimes ...
in 1653; a period of
personal rule followed.
After Cromwell's death and the resignation of his son
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...
as Lord Protector,
Charles II was invited to return as monarch in 1660, in a move called the
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
. With the reopening of theatres, fine arts, literature and performing arts flourished throughout the Restoration of
''the Merry Monarch'' Charles II. After the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
of 1688, it was constitutionally established that King and Parliament should rule together, though Parliament would have the real power. This was established with the
Bill of Rights in 1689. Among the statutes set down were that the law could only be made by Parliament and could not be suspended by the King, also that the King could not impose taxes or raise an army without the prior approval of Parliament. Also since that time, no British monarch has entered the
House of Commons when it is sitting, which is annually commemorated at the
State Opening of Parliament
The State Opening of Parliament is a ceremonial event which formally marks the beginning of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It includes a speech from the throne known as the King's (or Queen's) Speech. The event takes place ...
by the British monarch when the doors of the House of Commons are slammed in the face of the monarch's messenger, symbolising the rights of Parliament and its independence from the monarch. With the founding of the
Royal Society in 1660, science was greatly encouraged.
In 1666 the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...
gutted the City of London but it was rebuilt shortly afterwards with many significant buildings designed by
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
. In Parliament two factions had emerged – the
Tories and
Whigs. Though the Tories initially supported Catholic king
James II James II may refer to:
* James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade
* James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier
* James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily
* James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...
, some of them, along with the Whigs, during the
Revolution of 1688 invited Dutch Prince William of Orange to defeat James and ultimately to become
William III of England. Some English people, especially in the north, were
Jacobites
Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to:
Religion
* Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include:
** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...
and continued to support James and his sons. Under the
Stuart dynasty
The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...
England expanded in trade, finance and prosperity. Britain developed Europe's largest merchant fleet. After the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed,
the two countries joined in
political union, to create the
Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.
To accommodate the union, institutions such as the law and national churches of each remained separate.
Late modern and contemporary
Under the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain, output from the Royal Society and other
English initiatives combined with the
Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...
to create innovations in science and engineering, while the enormous growth in
British overseas trade protected by the
Royal Navy paved the way for the establishment of the
British Empire. Domestically it drove the
Industrial Revolution, a period of profound change in the
socioeconomic and cultural conditions of England, resulting in industrialised agriculture, manufacture, engineering and mining, as well as new and pioneering road, rail and water networks to facilitate their expansion and development. The opening of Northwest England's
Bridgewater Canal in 1761 ushered in the
canal age in Britain.
[; .] In 1825 the world's first permanent steam locomotive-hauled passenger railway – the
Stockton and Darlington Railway
The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...
– opened to the public.
During the Industrial Revolution, many workers moved from England's countryside to new and expanding urban industrial areas to work in factories, for instance at
Birmingham and
Manchester, dubbed "Workshop of the World" and "Warehouse City" respectively. Manchester was the world's first industrial city.
England maintained relative stability throughout the
French Revolution;
William Pitt the Younger was British prime minister for the reign of
George III. The Regency of
George IV is noted for its elegance and achievements in the fine arts and architecture. During the
Napoleonic Wars,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
planned to
invade from the south-east. However, this failed to manifest and the Napoleonic forces were defeated by the British: at sea by
Horatio Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
, and on land by
Arthur Wellesley. The major victory at the
Battle of Trafalgar confirmed the naval supremacy Britain had established during the course of the eighteenth century. The Napoleonic Wars fostered a concept of
Britishness
British national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity, as embodied in the shared and characteristic culture, languages and traditions, of the British people. It comprises the claimed qualities that bind and disting ...
and a united national
British people, shared with the English, Scots and Welsh.
[.]
London became the largest and most populous metropolitan area in the world during the
Victorian era, and trade within the British Empire – as well as the standing of the British military and navy – was prestigious. Technologically, this era saw many innovations that proved key to the United Kingdom's power and prosperity.
Political agitation at home from radicals such as the
Chartists and the
suffragette
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
s enabled legislative reform and
universal suffrage.
Samuel Hynes described the
Edwardian era as a "leisurely time when women wore
picture hat
A picture hat or Gainsborough hat is an elaborate woman's hat with a wide brim. It has been suggested that the name may be derived from the way the broad brim frames the face to create a "picture".
This is a very broad category of hat; some vers ...
s and did not vote, when the rich were not ashamed to live conspicuously, and the sun really never set on the British flag."
Power shifts in east-central Europe led to World War I; hundreds of thousands of English soldiers died fighting for the United Kingdom as part of the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. Two decades later, in
World War II, the United Kingdom was again one of the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
. At the end of the
Phoney War,
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
became the wartime prime minister. Developments in warfare technology saw many cities damaged by air-raids during
the Blitz. Following the war, the British Empire experienced rapid
decolonisation, and there was a speeding-up of technological innovations; automobiles became the primary means of transport and
Frank Whittle's development of the
jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
led to wider
air travel. Residential patterns were altered in England by private motoring, and by the creation of the
National Health Service (NHS) in 1948. The UK's NHS provided
publicly funded health care
Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are se ...
to all UK permanent residents free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. Combined, these prompted the reform of
local government in England
Local government in England broadly consists of three layers: regional authorities, local authorities and parish councils. Legislation concerning English local government is passed by Parliament, as England does not have a devolved parliament.
Th ...
in the mid-20th century.
Since the 20th century there has been significant population movement to England, mostly from other parts of the
British Isles, but also from the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
, particularly the
Indian subcontinent. Since the 1970s there has been a large move away from manufacturing and an increasing emphasis on the
service industry.
As part of the United Kingdom, the area joined a
common market initiative called the
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
which became the
European Union. Since the late 20th century the
administration of the United Kingdom has moved towards
devolved governance in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
England and Wales continues to exist as a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom.
Devolution has stimulated a greater emphasis on a more English-specific identity and patriotism. There is no devolved English government, but an attempt to create a similar system on a sub-regional basis was rejected by referendum.
Governance
Politics
England is part of the United Kingdom, a
constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary system. There has not been a
government of England
There has not been a government of England since 1707 when the Kingdom of England ceased to exist as a sovereign state, as it merged with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the te ...
, putting into effect the terms of the
Treaty of Union, joined England and Scotland to form the
Kingdom of Great Britain.
Before the union England was ruled by
its monarch and the
Parliament of England. Today England is governed directly by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, although other
countries of the United Kingdom have
devolved governments.
In the
House of Commons which is the
lower house
A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
of the British Parliament based at the
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
, there are 532 Members of Parliament (MPs) for constituencies in England, out of the 650 total. As of the
2019 United Kingdom general election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...
, England is represented by 345 MPs from the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, 179 from the
Labour Party, seven from the
Liberal Democrats, one from the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
, and the
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
,
Lindsay Hoyle.
Since devolution, in which other countries of the United Kingdom – Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland – each have their own devolved parliament or assemblies for local issues, there has been debate about how to counterbalance this in England. Originally it was planned that various
regions of England
The regions, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England, established in 1994. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within government. While they no ...
would be devolved, but following the proposal's rejection by the
North East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
in a
2004 referendum, this has not been carried out.
One major issue is the
West Lothian question, in which MPs from Scotland and Wales are able to vote on legislation affecting only England, while English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate on devolved matters. This when placed in the context of England being the only country of the United Kingdom not to have free cancer treatment, prescriptions, residential care for the elderly and
free top-up university fees,
has led to a steady rise in
English nationalism. Some have suggested the creation of a
devolved English parliament, while others have proposed simply limiting voting on legislation which only affects England to English MPs.
Law
The
English law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, be ...
legal system, developed over the centuries, is the basis of
common law legal systems used in most
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
countries and the United States (except
Louisiana). Despite now being part of the United Kingdom, the legal system of the
Courts of England and Wales continued, under the
Treaty of Union, as a separate legal system from the one used in Scotland. The general essence of English 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 Senior Courts of England and Wales, consisting of the
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
, the
High Court of Justice for civil cases, and the
Crown Court
The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...
for criminal cases. The
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the Unite ...
is the highest court for criminal and civil cases in
England and Wales. It was created in 2009 after constitutional changes, taking over the
judicial functions of the House of Lords
Whilst the House of Lords of the United Kingdom is the upper chamber of Parliament and has government ministers, it for many centuries had a judicial function. It functioned as a court of first instance for the trials of peers, for impeachments, ...
. A decision of the Supreme Court is binding on every other court in the hierarchy, which must follow its directions.
The
secretary of state for justice is the minister responsible to Parliament for the
judiciary, the court system and prisons and probation in England. Crime increased between 1981 and 1995 but fell by 42% in the period 1995–2006. The prison population doubled over the same period, giving it one of the
highest incarceration rates in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000.
His Majesty's Prison Service
His Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) is a part of HM Prison and Probation Service (formerly the National Offender Management Service), which is the part of His Majesty's Government charged with managing most of the prisons within England and Wale ...
, reporting to the
Ministry of Justice, manages most prisons, housing 81,309 prisoners in England and Wales .
Regions, counties, and districts
The
subdivisions of England consist of up to four levels of
subnational division controlled through a variety of types of administrative entities created for the purposes of
local government. The highest tier of local government were the nine
regions of England
The regions, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England, established in 1994. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within government. While they no ...
:
North East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
,
North West,
Yorkshire and the Humber,
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
,
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
,
East,
South East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
,
South West
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
, and London. These were created in 1994 as Government Offices, used by the UK government to deliver a wide range of policies and programmes regionally, but there are no elected bodies at this level, except in London, and in 2011 the regional government offices were abolished.
After
devolution
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
began to take place in other parts of the United Kingdom it was planned that referendums for the regions of England would take place for their own elected
regional assemblies as a counterweight.
London accepted in 1998: the
London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
was created two years later. However, when the proposal was rejected by the
2004 North East England devolution referendum
The North East England devolution referendum was an all postal ballot referendum that took place on 4 November 2004 throughout North East England on whether or not to establish an elected assembly for the region. Devolution referendums in the ...
in the North East, further referendums were cancelled.
The regional assemblies outside London were abolished in 2010, and their functions transferred to respective
regional development agencies and a new system of
local authority leaders' boards
Local authority leaders' boards are voluntary regional associations of council leaders that have been established in England outside of Greater London to replace certain functions of the now abolished regional chambers. The establishment of the boa ...
.
Below the regional level, all of England is divided into 48
ceremonial counties.
These are used primarily as a geographical frame of reference and have developed gradually since the
Middle Ages, with some established as recently as 1974.
[.] Each has a
lord lieutenant
A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...
and
high sheriff; these posts are used to represent the
British monarch
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...
locally.
Outside
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality
*Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
*Greater (song), "Greate ...
and the
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
, England is also divided into 83
metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties
Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties are one of the four levels of subdivisions of England used for the purposes of local government outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. As originally constituted, the metropolitan and non-metr ...
; these correspond to areas used for the purposes of local government
[.] and may consist of a single district or be divided into several.
There are six
metropolitan counties
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, with populations between 1 and 3 million. They were created in 1974 and are each di ...
based on the most heavily urbanised areas, which do not have county councils.
In these areas the principal authorities are the councils of the subdivisions, the
metropolitan borough
A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan ...
s. Elsewhere, 27
non-metropolitan "shire" counties have a
county council and are divided into districts, each with a district council. They are typically, though not always, found in more rural areas. The remaining non-metropolitan counties are of a single district and usually correspond to large towns or sparsely populated counties; they are known as
unitary authorities. Greater London has a different system for local government, with 32
London boroughs, plus the
City of London covering a small area at the core governed by the
City of London Corporation. At the most localised level, much of England is divided into
civil parishes with
councils
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
; in Greater London only one,
Queen's Park, exists after they were
abolished in 1965 until legislation
allowed their recreation in 2007.
Geography
Landscape and rivers
Geographically England includes the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus such offshore islands as the
Isle of Wight and the
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
. It is bordered by two other countries of the United Kingdom:
to the north by Scotland and
to the west by Wales. England is closer than any other part of mainland Britain to the European continent. It is separated from
France (
Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...
) by a
sea gap, though the two countries are connected by the
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
near
Folkestone
Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...
. England also has shores on the
Irish Sea,
North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
The ports of London,
Liverpool, and
Newcastle lie on the tidal rivers
Thames,
Mersey and
Tyne Tyne may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Geography
* River Tyne, England
*Port of Tyne, the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England
*River Tyne, Scotland
* River Tyne, a tributary of the South Esk River, Tasmania, Australia
Peop ...
respectively. At , the
Severn is the longest river flowing through England. It empties into the
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel ( cy, Môr Hafren, literal translation: "Severn Sea") is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Seve ...
and is notable for its
Severn Bore (a
tidal bore), which can reach in height. However, the longest river entirely in England is the Thames, which is in length.
There are many
lakes in England
This is a list of lakes and reservoirs in England.
Largest lakes and reservoirs by surface area
Lakes larger than 5 hectares
This list is restricted to open bodies of fresh-water over 5 ha in area, because of the difficulty in establishi ...
; the largest is
Windermere, within the aptly named
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
.
Most of England's landscape consists of low hills and plains, with upland and mountainous terrain in the north and west of the country. The northern uplands include the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...
, a chain of uplands dividing east and west, the Lake District mountains in Cumbria, and the
Cheviot Hills, straddling the border between England and Scotland. The highest point in England, at , is
Scafell Pike in the Lake District.
The
Shropshire Hills are near Wales while
Dartmoor and
Exmoor are two upland areas in the south-west of the country. The approximate dividing line between terrain types is often indicated by the
Tees–Exe line.
In geological terms, the Pennines, known as the "backbone of England", are the oldest range of mountains in the country, originating from the end of the
Paleozoic Era around 300 million years ago. Their geological composition includes, among others,
sandstone and
limestone, and also coal. There are
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
landscapes in calcite areas such as parts of
Yorkshire and
Derbyshire. The Pennine landscape is high
moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...
in upland areas, indented by fertile valleys of the region's rivers. They contain two
national parks, the
Yorkshire Dales and the
Peak District. In the
West Country, Dartmoor and Exmoor of the Southwest Peninsula include upland moorland supported by granite, and enjoy a
mild climate; both are national parks.
The
English Lowlands are in the central and southern regions of the country, consisting of green rolling hills, including the
Cotswold Hills
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
,
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England.
The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire. ...
,
North and
South Downs; where they meet the sea they form white rock exposures such as the
cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, deposi ...
. This also includes relatively flat plains such as the
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
,
Somerset Levels,
South Coast Plain
The South Coast Plain is a natural region in England running along the central south coast in the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex and Hampshire.
It has been designated as National Character Area No. 126 by Natural England. The NCA h ...
and
The Fens.
Climate
England has a
temperate maritime climate: it is mild with temperatures not much lower than in winter and not much higher than in summer.
The weather is damp relatively frequently and is changeable. The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the
English coast
English Coast is a portion of the coast of Antarctica between the northern tip of Rydberg Peninsula and the Buttress Nunataks, on the west side of Palmer Land. To the west is Bryan Coast, and northward runs Rymill Coast east of Alexander Island a ...
, while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather are May, June, September and October.
Rainfall is spread fairly evenly throughout the year.
Important influences on the climate of England are its proximity to the
Atlantic Ocean, its northern
latitude and the warming of the sea by the
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...
.
Rainfall is higher in the west, and parts of the
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
receive more rain than anywhere else in the country.
Since weather records began, the highest temperature recorded was on 25 July 2019 at the
Botanic Garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
in
Cambridge, while the lowest was on 10 January 1982 in
Edgmond, Shropshire.
Nature and wildlife
The fauna of England is similar to that of other areas in the
British Isles with a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate life in a diverse range of habitats.
National nature reserves in England are designated by
Natural England as key places for
wildlife and natural features in England. They were established to protect the most significant areas of habitat and of geological formations. NNRs are managed on behalf of the nation, many by Natural England themselves, but also by non-governmental organisations, including the members of
The Wildlife Trusts partnership, the
National Trust, and the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. There are 229 NNRs in England covering . Often they contain rare species or nationally important populations of plants and animals.
The
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
is a
non-departmental public body, established in 1995 and sponsored by the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United K ...
with responsibilities relating to the protection and enhancement of the environment in England. The
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the minister responsible for environmental protection, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in England.
England has a
temperate oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
in most areas, lacking extremes of cold or heat, but does have a few small areas of
subarctic
The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...
and warmer areas in
the South West. Towards the
North of England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
the climate becomes colder and most of England's mountains and high hills are located here and have a major impact on the climate and thus the local fauna of the areas.
Deciduous woodlands are common across all of England and provide a great habitat for much of England's wildlife, but these give way in northern and upland areas of England to
coniferous
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...
forests (mainly plantations) which also benefit certain forms of wildlife. Some species have adapted to the expanded urban environment, particularly the
red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
, which is the most successful
urban mammal after the
brown rat, and other animals such as
common wood pigeon, both of which thrive in urban and suburban areas.
Grey squirrels introduced from eastern America have forced the decline of the native red squirrel due to competition.
Red squirrels are now confined to upland and coniferous-forested areas of England, mainly in the north, south west and Isle of Wight. England's climate is very suitable for lagomorphs and the country has
rabbits
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit specie ...
and
brown hares which were introduced in Roman times.
Mountain hare
The mountain hare (''Lepus timidus''), also known as blue hare, tundra hare, variable hare, white hare, snow hare, alpine hare, and Irish hare, is a Palearctic hare that is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats.
Evolution
The mountai ...
s which are indigenous have now been re-introduced in Derbyshire. The fauna of England has to cope with varying temperatures and conditions, although not extreme they do pose potential challenges and adaptational measures. English fauna has however had to cope with industrialisation, human population densities amongst the highest in
Europe and
intensive farming, but as England is a developed nation, wildlife and the countryside have entered the
English mindset more and the country is very conscientious about preserving its wildlife, environment and countryside.
Major conurbations
The
Greater London Built-up Area is by far the largest urban area in England
and one of the busiest cities in the world. It is considered a
global city and has a population larger than any other country in the United Kingdom besides England itself.
Other urban areas of considerable size and influence tend to be in
northern England or the
English Midlands.
There are
50 settlements which have designated
city status in England, while the wider United Kingdom has 66.
While many cities in England are quite large, such as
Birmingham,
Sheffield,
Manchester,
Liverpool,
Leeds,
Newcastle,
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
,
Nottingham, population size is not a prerequisite for city status.
Traditionally the status was given to towns with
diocesan cathedrals, so there are smaller cities like
Wells
Wells most commonly refers to:
* Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England
* Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground
* Wells (name)
Wells may also refer to:
Places Canada
*Wells, British Columbia
England
* Wells ...
,
Ely Ely or ELY may refer to:
Places Ireland
* Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely
* Ely Place, Dublin, a street
United Kingdom
* Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England
** Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formal ...
,
Ripon,
Truro and
Chichester.
Economy
England's economy is one of the largest and most dynamic in the world, with an average
GDP per capita
Lists of countries by GDP per capita list the countries in the world by their gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The lists may be based on nominal or purchasing power parity GDP. Gross national income (GNI) per capita accounts for inflows ...
of £28,100.
HM Treasury, led by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
, is responsible for developing and executing the government's
public finance policy and
economic policy
The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the e ...
. Usually regarded as a
mixed market economy
A mixed economy is variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise. Common to all mixed econo ...
, it has adopted many
free market principles, yet maintains an advanced social welfare infrastructure. The official currency in England is the
pound sterling
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
, whose
ISO 4217
ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines alpha codes and numeric codes for the representation of currencies and provides information about the relationships between individual cu ...
code is GBP.
Taxation in England
Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to at least three different levels of government: central government (HM Revenue & Customs), devolved governments and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income ...
is quite competitive when
compared to much of the rest of Europe – the basic rate of personal tax is 20% on taxable income up to £31,865 above the personal tax-free allowance (normally £10,000), and 40% on any additional earnings above that amount.
The economy of England is the largest part of the
UK's economy,
which has the
18th
18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19.
In mathematics
* Eighteen is a composite number, its divisors being 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9. Three of these divisors (3, 6 and 9) add up to 18, hence 18 is a semiperfect number. ...
highest GDP
PPP per capita in the world. England is a leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors and in key technical industries, particularly
aerospace, the
arms industry, and the manufacturing side of the
software industry. London, home to the
London Stock Exchange, the United Kingdom's main
stock exchange
A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...
and the largest in Europe, is England's financial centre, with 100 of Europe's 500 largest corporations being based there. London is the largest financial centre in Europe, and is the second largest in the world.
The
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
, founded in 1694, is the United Kingdom's
central bank. Originally established as private banker to the government of England, since 1946 it has been a
state-owned institution. The bank has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in
England and Wales, although not in other parts of the United Kingdom. The government has devolved responsibility to the bank's
Monetary Policy Committee for managing the monetary policy of the country and setting interest rates.
England is highly industrialised, but since the 1970s there has been a decline in traditional heavy and manufacturing industries, and an increasing emphasis on a more
service industry oriented economy.
[.] Tourism has become a significant industry, attracting millions of visitors to England each year. The export part of the economy is dominated by
pharmaceuticals
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...
, cars (although many English
marques are now foreign-owned, such as
Land Rover,
Lotus
Lotus may refer to:
Plants
*Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly:
** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae
**Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
,
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
and
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...
),
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
and petroleum from the English parts of
North Sea oil along with
Wytch Farm,
aircraft engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
s and alcoholic beverages. The
creative industries accounted for 7 per cent GVA in 2005 and grew at an average of 6 per cent per annum between 1997 and 2005.
Most of the UK's £30 billion
aerospace industry
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...
is primarily based in England. The global market opportunity for UK aerospace manufacturers over the next two decades is estimated at £3.5 trillion.
GKN Aerospace – an expert in metallic and composite aerostructures is involved in almost every civil and military fixed and rotary wing aircraft in production is based in
Redditch.
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
makes large sections of the
Typhoon Eurofighter
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...
at its sub-assembly plant in
Samlesbury and assembles the aircraft for the RAF at its
Warton plant, near
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
. It is also a principal subcontractor on the
F35 Joint Strike Fighter – the world's largest single defence project – for which it designs and manufactures a range of components including the aft fuselage, vertical and horizontal tail and wing tips and fuel system. It also manufactures the
Hawk
Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.
* The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...
, the world's most successful jet training aircraft.
Rolls-Royce PLC is the world's second-largest
aero-engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
manufacturer. Its engines power more than 30 types of commercial aircraft, and it has more 30,000 engines currently in service across both the civil and defence sectors. With a workforce of over 12,000 people,
Derby has the largest concentration of Rolls-Royce employees in the UK. Rolls-Royce also produces low-emission power systems for ships; makes critical equipment and safety systems for the nuclear industry and powers offshore platforms and major pipelines for the oil and gas industry.
The
pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the economy, and the UK has the third-highest share of global pharmaceutical R&D expenditures.
Much of the UK's space industry is centred on
EADS Astrium, based in
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...
and
Portsmouth. The company builds the
buses
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
– the underlying structure onto which the payload and propulsion systems are built – for most of the
European Space Agency
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
's spacecraft, as well as commercial
satellites
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...
. The world leader in compact satellite systems,
Surrey Satellite Technology, is also part of Astrium.
Reaction Engines Limited, the company planning to build
Skylon Skylon may refer to:
* Skylon (Festival of Britain), a landmark structure of the 1951 Festival of Britain
* Skylon (spacecraft), a proposed orbital spaceplane
* Skylon Tower, an observation tower in Niagara Falls, Ontario
* ''Skylon'' (album), a 20 ...
, a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane using their
SABRE rocket engine, a combined-cycle, air-breathing rocket propulsion system is based
Culham. The UK space industry was worth £9.1bn in 2011 and employed 29,000 people. It is growing at a rate of 7.5 per cent annually, according to its umbrella organisation, the
UK Space Agency. In 2013, the British Government pledged £60 million to the
Skylon Skylon may refer to:
* Skylon (Festival of Britain), a landmark structure of the 1951 Festival of Britain
* Skylon (spacecraft), a proposed orbital spaceplane
* Skylon Tower, an observation tower in Niagara Falls, Ontario
* ''Skylon'' (album), a 20 ...
project: this investment will provide support at a "crucial stage" to allow a full-scale prototype of the
SABRE engine to be built.
Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing 60% of food needs with only 2% of the labour force. Two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, the other to arable crops. The main crops that are grown are
wheat,
barley,
oats,
potatoes,
sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
s. England retains a significant, though much reduced fishing industry. Its fleets bring home fish of every kind, ranging from
sole to
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
. It is also rich in natural resources including
coal,
petroleum,
natural gas,
tin,
limestone,
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
,
salt,
clay,
chalk,
gypsum,
lead, and silica.
Science and technology
Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics include Sir
Isaac Newton,
Michael Faraday,
Charles Darwin,
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...
,
James Prescott Joule,
John Dalton
John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his research into colour blindness, which he had. Colour b ...
,
Lord Rayleigh,
J. J. Thomson,
James Chadwick,
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.
Babbage is considered ...
,
George Boole,
Alan Turing,
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profess ...
,
Paul Dirac,
Stephen Hawking,
Peter Higgs,
Roger Penrose
Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus fello ...
,
John Horton Conway,
Thomas Bayes,
Arthur Cayley
Arthur Cayley (; 16 August 1821 – 26 January 1895) was a prolific United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British mathematician who worked mostly on algebra. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics.
As a child, C ...
,
G. H. Hardy
Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...
,
Oliver Heaviside,
Andrew Wiles,
Edward Jenner,
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical struc ...
,
Joseph Lister,
Joseph Priestley,
Thomas Young,
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
and
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
. Some experts claim that the earliest concept of a
metric system was invented by
John Wilkins
John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.
Wilkins is one of the fe ...
, the first secretary of the
Royal Society, in 1668.
England was a leading centre of the
Scientific Revolution from the 17th century. As the birthplace of the
Industrial Revolution, England was home to many significant inventors during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Famous English engineers include
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, best known for the creation of the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
, a series of famous
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
s, and numerous important bridges, hence revolutionising public transport and modern-day engineering.
Thomas Newcomen's
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
helped spawn the Industrial Revolution.
The Father of Railways,
George Stephenson, built the first public inter-city railway line in the world, the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830. With his role in the marketing and manufacturing of the steam engine, and invention of modern coinage,
Matthew Boulton (business partner of
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
) is regarded as one of the most influential entrepreneurs in history. The physician
Edward Jenner's
smallpox vaccine is said to have "saved more lives ... than were lost in all the wars of mankind since the beginning of recorded history."
Inventions and discoveries of the English include: the
jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...
, the first industrial
spinning machine,
the first computer and the first
modern computer, the
World Wide Web along with
HTML, the first successful human
blood transfusion, the motorised
vacuum cleaner,
the
lawn mower, the
seat belt
A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...
, the
hovercraft
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.
Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...
, the
electric motor,
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
s, and theories such as the Darwinian theory of
evolution and
atomic theory. Newton developed the ideas of
universal gravitation,
Newtonian mechanics
Newton's laws of motion are three basic laws of classical mechanics that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. These laws can be paraphrased as follows:
# A body remains at rest, or in motion ...
, and
calculus, and
Robert Hooke
Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...
his eponymously named
law of elasticity. Other inventions include the iron plate railway, the
thermosiphon,
tarmac Tarmac may refer to:
Engineered surfaces
* Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902
* Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...
, the
rubber band, the
mousetrap
A mousetrap is a specialized type of animal trap designed primarily to catch and, usually, kill mice. Mousetraps are usually set in an indoor location where there is a suspected infestation of rodents. Larger traps are designed to catch other s ...
,
"cat's eye" road marker, joint development of the
light bulb
An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...
, steam
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
s, the modern
seed drill and many modern techniques and technologies used in
precision engineering.
The
Royal Society, formally
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge,
is a
learned society and the
United Kingdom's national
academy of sciences. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a
royal charter by
King Charles II as "The Royal Society".
It is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, fostering international and global co-operation, education and public engagement.
The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and
natural philosophers, meeting at a variety of locations, including
Gresham College in London. They were influenced by the "
new science", as promoted by
Francis Bacon in his ''
New Atlantis'', from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as "The Philosophical Society of Oxford" was run under a set of rules still retained by the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
.
[Syfret (1948) p. 78] After the
English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society.
Scientific research and development remains important in the
universities of England
, there were 106 universities in England and 5 university colleges out of a total of around 130 in the United Kingdom. This includes private universities but does not include other Higher Education Institutions that have not been given the right ...
, with many establishing
science parks to facilitate production and co-operation with industry. Between 2004 and 2008 the United Kingdom produced 7 per cent of the world's scientific research papers and had an 8 per cent share of scientific citations, the third and second-highest in the world (after the United States and China, respectively). Scientific journals produced in the United Kingdom include ''
Nature'', the ''
British Medical Journal
''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...
'' and ''
The Lancet''.
Transport
The
Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
is the government body responsible for overseeing transport in England. The department is run by the
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...
.
England has a dense and modern transportation infrastructure. There are many
motorways in England, and many other trunk roads, such as the
A1 Great North Road, which runs through eastern England from London to Newcastle
(much of this section is motorway) and onward to the Scottish border. The longest motorway in England is the
M6, from
Rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
through the
North West up to the
Anglo-Scottish border, a distance of .
Other major routes include: the
M1 from London to Leeds, the
M25 which encircles London, the
M60 which encircles Manchester, the
M4 from London to South Wales, the
M62 from Liverpool via Manchester to East Yorkshire, and the
M5 from Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.
Bus transport across the country is widespread; major companies include
Arriva,
FirstGroup,
Go-Ahead Group,
National Express,
and
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom.
History
Stagecoach was born out of deregulation of the British express coach market in the early ...
. The red
double-decker buses in London have become a symbol of England.
National Cycle Route offers cycling routes nationally. There is a
rapid transit network in two English cities: the
London Underground; and the
Tyne and Wear Metro in
Newcastle upon Tyne,
Gateshead
Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...
and
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
.
[.] There are several tram networks, such as the
Blackpool tramway,
Manchester Metrolink,
Sheffield Supertram and West Midlands Metro, and the Tramlink system centred on Croydon in South London.
Great British Railways is a planned State ownership, state-owned public body that will oversee rail transport in Great Britain from 2023. The Office of Rail and Road is responsible for the economic and safety regulation of England's railways.
Rail transport in Great Britain, Rail transport in England is the oldest in the world: passenger railways originated in England in 1825. Much of Britain's of rail network lies in England, covering the country fairly extensively, although a high proportion of railway lines were closed in the second half of the 20th century. There are plans to reopen lines such as the Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge. These lines are mostly standard gauge (single track (rail), single, double track, double or quadruple track) though there are also a few British narrow gauge railways, narrow gauge lines. There is rail transport access to France and Belgium through an undersea rail link, the
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
, which was completed in 1994.
Crossrail was Europe's largest construction project with a £15 billion projected cost, opened in 2022. High Speed 2, a new high-speed north–south railway line, projected in 2015 to cost £56 billion is to start being built in 2020.
England has extensive domestic and international aviation links. The largest airport is Heathrow Airport, Heathrow, which is the World's busiest airports by international passenger traffic, world's busiest airport measured by number of international passengers.
Other large airports include Gatwick Airport, Gatwick, Manchester Airport, Manchester, Stansted Airport, Stansted, Luton Airport, Luton and Birmingham Airport, Birmingham.
By sea there is ferry transport, both local and international, including from Liverpool to Ireland and the Isle of Man, and Hull to the Netherlands and Belgium.
[.] There are around of navigable waterways in England, half of which is owned by the Canal & River Trust,
however, water transport is very limited. The River Thames is the major waterway in England, with imports and exports focused at the Port of Tilbury in the Thames Estuary, one of the United Kingdom's three major ports.
Energy
Energy use in the
United Kingdom stood at 2,249 TWh (193.4 million Tonne of oil equivalent, tonnes of oil equivalent) in 2014. This equates to energy consumption ''per capita'' of 34.82 MWh (3.00 tonnes of oil equivalent) compared to a 2010 world average of 21.54 MWh (1.85 tonne of oil equivalent, tonnes of oil equivalent). Demand for electricity in 2014 was 34.42Watt, GW on average (301.7TWh over the year) coming from a total electricity generation of 335.0Kilowatt hour, TWh.
Successive Government of the United Kingdom, UK governments have outlined numerous commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Notably, the UK is Wind power in the United Kingdom, one of the best sites in Europe for wind energy, and wind power production is its fastest growing supply.
[; ] Wind power contributed 15% of UK electricity generation in 2017.
The Climate Change Act 2008 was passed in Parliament with an overwhelming majority across political parties. It sets out emission reduction targets that the UK must comply with legally. It represents the first global legally binding climate change mitigation target set by a country. Energy policy of the United Kingdom, UK government energy policy aims to play a key role in limiting greenhouse gas emissions, whilst meeting energy demand. Shifting availabilities of resources and development of technologies also change the country's energy mix through changes in costs.
The current energy policy is the responsibility of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth is responsible for green finance, climate science and innovation, and low carbon generation. United Kingdom is ranked 4 out of 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index. A law has been passed that Greenhouse gas emissions, UK greenhouse gas emissions will be net zero by 2050.
Tourism
English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty is a charity which also maintains multiple sites. Of the 25 United Kingdom List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 17 are in England.
Some of the best known of these include Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, Tower of London, Jurassic Coast,
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
, Roman Baths (Bath), Roman Baths, Bath, Somerset, City of Bath, Saltaire, Ironbridge Gorge, Studley Royal Park and more recently the Lake District, English Lake District. The northernmost point of the Roman Empire, Hadrian's Wall, is the largest Roman artefact anywhere: it runs for a total of in northern England.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has overall responsibility for tourism, arts and culture, cultural property, heritage and historic environments, libraries, and museums and galleries. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism is the minister with responsibility over tourism in England.
A blue plaque, the oldest historical marker scheme in the world, is a permanent sign installed in a public place in England to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event. The scheme was the brainchild of politician William Ewart (British politician), William Ewart in 1863 and was initiated in 1866. It was formally established by the Royal Society of Arts in 1867, and since 1986 has been run by English Heritage. In 2011 there were around 1,600 museums in England. Entry to most state-supported museums and galleries is free unlike in other countries.
London is one of the world's most visited cities, regularly taking the top five most visited cities in
Europe. It is largely considered a global centre of finance, arts and culture.
Healthcare
The
National Health Service (NHS), is the publicly funded healthcare system responsible for providing the majority of healthcare in the country. The NHS began on 5 July 1948, putting into effect the provisions of the National Health Service Act 1946. It was based on the findings of the Beveridge Report, prepared by economist and social reformer William Beveridge. The NHS is largely funded from general taxation including National Insurance payments, and it provides most of its services free at the point of use, although there are charges for some people for eye tests, dental care, prescriptions and aspects of personal care.
The government department responsible for the NHS is the Department of Health (United Kingdom), Department of Health, headed by the Secretary of State for Health, who sits in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, British Cabinet. Most of the expenditure of the Department of Health is spent on the NHS—£98.6 billion was spent in 2008–2009.
In recent years the private sector has been increasingly used to provide more NHS services despite opposition by doctors and trade unions.
When purchasing drugs, the NHS has significant market power that, based on its own assessment of the fair value of the drugs, influences the global price, typically keeping prices lower. Several other countries either copy the UK's model or directly rely on its assessments for their own decisions on state-financed drug reimbursements. Regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council are organised on a UK-wide basis, as are non-governmental bodies such as the Royal Colleges.
The average life expectancy of people in England is 77.5 years for males and 81.7 years for females, the highest of the four
countries of the United Kingdom.
The South of England has a higher life expectancy than the North; however, regional differences do seem to be slowly narrowing: between 1991–1993 and 2012–2014, life expectancy in the North East increased by 6.0 years and in the North West by 5.8 years, the fastest increase in any region outside London, and the gap between life expectancy in the North East and South East is now 2.5 years, down from 2.9 in 1993.
Demography
Population
With over 53 million inhabitants, England is by far the most populous country of the United Kingdom, accounting for 84% of the combined total.
England taken as a unit and measured against international states would be the 25th largest List of countries by population in 2005, country by population in the world.
The English people are
British people.
Some genetic evidence suggests that 75–95% descend in the paternal line from prehistoric settlers who originally came from the
Iberian Peninsula, as well as a 5% contribution from
Angles and
Saxons, and a significant Scandinavian (Vikings, Viking) element. However, other geneticists place the
Germanic estimate up to half. Over time, various cultures have been influential: Prehistoric Britain, Prehistoric, Britons (historical), Brythonic, Ancient Rome, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking (North Germanic), Gaels, Gaelic cultures, as well as a large influence from
Normans. There is an English diaspora in former parts of the British Empire; especially the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Since the late 1990s, many English people British migration to Spain, have migrated to Spain.
In 1086, when the ''
Domesday Book'' was compiled, England had a population of two million. About 10% lived in urban areas. By 1801, the population was 8.3 million, and by 1901 30.5 million. Due in particular to the economic prosperity of South East England, it has received many economic migrants from the other parts of the United Kingdom.
There has been Irish migration to Great Britain, significant Irish migration. The proportion of ethnically European residents totals at 87.50%, including British Germans, Germans
and Polish British, Poles.
Other people from much further afield in the former British colonies have arrived since the 1950s: in particular, 6% of people living in England have family origins in the
Indian subcontinent, mostly India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
About 0.7% of people are Chinese.
2.90% of the population are black, from Africa and the Caribbean, especially former British colonies.
In 2007, 22% of primary school children in England were from minority group, ethnic minority families,
and in 2011 that figure was 26.5%.
About half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to immigration. Debate over immigration is politically prominent; 80% of respondents in a 2009 Home Office poll wanted to cap it. The Office for National Statistics, ONS has projected that the population will grow by nine million between 2014 and 2039.
England contains one indigenous national minority, the Cornish people, recognised by the UK government under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 2014.
Language
English language, English, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated in what is now England, where it remains the principal tongue. According to a 2011 census, it is spoken well or very well by 98% of the population.
It is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language in the Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic languages, Germanic family. After the Norman conquest, the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
language, brought to Britain by the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon settlers, was confined to the Working class, lower social classes as Norman language, Norman French and
Latin were used by the aristocracy.
By the 15th century, English was back in fashion among all classes, though much changed; the Middle English form showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the
English Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins. Modern English has extended this custom of flexibility when it comes to incorporating words from different languages. Thanks in large part to the
British Empire, the English language is the world's unofficial ''lingua franca''.
English as a second or foreign language, English language learning and teaching is an important Economics, economic activity, and includes language schools, language schooling, tourism spending, and publishing. There is no United Kingdom legislation, legislation mandating an official language for England, but English is the only language used for official business. Despite the country's relatively small size, there are many distinct Regional accents of English speakers#England, regional accents, and individuals with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood everywhere in the country.
As well as English, England has two other indigenous languages, Cornish language, Cornish and
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
. Cornish died out as a community language in the 18th century but is being revived, and is now protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. It is spoken by 0.1% of people in Cornwall, and is taught to some degree in several primary and secondary schools.
When the modern border between Wales and England was established by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542, many Welsh-speaking communities found themselves on the English side of the border. Welsh was spoken in Archenfield in Herefordshire into the nineteenth century, and by natives of parts of western Shropshire until the middle of the twentieth century if not later.
State schools teach students a second language or third language from the ages of seven, most commonly French, Spanish or German. It was reported in 2007 that around 800,000 school students spoke a foreign language at home as a result of immigration among their family,
the most common languages being Punjabi language, Punjabi and Urdu. However, following the 2011 census data released by the Office for National Statistics, figures now show that Polish is the main language spoken in England after English.
Religion
In the 2011 census, 59.4% of the population of England specified their religion as Christian, 24.7% answered that they had no religion, 5% specified that they were Muslim, while 3.7% of the population belongs to other religions and 7.2% did not give an answer. Christianity is the most widely practised religion in England, as it has been since the Early Middle Ages, although it was first introduced much earlier in Gaelic and Roman times. This Celtic Church was gradually joined to the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic hierarchy following the 6th-century Gregorian mission to
Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury, St Augustine. The established church of England is the
Church of England, which left communion with Vatican City, Rome in the 1530s when Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII was unable to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the aunt of the Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, king of Spain. The church regards itself as both Catholic and Protestant.
There are High Church and Low Church traditions and some Anglicans regard themselves as Anglo-Catholics, following the Tractarian movement. The monarch of the United Kingdom is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, which has around 26 million baptised members (of whom the vast majority are not regular churchgoers). It forms part of the Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury acting as its symbolic worldwide head. Many List of cathedrals in England and Wales, cathedrals and parish churches are historic buildings of significant architectural importance, such as Westminster Abbey, York Minster, Durham Cathedral, and Salisbury Cathedral.
The 2nd-largest Christian practice is the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Since its reintroduction after the Catholic Emancipation, the Church has organised ecclesiastically on an Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, England and Wales basis where there are 4.5 million members (most of whom are English). There has been one Pope from England to date, Pope Adrian IV, Adrian IV; while saints
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
and Anselm of Canterbury, Anselm are regarded as Doctors of the Church.
A form of Protestantism known as Methodist Church of Great Britain, Methodism is the third largest Christian practice and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley. It gained popularity in the mill towns of Lancashire and
Yorkshire, and amongst tin miners in Cornwall. There are other Nonconformist (Protestantism), non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, Congregational church, Congregationalists, Unitarianism, Unitarians and The Salvation Army.
The patron saint of England is Saint George; his symbolic cross is included in the flag of England, as well as in the Union Flag as part of a combination.
There are many other English and associated saints; some of the best-known are: Cuthbert, Edmund the Martyr, Edmund, Saint Alban, Alban, Wilfrid, Aidan of Lindisfarne, Aidan,
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066.
Edward was the son of Æth ...
, John Fisher, Thomas More, Saint Petroc, Petroc, Saint Piran, Piran, Margaret Clitherow and Thomas Becket. There are non-Christian religions practised. Jews have a history of a small minority on the island since 1070.
They were expelled from England in 1290 following the Edict of Expulsion, only to be allowed back in 1656.
Especially since the 1950s, religions from the British Empire, former British colonies have grown in numbers, due to immigration. Islam is the most common of these, now accounting for around 5% of the population in England.
Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are next in number, adding up to 2.8% combined,
introduced from India and South East Asia.
A small minority of the population practise ancient Pagan religions. Neopaganism in the United Kingdom is primarily represented by Wicca and Contemporary Witchcraft, Witchcraft religions, Neo-Druidry, Druidry, and Germanic neopaganism, Heathenry. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 UK Census, there are roughly 53,172 people who identify as Pagan in England, and 3,448 in
Wales, including 11,026 Wiccans in England and 740 in Wales.
24.7% of people in England declared Irreligion, no religion in 2011, compared with 14.6% in 2001. These figures are slightly lower than the combined figures for England and Wales as Wales has a higher level of irreligion than England.
Norwich had the highest such proportion at 42.5%, followed closely by Brighton and Hove at 42.4%.
Education
The Department for Education is the government department responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including education. State-run and state-funded schools are attended by approximately 93% of English schoolchildren. Education is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education.
Children who are between the ages of 3 and 5 attend nursery or an Early Years Foundation Stage reception unit within a primary school. Children between the ages of 5 and 11 attend primary school, and secondary school is attended by those aged between 11 and 16. State-funded schools are obliged by law to teach the National Curriculum for England, National Curriculum; basic areas of learning include English literature, English language, mathematics, science, art & design, citizenship, history, geography, religious education, design & technology, computing, ancient & modern languages, music, and physical education.
More than 90% of English schools require students to wear uniforms. School uniforms are defined by individual schools, within the constraint that uniform regulations must not discriminate on the grounds of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief. Schools may choose to permit trousers for girls or religious dress.
The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of British 15-year-olds as 13th in the world in reading literacy, mathematics, and science with the average British student scoring 503.7, compared with the OECD average of 493, ahead of the United States and most of
Europe.
Although most English secondary schools are comprehensive school, comprehensive, there are selective intake grammar schools to which entrance is subject to passing the eleven-plus exam. Around 7.2 per cent of English schoolchildren attend Independent school (UK), private schools, which are funded by private sources. Standards in state schools are monitored by the Office for Standards in Education, and in private schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate.
After finishing compulsory education, students take General Certificate of Secondary Education, GCSE examinations. Students may then opt to continue into further education for two years. List of further education colleges in England, Further education colleges (particularly sixth form colleges) often form part of a secondary school site. A-level examinations are sat by a large number of further education students, and often form the basis of an application to university. Further education (FE) covers a wide curriculum of study and apprenticeships, including T Level, T-levels, BTEC Extended Diploma, BTEC, NVQ and others. Tertiary colleges provide both academic and vocational courses.
Higher education students normally attend university from age 18 onwards, where they study for an academic degree. There are over 90 universities in England, all but one of which are Public university, public institutions. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is the government department responsible for higher education in England. Students are generally entitled to student loans to cover the cost of tuition fees and living costs. The first degree offered to undergraduates is the bachelor's degree, which usually takes three years to complete. Students are then able to work towards a postgraduate degree, which usually takes one year, or towards a doctorate, which takes three or more years.
List of universities in England, England's universities include some of the highest-ranked universities in the world; University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University College London and King's College London are all ranked in the global top 30 in the 2018 ''QS World University Rankings''. The London School of Economics has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research.
The London Business School is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme was ranked best in the world by the ''Financial Times''.
Academic degrees in England are usually split into classes: first class (1st), upper second class (2:1), lower second class (2:2), third (3rd), and unclassified.
The King's School, Canterbury and King's School, Rochester are the oldest schools in the English-speaking world. Many of England's most well-known schools, such as Winchester College, Eton College, Eton, St Paul's School (London), St Paul's School, Harrow School and Rugby School are fee-paying institutions.
Culture
Architecture
Many ancient standing stone monuments were erected during the prehistoric period; amongst the best known are
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...
, Devil's Arrows, Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg stone circle, Castlerigg. With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas, Roman baths, baths, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, villas, Roman temples, Roman roads, Roman forts, stockades and aqueduct (bridge), aqueducts.
It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps the best-known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching right across northern England.
Another well-preserved example is the Roman Baths (Bath), Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset.
Anglo-Saxon architecture, Early Medieval architecture's secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of Early Christian Ireland, Hiberno–Germanic Christianity, Saxon
monasticism
Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic life plays an important role ...
, to Early Christian art and architecture, Early Christian basilica and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various Castles in England were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best-known medieval castles are the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham Castle and Windsor Castle.
Throughout the Plantagenet era, an English Gothic architecture flourished, with prime examples including the Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England, medieval cathedrals such as Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and York Minster.
[.] Expanding on the Norman architecture, Norman base there was also castles, palaces, List of historic houses in England, great houses, universities and parish churches. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th-century Tudor architecture, Tudor style; the four-centred arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically. In the aftermath of the
Renaissance a form of architecture echoing classical antiquity synthesised with Christianity appeared, the English Baroque style of architect
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...
being particularly championed.
Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival was launched. In addition to this, around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist architecture, modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.
Gardens
Landscape gardening, as developed by Capability Brown, set an international trend for the English garden. Gardening, and visiting gardens, are regarded as typically English pursuits. The English garden presented an idealized view of nature. At large country houses, the English garden usually included lakes, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic architecture, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral landscape.
By the end of the 18th century, the English garden was being imitated by the French landscape garden, and as far away as St. Petersburg, Russia, in Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg, Pavlovsk, the gardens of the future Emperor Paul. It also had a major influence on the form of the public parks and gardens which appeared around the world in the 19th century. The English landscape garden was centred on the English country house and manor houses.
English Heritage and the National Trust preserve great gardens and landscape parks throughout the country. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is held every year by the Royal Horticultural Society and is said to be the largest gardening show in the world.
Folklore
English folklore developed over many centuries. Some of the characters and stories are present across England, but most belong to specific regions. Common folkloric beings include pixies, giant (mythology), giants, elf, elves, bogeymen, trolls, goblins and dwarf (mythology), dwarves. While many legends and folk-customs are thought to be ancient, such as the tales featuring Offa of Angel and Wayland the Smith,
[.] others date from after the Norman invasion. The legends featuring Robin Hood and his Merry Men of Sherwood Forest, Sherwood, and their battles with the Sheriff of Nottingham, are among the best-known of these.
During the High Middle Ages tales originating from Brythonic traditions entered English folklore and developed into the Arthurian myth.
[.] These were derived from Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman, Welsh and French sources,
featuring King Arthur, Camelot, Excalibur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table such as Lancelot. These stories are most centrally brought together within Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (''History of the Kings of Britain''). Another early figure from Britons (historic), British tradition, King Cole, may have been based on a real figure from Sub-Roman Britain. Many of the tales and pseudohistory, pseudo-histories make up part of the wider Matter of Britain, a collection of shared British folklore.
Some folk figures are based on semi or actual historical people whose story has been passed down centuries; Lady Godiva for instance was said to have ridden naked on horseback through Coventry, Hereward the Wake was a heroic English figure resisting the Norman invasion, Herne the Hunter is an equestrianism, equestrian ghost associated with Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor Forest and Windsor Great Park, Great Park and Mother Shipton is the archetypal witch. On 5 November people make bonfires, set off fireworks and eat toffee apples in Guy Fawkes Night, commemoration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot centred on Guy Fawkes. The chivalrous bandit, such as Dick Turpin, is a recurring character, while Blackbeard is the archetypal pirate. There are various national and regional folk activities, participated in to this day, such as Morris dancing, Maypole dance, Maypole dancing, Rapper sword in the North East, Long Sword dance in Yorkshire, Mummers Plays, bottle-kicking in Leicestershire, and Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, cheese-rolling at Brockworth, Gloucestershire, Cooper's Hill. There is no official national costume, but a few are well established such as the Pearly Kings and Queens associated with cockneys, the Queen's Guard, Royal Guard, the Morris dance, Morris costume and Beefeaters.
Cuisine
Since the early modern period the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach and a reliance on the high quality of natural produce. During the
Middle Ages and through the Renaissance period, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the
Industrial Revolution with the move away from the land and increasing urbanisation of the populace. The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by food critics with some good ratings in ''Restaurant (magazine), Restaurant''s best restaurant in the world charts. An early book of English recipes is the ''Forme of Cury'' from the royal court of Richard II of England, Richard II.
Traditional examples of English food include the Sunday roast, featuring a roasting, roasted joint (usually beef, lamb and mutton, lamb, chicken or pork) served with assorted vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy.
Other prominent meals include fish and chips and the Full breakfast, full English breakfast (generally consisting of bacon, sausages, grilled tomatoes, fried bread, black pudding, baked beans, edible mushroom, mushrooms and eggs). Various meat pies are consumed, such as steak and kidney pie, steak and ale pie, cottage pie, pork pie (usually eaten cold)
and the Cornish pasty.
Sausages are commonly eaten, either as bangers and mash or toad in the hole. Lancashire hotpot is a well-known stew originating in the northwest. Some of the more popular cheeses are Cheddar cheese, Cheddar, Red Leicester, Wensleydale (cheese), Wensleydale, Double Gloucester and Stilton cheese, Blue Stilton. Many Anglo-Indian hybrid dishes, curries, have been created, such as chicken tikka masala and balti (food), balti. Traditional English dessert dishes include apple pie or other fruit pies; spotted dick – all generally served with custard; and, more recently, sticky toffee pudding. Sweet pastries include scones (either plain or containing dried fruit) served with jam or cream, dried fruit loaves, Eccles cakes and mince pies as well as a wide range of sweet or spiced biscuits.
Common non-alcoholic drinks include tea, the popularity of which was increased by Catherine of Braganza, and coffee; frequently consumed alcoholic drinks include wine, ciders and English beers, such as bitter (beer), bitter, mild ale, mild, stout and brown ale.
Visual arts
The earliest known examples are the prehistoric rock and cave art pieces, most prominent in North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria, but also feature further south, for example at Creswell Crags. With the arrival of Roman culture in the 1st century, various forms of art such as statues, busts, glasswork and mosaics were the norm. There are numerous surviving artefacts, such as those at Lullingstone Roman Villa, Lullingstone and Isurium Brigantum, Aldborough. During the Early Middle Ages the style favoured sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs such as in the Staffordshire Hoard discovered in 2009. Some of these blended Insular art, Gaelic and Anglian styles, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and Vespasian Psalter. Later Gothic art was popular at Winchester and Canterbury, examples survive such as Benedictional of St. Æthelwold and Luttrell Psalter.
The Tudor era saw Artists of the Tudor court, prominent artists as part of their court, portrait painting which would remain an enduring part of English art, was boosted by German Hans Holbein the Younger, Hans Holbein, natives such as Nicholas Hilliard built on this.
Under the Stuarts, Continental artists were influential especially the Flemish, examples from the period include Anthony van Dyck, Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller and William Dobson.
The 18th century was a time of significance with the founding of the Royal Academy, a classicism based on the Renaissance art, High Renaissance prevailed, with Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds becoming two of England's most treasured artists.
In the 19th century, John Constable, Constable and J.M.W. Turner, Turner were major landscape artists. The Norwich School (art movement), Norwich School continued the landscape tradition, while the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, led by artists such as Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, revived the Early Renaissance style with their vivid and detailed style.
Prominent amongst 20th-century artists was Henry Moore, regarded as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general. More recent painters include Lucian Freud, whose work ''Benefits Supervisor Sleeping'' in 2008 set a world record for sale value of a painting by a then-living artist. The Royal Society of Arts is an organisation committed to the arts and culture.
Literature, poetry, and philosophy
Early authors such as
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
and Alcuin wrote in Latin.
[.] The period of Old English literature provided the epic poem ''Beowulf'' and the secular prose of the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'', along with Christian writings such as ''Judith (poem), Judith'', Cædmon's ''Cædmon, Hymn'' and hagiography, hagiographies.
Following the Norman conquest Latin literature, Latin continued amongst the educated classes, as well as an Anglo-Norman literature.
Middle English literature emerged with Geoffrey Chaucer, author of ''The Canterbury Tales'', along with John Gower, Gower, the Pearl Poet and William Langland, Langland. William of Ockham and Roger Bacon, who were Franciscans, were major philosophers of the Middle Ages. Julian of Norwich, who wrote ''Revelations of Divine Love'', was a prominent Christian mystic. With the
English Renaissance literature in the Early Modern English style appeared. William Shakespeare, whose works include ''Hamlet'', ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''Macbeth'', and ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', remains one of the most championed authors in English literature.
Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Philip Sydney, Thomas Kyd, John Donne, and Ben Jonson are other established authors of the Elizabethan literature, Elizabethan age.
[.] Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes wrote on empiricism and materialism, including scientific method and social contract.
Robert Filmer, Filmer wrote on the Divine Right of Kings. Andrew Marvell, Marvell was the best-known poet of the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
, while John Milton authored ''Paradise Lost'' during the Restoration literature, Restoration.
Some of the most prominent philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment were John Locke, Thomas Paine, Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Bentham. More radical elements were later countered by Edmund Burke who is regarded as the founder of conservatism. The poet Alexander Pope with his satirical verse became well regarded. The English played a significant role in romanticism: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Blake and William Wordsworth were major figures.
In response to the
Industrial Revolution, agrarian writers sought a way between liberty and tradition; William Cobbett, G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc were main exponents, while the founder of guild socialism, Arthur Penty, and cooperative movement advocate G. D. H. Cole are somewhat related. Empiricism continued through John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell, while Bernard Williams was involved in analytics. Authors from around the
Victorian era include Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells and Lewis Carroll. Since then England has continued to produce novelists such as George Orwell, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, C. S. Lewis, Enid Blyton, Aldous Huxley, Agatha Christie, Terry Pratchett, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling.
Performing arts
The traditional folk music of England is centuries old and has contributed to several genres prominently; mostly sea shanties, jigs, hornpipes and dance music. It has its own distinct variations and regional peculiarities. Ballads featuring Robin Hood, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in the 16th century, are an important artefact, as are John Playford's ''The Dancing Master'' and Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, Robert Harley's ''Roxburghe Ballads'' collections. Some of the best-known songs are ''Greensleeves'', ''Pastime with Good Company'', ''Maggie May (folk song), Maggie May'' and ''Spanish Ladies'' amongst others. Many nursery rhymes are of English origin such as ''Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary'', ''Roses Are Red'', ''Jack and Jill (nursery rhyme), Jack and Jill'', ''London Bridge Is Falling Down, The Grand Old Duke of York, Hey Diddle Diddle'' and ''Humpty Dumpty''. Traditional English Christmas carols include "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "The First Noel", "I Saw Three Ships" and "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen".
Early English composers in classical music include Renaissance artists Thomas Tallis and William Byrd, followed up by Henry Purcell from the Baroque music, Baroque period and Thomas Arne who was well known for his patriotic song Rule, Britannia!. German-born George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in London and became a national icon in Britain, creating some of the most well-known works of classical music, especially his English oratorios, ''Messiah (Handel), The Messiah'', ''Solomon (Handel), Solomon'', ''Water Music (Handel), Water Music'', and ''Music for the Royal Fireworks''. One of his four Coronation Anthems (Handel), Coronation Anthems, ''Zadok the Priest'', composed for the coronation of George II of Great Britain, George II, has been performed at every subsequent Coronation of the British monarch, British coronation, traditionally during the sovereign's anointing.
Classical music attracted much attention from 1784 with the formation of the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, which was the longest running classical music festival of its kind until the final concerts in 1912. The English Musical Renaissance was a hypothetical development in the late 19th and early 20th century, when English composers, often those lecturing or trained at the Royal College of Music, were said to have freed themselves from foreign musical influences. There was a revival in the profile of composers from England in the 20th century led by Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and others. Present-day composers from England include Michael Nyman, best known for ''The Piano'', and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals have achieved enormous success in the West End theatre, West End and worldwide.
In popular music, many English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Queen (band), Queen, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Def Leppard are among the highest-selling recording artists in the world. Many musical genres have origins in (or strong associations with) England, such as British invasion, progressive rock, hard rock, mod (subculture), Mod, glam rock, heavy metal music, heavy metal, Britpop, indie rock, gothic rock, shoegazing, acid house, UK garage, garage, trip hop, drum and bass and dubstep.
Large outdoor List of music festivals in the United Kingdom, music festivals in the summer and autumn are popular, such as Glastonbury Festival, Glastonbury, V Festival, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. England was at the forefront of the illegal, free rave movement from the late 1980s, which led to pan-European culture of teknivals mirrored on the UK free festival movement and associated travelling lifestyle. The Boishakhi Mela is a Bengali New Year festival celebrated by the British Bangladeshi community. It is the largest open-air Asian festival in Europe. After the Notting Hill Carnival, it is the second-largest street festival in the
United Kingdom attracting over 80,000 visitors from across the country.
The most prominent opera house in England is the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.
[.] The Proms – a season of orchestral classical concerts held primarily at the Royal Albert Hall in London – is a major cultural event in the English calendar, and takes place yearly.
The Royal Ballet is one of the world's foremost classical ballet companies, its reputation built on two prominent figures of 20th-century dance, ''prima ballerina'' Margot Fonteyn and choreographer Frederick Ashton. The Royal Academy of Music is the oldest Music school, conservatoire in England, founded in 1822. It received its
royal charter in 1830 from George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV. England is home to numerous major orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
The circus is a traditional form of entertainment in England. Chipperfield's Circus dates back more than 300 years, making it one of the oldest family circus dynasties.
[Great dynasties of the world: The Chipperfields](_blank)
''The Guardian'' Retrieved 18 February 2011. Philip Astley is regarded as the father of the Circus#Development, modern circus.
["The circus comes to the Circus"](_blank)
BBC News. Retrieved 13 December 2014 Following his invention of the circus ring in 1768, Astley's Amphitheatre opened in London in 1773.
As an equestrian master Astley had a skill for trick horse-riding, and when he added tumblers, tightrope-walkers, jugglers, performing dogs, and a clown to fill time between his own demonstrations – the modern circus was born.
Pantomime is a British Musical theatre, musical comedy stage production, designed for family entertainment. It is performed in theatres throughout the England during the Christmas and New Year season. The art originated in the 18th century with John Weaver (dancer), John Weaver, a dance master and choreographer.
[David Christopher (2002). "British Culture: An Introduction". p. 74. Routledge,] In 19th century England it acquired its present form, which includes songs, slapstick comedy and dancing, employing gender-crossing actors, combining topical humour with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale.
Cinema
England (and the UK as a whole) has had a considerable influence on the history of the cinema, producing some of the greatest actors, directors and motion pictures of all time, including Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, David Lean, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud, Peter Sellers, Julie Andrews, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet and Daniel Day-Lewis. Hitchcock and Lean are among the most critically acclaimed filmmakers. Hitchcock's first thriller, ''The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog'' (1926), helped shape the Thriller film, thriller genre in film, while his 1929 film, ''Blackmail (1929 film), Blackmail'', is often regarded as the first British Sound film#Transition: Europe, sound feature film.
Major film studios in England include Pinewood Studios, Pinewood, Elstree Studios, Elstree and Shepperton Studios, Shepperton. Some of the most commercially successful films of all time have been produced in England, including two of the List of highest-grossing film series, highest-grossing film franchises (''Harry Potter (film series), Harry Potter'' and ''James Bond (film series), James Bond''). Ealing Studios in London has a claim to being the oldest continuously working film studio in the world. Famous for recording many motion picture film scores, the London Symphony Orchestra first performed film music in 1935. The Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Horror films starring Christopher Lee saw the production of the first gory horror films showing blood and guts in colour.
The BFI Top 100 British films includes ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979), a film regularly voted the funniest of all time by the UK public. English producers are also active in international co-productions and English actors, directors and crew feature regularly in American films. The UK film council ranked David Yates, Christopher Nolan, Mike Newell (director), Mike Newell, Ridley Scott and Paul Greengrass the five most commercially successful English directors since 2001. Other contemporary English directors include Sam Mendes, Guy Ritchie and Richard Curtis. Current actors include Tom Hardy, Daniel Craig, Benedict Cumberbatch, Lena Headey, Felicity Jones, Emilia Clarke, Lashana Lynch, and Emma Watson. Acclaimed for his motion capture work, Andy Serkis opened The Imaginarium Studios in London in 2011. The visual effects company Framestore in London has produced some of the most critically acclaimed special effects in modern film. Many successful Hollywood films have been based on English people, British literature, stories or events. The List of Walt Disney Animation Studios films, 'English Cycle' of Disney animated films include ''Alice in Wonderland (1951 film), Alice in Wonderland'', ''The Jungle Book (1967 film), The Jungle Book'' and ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh''.
Museums, libraries, and galleries
English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The charity National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty holds a contrasting role. 17 of the 25 United Kingdom UNESCO World Heritage Sites fall within England. Some of the best-known of these are: Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, Tower of London, Jurassic Coast, Saltaire, Ironbridge Gorge, Studley Royal Park and various others.
There are many museums in England, but perhaps the most notable is London's British Museum. Its collection of more than seven million objects is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world, sourced from every continent, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. The British Library in London is the national library and is one of the world's largest research libraries, holding over 150 million items in almost all known languages and formats; including around 25 million books. The most senior art gallery is the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The Tate galleries house the national collections of British and international modern art; they also host the famously controversial Turner Prize.
Media
The BBC, founded in 1922, is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and Internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world.
It operates numerous television and radio stations in the UK and abroad and its domestic services are funded by the Television licensing in the United Kingdom, television licence.
The BBC World Service is an International broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest of any kind. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages.
London dominates the media sector in England: national newspapers and television and radio are largely based there, although Manchester is also a significant national media centre. The UK publishing sector, including books, directories and databases, journals, magazines and business media, newspapers and news agencies, has a combined turnover of around £20 billion and employs around 167,000 people. National newspapers produced in England include ''The Times'', ''The Guardian'' and the ''Financial Times''.
Magazines and journals published in England that have achieved worldwide circulation include ''
Nature'', ''New Scientist'', ''The Spectator'', ''Prospect (magazine), Prospect'', ''NME'' and ''The Economist''. The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has overall responsibility over media and broadcasting in England.
Sport
England has a strong sporting heritage, and during the 19th century codified many sports that are now played around the world. Sports originating in England include association football,
cricket, rugby union, rugby league, tennis, boxing, badminton, squash (sport), squash, rounders, field hockey, hockey, snooker, billiards, darts, table tennis, bowls, netball, thoroughbred horseracing, greyhound racing and fox hunting. It has helped the development of golf, sailing and Formula One.
Football is the Sport in the United Kingdom#Popularity, most popular of these sports. The England national football team, whose home venue is Wembley Stadium, played Scotland national football team, Scotland in the first ever international football match in 1872. Referred to as the "home of football" by FIFA, England hosted the 1966 FIFA World Cup, and won the tournament by defeating Germany national football team, West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, final, with Geoff Hurst scoring a hat-trick. With a British television audience peak of 32.30 million viewers, the final is the List of most-watched television broadcasts#United Kingdom, most watched television event ever in the UK.
At club level, England is recognised by FIFA as the birthplace of club football, due to Sheffield F.C. founded in 1857 being the world's oldest club.
The Football Association is the oldest governing body in the sport, with the Laws of the Game (association football), rules of football first drafted in 1863 by Ebenezer Cobb Morley. The FA Cup and The Football League were the first cup and league competitions respectively. In the modern day, the Premier League is the world's most-watched football league, most lucrative,
and amongst the elite.
As is the case throughout the UK, football in England is notable for the rivalries between clubs and the passion of the supporters, which includes a tradition of football chants. The most successful English football team in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League is Liverpool F.C. who have won the competition on six occasions. Other English success has come from Manchester United F.C., winning the competition on 3 occasions; Nottingham Forest F.C. and Chelsea F.C. on 2 occasions, Aston Villa F.C. have only won the trophy once.
Cricket is generally thought to have been developed in the early medieval period among the farming and metalworking communities of the Weald. The England cricket team is a composite England and Wales, team. One of the game's top rivalries is The Ashes series between England and Australia cricket team, Australia, contested since 1882. The climax of the 2005 Ashes series, 2005 Ashes was viewed by 7.4 million as it was available on terrestrial television. England has hosted five Cricket World Cups (1975, 1979, 1983, 1999 and 2019 Cricket World Cup, 2019), winning the 2019 edition in a final regarded as one of the greatest one day internationals ever played. They hosted the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009 ICC World Twenty20, 2009, winning this format in 2010 beating rivals Australia in the final. In the domestic competition, the County Championship, Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Yorkshire are by far the most successful club having won the competition 32 times outright and sharing it on 1 other occasion. Lord's Cricket Ground situated in London is sometimes referred to as the "Mecca of Cricket".
William Penny Brookes was prominent in organising the format for the modern Olympic Games. In 1994, then President of the International Olympic Committee, IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, laid a wreath on Brooke's grave, and said, "I came to pay homage and tribute to Dr Brookes, who really was the founder of the modern Olympic Games". London has hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times, in 1908 Summer Olympics, 1908, 1948 Summer Olympics, 1948, and 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012. England competes in the Commonwealth Games, held every four years. Sport England is the governing body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in England. The Minister for Sport and Civil Society has responsibility for sport in England.
Rugby union originated in Rugby School, Warwickshire in the early 19th century. The England national rugby union team, England rugby union team won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, with Jonny Wilkinson scoring the winning drop kick, drop goal in the last minute of extra time against Australia. England was one of the host nations of the competition in the 1991 Rugby World Cup and also hosted the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The top level of club participation is the Guinness Premiership, English Premiership. Leicester Tigers, Wasps RFC, London Wasps, Bath Rugby and Northampton Saints have had success in the Europe-wide Heineken Cup.
Rugby league was born in Huddersfield in 1895. Since 2008, the England national rugby league team has been a full test nation in lieu of the Great Britain national rugby league team, which won three Rugby League World Cup, World Cups but is now retired. Club sides play in Super League, the present-day embodiment of the Rugby Football League Championship. Rugby League is most popular among towns in the northern English counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria. The vast majority of English clubs in Super League are based in the north of England. Some of the most successful clubs include Wigan Warriors, Hull F.C. St Helens R.F.C., St. Helens, Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants; the former three have all won the World Club Challenge previously.
Golf has been prominent in England; due in part to its cultural and geographical ties to Scotland, the Golf in Scotland, home of Golf. There are both professional tours for men and women, in two main tours: the Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain and Ireland), PGA and the European Tour. England has produced grand slam winners: Cyril Walker (golfer), Cyril Walker, Tony Jacklin, Nick Faldo, and Justin Rose in the men's and Laura Davies, Alison Nicholas, and Karen Stupples in the women's. The world's oldest golf tournament, and golf's first major is The Open Championship, played both in England and Scotland. The biennial golf competition, the Ryder Cup, is named after English businessman Samuel Ryder who sponsored the event and donated the trophy. Nick Faldo is the most successful Ryder Cup player ever, having won the most points (25) of any player on either the European or US teams.
Tennis was created in Birmingham in the late 19th century, and The Championships, Wimbledon, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious. Wimbledon is a tournament that has a major place in the British cultural calendar. Fred Perry was the last Englishman to win Wimbledon in 1936. He was the first player to win all four Grand Slam in tennis, Grand Slam singles titles and helped lead the Great Britain Davis Cup team, Great Britain team to four Davis Cup wins. English women who have won Wimbledon include: Ann Haydon Jones in 1969 and Virginia Wade in 1977.
In boxing, under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules, England has produced many world champions across the weight divisions internationally recognised by the governing bodies. World champions include Bob Fitzsimmons, Ted "Kid" Lewis, Randolph Turpin, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis, Ricky Hatton, Naseem Hamed, Amir Khan (British boxer), Amir Khan, Carl Froch, and David Haye. In women's boxing, Nicola Adams became the world's first woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Originating in 17th and 18th-century England, the thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. The National Hunt horse race the Grand National, is held annually at Aintree Racecourse in early April. It is the most watched horse race in the UK, attracting casual observers, and three-time winner Red Rum is the most successful racehorse in the event's history. Red Rum is also the best-known racehorse in the country.
The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone was the first race in the newly created Formula One World Championship. Since then, England has produced some of the greatest drivers in the sport, including; John Surtees, Stirling Moss, Graham Hill (only driver to have won the Triple Crown of Motorsport, Triple Crown), Nigel Mansell (only man to hold F1 and IndyCar titles at the same time), Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. It has manufactured some of the most technically advanced racing cars, and many of today's racing companies choose England as their base of operations for its engineering knowledge and organisation. McLaren Automotive, Williams F1, Team Lotus, Honda, Brawn GP, Benetton Formula, Benetton, Renault, and Red Bull Racing are all, or have been, located in the south of England. England also has a rich heritage in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, the premier championship of motorcycle road racing, and produced several World Champions across all the various class of motorcycle: Mike Hailwood, John Surtees, Phil Read, Geoff Duke, and Barry Sheene.
Darts is a widely popular sport in England; a professional competitive sport, darts is a traditional pub game. The sport is governed by the World Darts Federation, one of its member organisations is the British Darts Organisation (BDO), which annually stages the BDO World Darts Championship, the other being the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), which runs its own world championship at Alexandra Palace in London. Phil Taylor (darts player), Phil Taylor is widely regarded as the best darts player of all time, having won 187 professional tournaments, and a record 16 World Professional Darts Championship, World Championships. Trina Gulliver is the ten-time Women's World Professional Darts Champion of the British Darts Organisation. Another popular sport commonly associated with pub games is Snooker, and England has produced several world champions, including Steve Davis and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The English are keen sailors and enjoy competitive sailing; founding and winning some of the world's most famous and respected international competitive tournaments across the various race formats, including the match race, a regatta, and the America's Cup. England has produced some of the world's greatest sailors, including Francis Chichester, Herbert Hasler, John Ridgway (sailor), John Ridgway, Robin Knox-Johnston, Ellen MacArthur, Mike Golding, Paul Goodison, and the most successful Olympic sailor ever Ben Ainslie.
National symbols
The St George's Cross has been the national flag of England since the 13th century. Originally the flag was used by the maritime Republic of Genoa. The English monarch paid a tribute to the Doge of Genoa from 1190 onwards so that English ships could fly the flag as a means of protection when entering the Mediterranean.
A red cross was a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with Saint George, along with countries and cities, which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. Since 1606 the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the Union Flag, a Pan-British flag designed by King James I of England, James I.
During the
English Civil War and Interregnum (England), Interregnum, the New Model Army, New Model Army's standards and the English Commonwealth, Commonwealth's Great Seal of the Realm#Commonwealth, Great Seal both incorporated the flag of Saint George.
There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the Tudor rose, the nation's national emblem, floral emblem, 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.
It is a syncreticism, syncretic symbol in that it merged the white rose of the
Yorkists
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
and the red rose of the
Lancastrians—cadet branches of the House of Plantagenet, Plantagenets who went to war over control of the nation. It is also known as the ''Rose of England''.
The oak tree is a symbol of England, representing strength and endurance. The Royal Oak symbol and Oak Apple Day commemorate the escape of King
Charles II from the grasp of the parliamentarians after his father's execution: he hid in an oak tree to avoid detection before safely reaching exile.
The Royal Arms of England, a national coat of arms featuring three lions, originated with its adoption by Richard the Lionheart in 1198. It is blazoned as ''gules, three lions passant guardant or'' and it provides one of the most prominent symbols of England; it is similar to the traditional arms of Normandy. England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has ''God Save the King''. However, the following are often considered unofficial National anthem of England, English national anthems:
''Jerusalem (hymn), Jerusalem'', ''Land of Hope and Glory'' (used for England during the 2002 Commonwealth Games),
and ''I Vow to Thee, My Country''. England's National Day is 23 April which is St George's Day in England, Saint George's Day: Saint George is the patron saint of England.
See also
* Outline of England
* Outline of the United Kingdom
Notes
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External links
English Heritagenbsp;– National body protecting English heritage
Natural Englandnbsp;– Wildlife and the natural world of England
VisitEnglandnbsp;– English Tourist Board
BBC News – Englandnbsp;– News items from BBC News relating to England
GOV.UKnbsp;– The Official Website of the British Government
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{{Good article
England,
English-speaking countries and territories
Great Britain
Island countries
United Kingdom by country
Germanic countries and territories
Christian states