England





England is the largest and most densely populated of the nations that make
up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The name "England" is derived from "Engla-lond" or "land of the Angles". It
is often incorrectly used as a synomym for Great Britain or the United
Kingdom by some, which is inaccurate and can be offensive. Other terms for
England include "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning
"foreign"; "this Green and Pleasant Land", from William Blake's poem
Jerusalem. "Albion" was used by writers such as Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy
in the 1st century, in reference to the white (Latin: "alba") cliffs of
Dover.

The Marquis de XimenŽs, an 18th century diplomat, is credited with coining
the phrase La perfide Albion, or "perfidious Albion", which is still heard
from the French -- also an affectionate term, in its own way. It is also
used by the Irish about the English but in a less affectionate manner,
suggesting a degree of untrustworthiness.

                                          Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (God
                                                       and my right)
                                                       None. English is the
                                                       language used by
                                                       administration and
                                                       general population
History                                                for official
                                                       purposes. (There are
                                                       several United
                                                       Kingdom languages

                                        Official       registered under the
Politics                                languages      European Charter of
                                                       Regional and
                                                       Minority Languages.
                                                       Cornish is currently
                                                       being added to the
England, as a significant political                    charter, and is the
entity, ceased to exist with the Act                   only such language
of Union 1707, which created the                       strongly associated
Kingdom of Great Britain. All of Great                 with administrative
Britain has been ruled by the                          England.)
government of the United Kingdom
between that date and 1999, when the    Capital        London
first elections to the newly created    Area           Ranked 1st
Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly  Ê- Total       130,395 km²
left England as the only nation in the  Population
Union with no representative body.      Ê- Total       Ranked 1st
                                        (2001)         49,138,831
There are calls by some for an English  Ê- Density     377/km²
Parliament to counteract what they see
as a democratic imbalance. Many would   Unification    1066 - William the
have this parliament take the form of                  Conqueror
an all-England grand committee in the   Currency       Pound Sterling
United Kingdom House of Commons rather  Time zone      UTC+0
than as a new body with separate
elections.                              National       God Save the Queen,
                                        anthems        Land of Hope and
The current Labour government favours                  Glory (unofficial)
the establishment of regional
governments, claiming that England is too large to be governed as a
sub-state entity. It's currently unclear whether there is any significant
support for this from the public, especially since people generally identify
with counties, rather than regions that have little historical basis. There
is, however, substantial public support in several regions, particularly in
the north of England. Referenda will take place on this issue, possibly some
time in 2004, and consideration has still to be given to what powers regions
would be granted, and what impact this may have on the powers of counties or
central government. Considerable disquiet was caused when changes were made
to the system of counties in 1974.

Unlike the other nations of the Kingdom, there is very little call for
independence of England from the UK. This is overwhelmingly due to its
dominance in the Union. Those groups that do campaign for such a thing tend
to be right-wing organisations.

Subdivisions

Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the
county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old,
pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and
Sussex; Duchies, such as Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land
given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire.

These counties all still exist in, or near to their original form as the
traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily
modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about
due to a number of factors.

The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there
was no regional government able to co-ordinate an overarching plan for the
area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the
cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial
revolution and the mass urbanisation of the country.

The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on
cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into
unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of
government.

London is a special case, and is the one Region which currently has a
representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The thirty-two
London boroughs remain the local form of government in the city.

Other than Greater London, the other official Regions are:

   * North East England
   * North West England
   * Yorkshire and the Humber
   * West Midlands
   * East Midlands
   * East of England
   * South West England
   * South East England

The Regions hold very little power owing to their lack of accountability -
regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected representatives of
various interests. When, as seems likely, several Regions opt to replace
these QUANGOs with elected assemblies, Local government in England will
remain as variable and, some might say, confusing as ever.

Geography

England comprises most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great
Britain. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales.
Most of England consists of rolling terrain, but the country is more
mountainous in the north. The dividing line between terrain types is usually
indicated by the Tees-Exe line.

The Channel Tunnel near Dover links England to the European mainland.

Major rivers:

   * Thames
   * Severn
   * Trent

Major cities:

   * London
   * Birmingham
   * Manchester
   * Bristol
   * Liverpool
   * Leeds
   * Newcastle upon Tyne

Demographics

England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse country in
the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a
tenth are from non-White ethnic groups.

This population is made up of immigrants who have arrived over millenia. The
principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman
period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350-550 (Angles,
Saxons, Jutes), 800-900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650-1750
(European refugees and Huguenots), 1880-1940 (Jews), 1950-1985 (Caribbeans,
Africans, South Asians), 1985-present (East Europeans, Kurds, refugees).

The general prosperity of England has also made it a destination for
economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This diverse
ethnic mix continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely
used internationally.

Generally, an English person is someone who lives in England regardless of
their racial origin. However, some people (including many south Asians and
whites) use the label as only referring to those people of Anglo-Saxon
origin - preferring to instead use "British" as a racially neutral label.
This is only possible due to the somewhat hazy distinction that many people
in the country make between "England" and "Britain".