England
Flag Royal Coat of Arms
Motto: Dieu et mon droit  (French) "God and my right"
Anthem: No official anthem specific to England – the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen". See also National anthem of England.
Location of  England  (red) in the United Kingdom  (light yellow)
Capital (and largest city)		London 51°30′N, 0°7′W
Official languages		English1
Ethnic groups ( 2005 – Some groups inc. White Other and Other (inc. East Asians) are thought to be much higher)		84.70% White British 5.30% South Asian 3.20% White Other 2.69% Black 1.57% Mixed Race 1.20% White Irish 0.70% Chinese 0.60% Other
Demonym		English
Government		Constitutional monarchy
-	Monarch (of the UK)	Queen Elizabeth II
-	Prime Minister (of the UK)	Gordon Brown MP
Unified
-	by Athelstan	AD 927
Area
-	Total	130,395 km²  50,346 sq mi
Population
-	2006 estimate	50,762,900²
-	2001 census	49,138,831
-	Density	388.7/km²  976/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2006 estimate
-	Total	$1.9 trillion (6th)
-	Per capita	US$38,000 (6th)
GDP (nominal)		2006 estimate
-	Total	$2.2 trillion (5th)
-	Per capita	$44,000 (10th)
HDI (2006)		▲ 0.940 (high)
Currency		Pound sterling (GBP)
Time zone		GMT (UTC0)
-	Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
Internet TLD		.uk³
Calling code		+44
Patron saint		St. George
1	English is established by de facto usage. Cornish is officially recognised as a Regional or Minority language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Cornish-language name for England is Pow Sows.
2	From the Office for National Statistics – National population projections (PDF)
3	Also .eu, as part of the European Union. ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused.

England (pronounced /ˈɪŋglənd/) (Old English: Englaland, Middle English: Engelond) is the largest, and most populous constituent country^[1][2][3] of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total population of the United Kingdom,^[4] while the mainland territory of England occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the North Sea, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel.

England became a unified state in the year 927 and takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled there during the 5th and 6th centuries. The capital of England is London, the largest urban area in Great Britain, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most, but not all, measures.^[5]

England ranks amongst the world's most influential and far-reaching centres of cultural development.^[6] It is the place of origin of the English language and the Church of England, and English law forms the basis of the legal systems of many countries; in addition, London was the centre of the British Empire, and the country was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.^[7] England was the first country in the world to become industrialised.^[8] England is home to the Royal Society, which laid the foundations of modern experimental science. England was the world's first modern parliamentary democracy^[9] and consequently many constitutional, governmental and legal innovations that had their origin in England have been widely adopted by other nations.

The Kingdom of England was a separate state, including the Principality of Wales, until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union resulted in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.^[10]

Etymology and usage

See also: British Isles (terminology)

England is named after the Angles, the largest of the Germanic tribes who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries, and who are believed to have originated in the peninsula of Angeln, in what is now Denmark and northern Germany.^[11] (The further etymology of this tribe's name remains uncertain, although a popular theory holds that it need be sought no further than the word angle itself, and refers to a fish-hook-shaped region of Holstein.^[12]

The Angles' name has had various spellings. The earliest known reference to these people is under the Latinised version Anglii used by Tacitus in chapter 40 of his Germania,^[13] written around 98 AD. He gives no precise indication of their geographical position within Germania, but states that, with six other tribes, they worshipped a goddess named Nerthus, whose sanctuary was situated on "an island in the Ocean".

The early 8th century historian Bede, in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People), refers to the English people as Angelfolc (in English) or Angli (in Latin).^[14]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known usage of "England" referring to the southern part of the island of Great Britain was in 897, with the modern spelling first used in 1538,^[15]

The word "England" is often used colloquially—and incorrectly—to refer to Great Britain or the United Kingdom as a whole.^[16] There are many instances of this usage in history, where references to England are actually intended to include Scotland and Wales as well.^[17] The term is used throughout the world and even by English people; the usage is problematic and causes offence in many parts of Britain.

England is officially defined as "subject to any alteration of boundaries under Part IV of the Local Government Act 1972, the area consisting of the counties established by section 1 of that Act, Greater London and the Isles of Scilly."^[18]

History

Main article: History of England

Prehistory

Main article: Prehistoric Britain

Stonehenge, a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument in Wiltshire, thought to have been erected c. 2000–2500 BC

Bones and flint tools found in Norfolk and Suffolk show that Homo erectus lived in what is now England about 700,000 years ago.^[19] At this time, England was joined to mainland Europe by a large land bridge. The current position of the English Channel was a large river flowing westwards and fed by tributaries that would later become the Thames and the Seine. This area was greatly depopulated during the period of the last major ice age, as were other regions of the British Isles. In the subsequent recolonisation, after the thawing of the ice, genetic research shows that present-day England was the last area of the British Isles to be repopulated,^[20] about 13,000 years ago. The migrants arriving during this period contrast with the other of the inhabitants of the British Isles, coming across lands from the south east of Europe, whereas earlier arriving inhabitants came north along a coastal route from Iberia. These migrants would later adopt the Celtic culture that came to dominate much of western Europe.

Roman conquest of Britain

Main article: Roman conquest of Britain

By AD 43, the time of the main Roman invasion, Britain had already been the target of frequent invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. It was first invaded by the Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 55 BC, but it was conquered more fully by the Emperor Claudius in 43 AD. Like other regions on the edge of the empire, Britain had long enjoyed trading links with the Romans, and their economic and cultural influence was a significant part of the British late pre-Roman Iron Age, especially in the south. With the fall of the Roman Empire 400 years later, the Romans left England.

Anglo-Saxons

Main article: History of Anglo-Saxon England

Further information: Anglo-Saxon conquest of England

An Anglo-Saxon helmet found at Sutton Hoo

The History of Anglo-Saxon England covers the history of early mediaeval England from the end of Roman Britain and the establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Conquest by the Normans in 1066.^[21]

Fragmentary knowledge of Anglo-Saxon England in the 5th and 6th centuries comes from the British writer Gildas (6th century) the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (a history of the English people begun in the 9th century), saints' lives, poetry, archaeological findings, and place-name studies.

The dominant themes of the seventh to tenth centuries were the spread of Christianity and the political unification of England. Christianity is thought to have come from three directions—from Rome to the south, and Scotland and Ireland to the north and west.

From about 500, England was divided (it is believed) into seven petty kingdoms, known as the Heptarchy: Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex.

The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms tended to coalesce by means of warfare. As early as the time of Ethelbert of Kent, one king could be recognised as Bretwalda ("Lord of Britain"). Generally speaking, the title fell in the 7th century to the kings of Northumbria, in the 8th to those of Mercia, and in the 9th, to Egbert of Wessex, who in 825 defeated the Mercians at the Battle of Ellendun. In the next century his family came to rule all England.

Kingdom of England

Statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester

Originally, England (or Englaland) was a geographical term to describe the part of Britain occupied by the Anglo-Saxons, rather than a name of an individual nation-state. It became politically united through the expansion of the kingdom of Wessex, whose king Athelstan brought the whole of England under one ruler for the first time in 927, although unification did not become permanent until 954, when Edred defeated Eric Bloodaxe and became King of England.

In 1016 England was conquered by the Danish king Canute the Great, and became the centre of government for his short-lived empire which included Denmark and Norway. In 1042 England became a separate kingdom again with the accession of Edward the Confessor, heir of the native English dynasty. However,the political ties and direction of England were changed forever by the Norman Conquest in 1066.

The Kingdom of England (including Wales) continued to exist as an independent nation-state right through to the Acts of Union.

Middle Ages

Main articles: Britain in the Middle Ages and Medieval demography

The signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. It was one of the first steps towards the idea of modern democracy.

Fifteenth-century miniature depicting the English victory over France at the Battle of Agincourt.

The next few hundred years saw England as a major part of expanding and dwindling empires based in France, with the "Kings of England" using England as a source of troops to enlarge their personal holdings in France for many years (Hundred Years' War) ; in fact the English crown did not relinquish its last foothold on mainland France until Calais was lost during the reign of Mary Tudor (the Channel Islands are still crown dependencies, though not part of the UK).

In the 13th century, through conquest Wales (the remaining Romano-Celts) was brought under the control of English monarchs. This was formalised in the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, by which Wales became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542. Wales shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity originally called England and later England and Wales.

An epidemic of catastrophic proportions, the Black Death first reached England in the summer of 1348. The Black Death is estimated to have killed between a third and two-thirds of Europe's population. England alone lost as much as 70% of its population, which passed from seven million to two million in 1400. The plague repeatedly returned to haunt England throughout the 14th to 17th centuries.^[22] The Great Plague of London in 1665–1666 was the last plague outbreak.^[23]

Reformation

Main article: English Reformation

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I made to commemorate the English victory over the Spanish Armada (1588)

During the English Reformation in the 16th century, the external authority of the Roman Catholic Church in England was abolished and replaced with Royal Supremacy and ultimately describes the establishment of a Church of England, outside the Roman Catholic Church, under the Supreme Governance of the English monarch. The English Reformation differed from its European counterparts in that it was a political, rather than purely theological, dispute at root.^[24] The break with Rome started in the reign of Henry VIII.

The English Reformation paved the way for the spread of Anglicanism in the church and other institutions.

Civil War

Main article: English Civil War

Cromwell at Dunbar. Oliver Cromwell united the whole of the British Isles by force and created the Commonwealth of England.

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651. The first (1642–1645) and second (1648–1649) civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The Civil War ended with the Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

The Civil War led to the trial and execution of Charles I, the exile of his son Charles II and the replacement of the English monarchy with the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653) and then with a Protectorate (1653–1659) : the personal rule of Oliver Cromwell. After a brief return to Commonwealth rule, in 1660 The Crown was restored and Charles II accepted Convention Parliament's invitation to return to England. During the interregnum the monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England came to an end, and the victors consolidated the already-established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established a precedent that British monarchs could not govern without the consent of Parliament although this would not be cemented until the Glorious Revolution later in the century.

Great Britain and the United Kingdom

England	United Kingdom

Although embattled for centuries, the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland had been drawing increasingly together since the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century^[25] and after 1603, when the two countries became linked by a personal union, being ruled by the same Stuart dynasty.^[25][26] Following a number of attempts to unite the Kingdoms, on 1 May 1707, the Acts of Union resulted in a political union between the states creating the Kingdom of Great Britain.^[25] The Kingdom of Ireland later joined this union to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland changed its name to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927 to reflect its reduced territory following the secession of southern Ireland as the Irish Free State in 1922.

Throughout these changes, England (including Wales) retained a separate legal identity from its partners, with a separate legal system (English law) from those in Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland law) and Scotland (Scots law). (See subdivisions of the United Kingdom)

Wales had already been made part of the Kingdom of England by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, and it was legally incorporated into England by the Wales and Berwick Act 1746, making laws passed in England automatically applicable to Wales. This was reversed by the Welsh Language Act 1967, which thus effectively gave Wales a separate identity from England. Since then, legal and political terminology refers to "England and Wales". The county of Monmouthshire has long been an ambiguous area, its legal identity passing between England and Wales at various periods. In the Local Government Act 1972 it was made part of Wales.

The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 also referred to the formerly Scottish burgh of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The border town changed hands several times and was last conquered by England in 1482, but was not officially incorporated into England. Contention about whether Berwick was in England or Scotland was ended by the union of the two in 1707. Berwick remains within the English legal system and so is regarded today as part of England though there has been some suggestion in Scotland that Berwick should be invited to 'return to the fold'.^[27]

The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are Crown dependencies and are not part of England or of the United Kingdom.

Government and politics

A Mediaeval manuscript, showing the Parliament of England in front of the king c. 1300

Main articles: Government of England and Politics of England

There has not been a Government of England since 1707, when the Kingdom of England merged with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, although both kingdoms have been ruled by a single monarch since 1603. Before the Acts of Union of 1707, England was ruled by a monarch and the Parliament of England.

Following the establishment of devolved government for Scotland and Wales in 1999, England was left as the only country within the United Kingdom still governed in all matters by the UK government and the UK parliament in London. (Those, like Mebyon Kernow, who claim that Cornwall should be viewed as having a distinct national identity and who campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines may dispute this claim.)

The Palace of Westminster, Parliament of the United Kingdom

Since Westminster is the UK parliament but also legislates on matters that affect England alone, devolution of national matters to parliament/assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has refocused attention on the anomaly called the West Lothian question. The "Question" is that Scottish and Welsh MPs continue to be able to vote on legislation relating only to England in the post devolution era while English MPs have no equivalent right to legislate on devolved matters. (Of course, Scottish and Welsh MPs are also unable to vote on devolved issues affecting their own constituencies.) This 'problem' is exacerbated by an over-representation of Scottish MPs in the government, sometimes referred to as the Scottish mafia; as of September 2006, seven of the twenty-three Cabinet members represent Scottish constituencies, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Defence Secretary. In addition, Scotland traditionally benefited from moderate malapportionment in its favour, increasing its representation to a degree disproportionate to its population. In 2004 the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 was passed which rectified this to a degree, reducing the number of MPs representing Scottish constituencies from 73 to 59 and brought the number of voters per constituency closer to that in England. This change was implemented in the 2005 General Election.

There are calls for a devolved English Parliament, and certain English parties go further by calling for the dissolution of the Union entirely.^[28][29] However, the approach favoured by the current Labour government was (on the basis that England is too large to be governed as a single sub-state entity) to propose the devolution of power to the Regions of England. Lord Falconer claimed a devolved English parliament would dwarf the rest of the United Kingdom.^[30]

In terms of national administration, therefore, England's affairs are managed by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and England-specific quangos such as English Heritage.

Subdivisions and local government

Main articles: Administrative divisions of England and Counties of England

The top tier of local administration within England are the Regions of England. London voted for a London Assembly and the plan was to hold further referenda in other regions to determine whether people wanted directly elected regional assemblies to watch over the work of the non-elected Regional Development Agencies. A referendum on a proposed directly elected North East Assembly was held in November 2004. During the campaign, a common criticism of the proposals was that England did not need "another tier of bureaucracy".^[31] On the other hand, many said that they were not decentralising enough, and amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government, and no real power given to the regions, which would not even gain the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament (but Welsh powers are now being expanded). They said that power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Late in the process, responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater public spending per head to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. The voters rejected the proposal, and plans for referendums in other Regions were shelved.

Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These have their origin in the shires, the subdivisions of the kingdom of Wessex, which were extended over the rest of England as Wessex expanded to unite the country in the ninth and tenth centuries. Some of these new shires, particularly in the south-east of England, retained the extent and names of the kingdoms or subdivisions of kingdoms that had existed there before, such as Sussex and Kent, but most were new creations, named after their principal town with the suffix "-shire" added, for example Warwickshire from Warwick. In the far north of England, the system took longer to become regularised and County Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland emerged after the Norman Conquest. The counties each had a county town.

Since these historical county lines were drawn up before the Industrial Revolution and the mass urbanisation of England, the changes in the distribution of population and the demands on local administration resulting from those developments have led to a series of local government reorganisations since the latter part of the 19th century. The solution to the emergence of large urban areas was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities (an example being Greater Manchester). The creation of unitary authorities, where districts gained the administrative status of a county, began with the 1990s reform of local government. Today, some confusion exists between the ceremonial counties (which do not necessarily form an administrative unit) and the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties.

Non-metropolitan counties (or "shire counties") are divided into one or more districts. At the lowest level, England is divided into parishes, although these are not found everywhere (many urban areas for example are unparished). Parishes are prohibited from existing in Greater London.

Geography

Until 1998, the Humber Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom and Geography of England

England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 24-statute mile (52 km or 21 nautical mile)^[32] sea gap. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, directly links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel.^[33]

Much of England consists of rolling hills, but it is generally more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. Other hilly areas in the north and Midlands are the Lake District, the North York Moors, and the Peak District. The approximate dividing line between terrain types is often indicated by the Tees-Exe line. To the south of that line, there are larger areas of flatter land, including East Anglia and the Fens, although hilly areas include the Cotswolds, the Chilterns, the North and South Downs, Dartmoor and Exmoor.

The largest natural harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Some regard it as the second largest harbour in the world, after Sydney, Australia, although this fact is disputed (see harbours for a list of other large natural harbour).

Climate

Main article: Climate of the United Kingdom

England has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round, although the seasons are quite variable in temperature. However, temperatures rarely fall below −5 °C (23 °F) or rise above 30 °C (86 °F). The prevailing wind is from the south-west, bringing mild and wet weather to England regularly from the Atlantic Ocean. It is driest in the east and warmest in the south, which is closest to the European mainland. Snowfall can occur in winter and early spring, although it is not that common away from high ground.

The highest temperature recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 at Brogdale, near Faversham, in Kent.^[34] The lowest temperature recorded in England is −26.1 °C (−15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire.^[35]

Major rivers

The River Severn viewed from Shrewsbury Castle in Shropshire

Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

• Severn (the longest river and largest river basin in Great Britain)
• Tees
• Thames
• Trent
• Humber
• Tyne
• Wear
• Ribble
• Ouse
• Mersey
• Dee
• Aire
• Avon
• Medway

Major conurbations

London is the largest urban area in England, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.^[36]

Main article: List of English cities by population

London is by far the largest urban area in England and one of the largest and busiest cities in the world. Other cities, mainly in central and northern England, are of substantial size and influence. The list of England's largest cities or urban areas is open to debate because, although the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area", this can be hard to define, particularly because administrative areas in England often do not correspond with the limits of urban development, and many towns and cities have, over the centuries, grown to form complex urban agglomerations. Various definitions of cities can be used. For the official definition of a UK (and therefore English) city, see City status in the United Kingdom.

Birmingham

Manchester

Liverpool's skyline

Leeds - Bridgewater Place

According to the ONS urban area populations for continuous built-up areas, these are the 15 largest conurbations (population figures from the 2001 census):

Economics

The City of London is a major business and commercial centre, ranking alongside New York City and Tokyo as the leading centre of global finance.^[38]

Main article: Economy of England

England's economy is the second largest in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. It follows the Anglo-Saxon economic model. England's economy is the largest of the four economies of the United Kingdom, with 100 of Europe's 500 largest corporations based in London.^[39] As part of the United Kingdom, England is a major centre of world economics. One of the world's most highly industrialised countries, 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.

The Bullring shopping complex in Birmingham city centre attracted 36.5 million visitors in its début year upon opening in 2003.

London exports mainly manufactured goods and imports materials such as petroleum, tea, wool, raw sugar, timber, butter, metals, and meat.^[40] England exported more than 30,000 tons of beef last year, worth around £75,000,000, with France, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain being the largest importers of beef from England.^[41]

The central bank of the United Kingdom, which sets interest rates and implements monetary policy, is the Bank of England in London. London is also home to the London Stock Exchange, the main stock exchange in the UK and the largest in Europe. London is one of the international leaders in finance^[42] and the largest financial centre in Europe.

Traditional heavy and manufacturing industries have declined sharply in England in recent decades, as they have in the United Kingdom as a whole. At the same time, service industries have grown in importance. For example, tourism is the sixth largest industry in the UK, contributing 76 billion pounds to the economy. It employs 1,800,000 full-time equivalent people—6.1% of the working population (2002 figures).^[43] The largest centre for tourism is London, which attracts millions of international tourists every year.

As part of the United Kingdom, England's official currency is the Pound Sterling (also known as the British pound or GBP).

Demography

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Main articles: Demography of England and Population of England

Demography of England

With 50,431,700 inhabitants, or 84% of the UK's total,^[44] England is the most populous nation in the United Kingdom; as well as being the most ethnically diverse. England would have the fourth largest population in the European Union and would be the 25th largest country by population if it were a sovereign state.

The country's population is 'ageing', with a declining percentage of the population under age 16 and a rising one of over 65. Population continues to rise and in every year since 1901, with the exception of 1976, there have been more births than deaths.^[45] England is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, with 383 people per square kilometre (992/sq mi) ,^[46] making it second only to the Netherlands.

The generally accepted view is that the ethnic background of the English populace, before 19th- and 20th century immigration, was a mixed European one deriving from historical waves of Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Norman invasions, along with the possible survival of pre-Celtic ancestry. Genetic studies have shown that the modern-day English gene pool contains more than 50% Germanic Y-chromosomes.^[47][48]

The economic prosperity of England has also made it a destination for economic migrants from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This was particularly true during the Industrial Revolution.

Since the fall of the British Empire, many denizens of former colonies have migrated to Britain including the Indian sub-continent and the British Caribbean. A BBC-published report of the 2001 census, by the Institute for Public Policy Research stated that the vast majority of immigrants settled in London and the South East of England. The largest groups of residents born in other countries were from the Republic of Ireland, India, Pakistan, Germany, and the Caribbean. Although Germany was high on the list, this was mainly the result of children being born to British forces personnel stationed in that country.^[49]

About half the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to foreign-born immigration. In 2004 the number of people who became British citizens rose to a record 140,795—a rise of 12% on the previous year. The number had risen dramatically since 2000. The overwhelming majority of new citizens come from Africa (32%) and Asia (40%), the largest two groups being people from India and Pakistan.^[50] One in five babies in the UK are born to immigrant mothers, according to official statistics released in 2007. 21.9% of all births in the UK in 2006 were to mothers born outside the United Kingdom compared with just 12.8% in 1995.^[51]

In 2006, an estimated 591,000 migrants^[52][53] arrived to live in the UK for at least a year, while 400,000 people emigrated from the UK for a year or more, with Australia, Spain, France, New Zealand and the U.S. most popular destinations.^[54][55][56] Largest group of arrivals were people from the Indian subcontinent who accounted for two-thirds of net immigration, mainly fuelled by family reunion.^[57] One in six were from Eastern European countries. They were outnumbered by immigrants from New Commonwealth countries.^[58]

The European Union allows free movement between the member states. While France and Germany put in place controls to curb Eastern European migration, the UK and Ireland did not impose restrictions. Following Poland's entry into the EU in May 2004 it is estimated that by the start of 2007 about 375,000 Poles have registered to work in the UK, although the total Polish population in the UK is believed to be 750,000. Many Poles work in seasonal occupations and a large number is likely to move back and forth including between Ireland and other EU Western nations. A quarter of Eastern European migrants, often young and well-educated, plan to stay in Britain permanently. Most of them had originally intended to go home but have changed their minds after living there.^[59]

Culture

Main articles: Culture of England, English people, and English Renaissance

England has a vast and influential culture that encompasses elements both old and new. The modern culture of England is sometimes difficult to identify and separate clearly from the culture of the wider United Kingdom, so intertwined are its composite nations. However, the traditional and historic culture of England is more clearly defined.

English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. London's British Museum, British Library and National Gallery contain some of the finest collections in the world.

The English have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Many of the most important figures in the history of modern western scientific and philosophical thought were either born in, or at one time or other resided in, England. Major English thinkers of international significance include scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, Charles Darwin and New Zealand-born Ernest Rutherford, philosophers such as John Locke, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell and Thomas Hobbes, and economists such as David Ricardo, and John Maynard Keynes. Karl Marx wrote most of his important works, including Das Kapital, while in exile in Manchester, and the team that developed the first atomic bomb began their work in England, under the wartime codename tube alloys.

Architecture

See also: List of historic houses in England and Castles in England

The dome of St. Paul's Cathedral designed by Sir Christopher Wren

England has played a significant part in the advancement of Western architecture. It is home to some of the finest mediaeval castles and forts in the world, including Warwick Castle, the Tower of London and Windsor Castle (the largest inhabited castle in the world and the oldest in continuous occupation). It is known for its numerous grand country houses, and for its many mediaeval and later churches and cathedrals.

English architects have contributed to many styles over the centuries, including Tudor architecture, English Baroque, the Georgian style and Victorian movements such as Gothic Revival. Among the best-known contemporary English architects are Norman Foster and Richard Rogers.

Cuisine

Main article: English cuisine

Although highly regarded in the Middle Ages, English cuisine later became a source of fun among Britain's French and European neighbours, being viewed until the late 20th century as crude and unsophisticated by comparison with continental tastes. However, with the influx of non-European immigrants (particularly those of south and east Asian origins) from the 1950s onwards, the English diet was transformed. Indian and Chinese cuisine in particular were absorbed into British culinary life, with restaurants and takeaways appearing in almost every town in Britain, and 'going for an Indian' becoming a regular part of British social life. A distinct hybrid food style composed of dishes of Asian origin, but adapted to British tastes, emerged and was subsequently exported to other parts of the world. Many of the well-known Indian dishes in the western world, such as Tikka Masala and Balti, are in fact dishes of this sort.

Dishes forming part of the old tradition of English food include:

Engineering and innovation

See also: Category:English inventors and Category:English inventions

As birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, England was home to many significant inventors during the late 18th and early 19th century. Famous English engineers include Isambard Kingdom Brunel, best known for the creation of the Great Western Railway, a series of famous steamships, and numerous important bridges, hence revolutionising public transport and modern-day engineering.

Other notable English figures in the fields of engineering and innovation include:

• Richard Arkwright – inventor of the first industrial spinning machine
• Charles Babbage – inventor of the first computer (in the 19th century)
• Tim Berners-Lee – inventor of the World Wide Web, http, html, and many of the other technologies on which the Web is based
• James Blundell – who performed the first blood transfusion
• Hubert Cecil Booth – inventor of the Vacuum cleaner
• Edwin Beard Budding – inventor of the lawnmower
• George Cayley – inventor of the seat belt
• Christopher Cockerell – inventor of the hovercraft
• John Dalton – pioneer of atomic theory
• James Dyson – inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner
• Michael Faraday – inventor of the electric motor
• Thomas Fowler – inventor of the thermosiphon
• Robert Hooke – Hooke's law of elasticity
• E. Purnell Hooley – inventor of tarmac
• Thomas Newcomen – inventor of the first practical steam engine
• Isaac Newton – defining Universal gravitation, Newtonian mechanics, Infinitesimal calculus
• Stephen Perry – inventor of the rubber band
• Thomas Savery – inventor of the steam engine
• Percy Shaw – inventor of the "cat's eye" road safety device
• George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson – railway pioneers (father and son)
• Joseph Swan – developer of the light bulb
• Richard Trevithick – builder of the earliest steam locomotive
• Jethro Tull – inventor of the seed drill
• Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers – inventors of the modern computer and its associated concepts and technologies
• Frank Whittle – inventor of the jet engine
• Joseph Whitworth – inventor of many of the modern techniques and technologies of precision engineering

Folklore

Main article: English folklore

English folklore is rich and diverse. Many of the land's oldest legends share themes and sources with the Celtic folklore of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, a typical example being the legend of Herne the Hunter, which shares many similarities with the traditional Welsh legend of Gwyn ap Nudd.

Successive waves of pre-Norman invaders and settlers, from the Romans onwards, via Saxons, Jutes, Angles, Norse to the Norman Conquest have all influenced the myth and legend of England. Some tales, such as that of The Lambton Wyrm show a distinct Norse influence, while others, particularly some of the events and characters associated with the Arthurian legends show a distinct Romano-Gaulic slant.^[60]

Among the most famous English folk-tales are the legends of King Arthur, although it would be wrong to regard these stories as purely English in origin as they also concern Wales and, to a lesser extent, Ireland and Scotland. They should therefore be considered as part of the folklore of the British Isles as a whole.

Post-Norman stories include the tales of Robin Hood, which exists in many forms, and stories of other folk heroes such as Hereward the Wake and Fulk FitzWarin who, although being based on historical characters, have grown to become legends in their own right.

Literature

William Shakespeare; an English poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer of the English language, as well as one of the greatest in Western literature.^[61][62][63]

Main article: English literature

The English language has a rich and prominent literary heritage. England has produced a wealth of significant literary figures including playwrights William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Webster, as well as writers Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, George Orwell and