Search results
News about England, France, Women's Six Nations
News about New England Patriots, NFL Draft, Drake Maye
Also in the news
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. [6] The country is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers roughly 62%, and over 100 smaller adjacent islands. It has land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, and is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the ...
- Overview
- Land
- Relief
England, predominant constituent unit of the United Kingdom, occupying more than half of the island of Great Britain.
Outside the British Isles, England is often erroneously considered synonymous with the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) and even with the entire United Kingdom. Despite the political, economic, and cultural legacy that has secured the perpetuation of its name, England no longer officially exists as a governmental or political unit—unlike Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which all have varying degrees of self-government in domestic affairs. It is rare for institutions to operate for England alone. Notable exceptions are the Church of England (Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, including Northern Ireland, have separate branches of the Anglican Communion) and sports associations for cricket, rugby, and football (soccer). In many ways England has seemingly been absorbed within the larger mass of Great Britain since the Act of Union of 1707.
Laced by great rivers and small streams, England is a fertile land, and the generosity of its soil has supported a thriving agricultural economy for millennia. In the early 19th century, England became the epicentre of a worldwide Industrial Revolution and soon the world’s most industrialized country. Drawing resources from every settled continent, cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool converted raw materials into manufactured goods for a global market, while London, the country’s capital, emerged as one of the world’s preeminent cities and the hub of a political, economic, and cultural network that extended far beyond England’s shores. Today the metropolitan area of London encompasses much of southeastern England and continues to serve as the financial centre of Europe and to be a centre of innovation—particularly in popular culture.
One of the fundamental English characteristics is diversity within a small compass. No place in England is more than 75 miles (120 km) from the sea, and even the farthest points in the country are no more than a day’s journey by road or rail from London. Formed of the union of small Celtic and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during the early medieval period, England has long comprised several distinct regions, each different in dialect, economy, religion, and disposition; indeed, even today many English people identify themselves by the regions or shires from which they come—e.g., Yorkshire, the West Country, the Midlands—and retain strong ties to those regions even if they live elsewhere. Yet commonalities are more important than these differences, many of which began to disappear in the era after World War II, especially with the transformation of England from a rural into a highly urbanized society. The country’s island location has been of critical importance to the development of the English character, which fosters the seemingly contradictory qualities of candour and reserve along with conformity and eccentricity and which values social harmony and, as is true of many island countries, the good manners that ensure orderly relations in a densely populated landscape.
Britannica Quiz
Know Your UK Geography Quiz
England is bounded on the north by Scotland; on the west by the Irish Sea, Wales, and the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the English Channel; and on the east by the North Sea.
England’s topography is low in elevation but, except in the east, rarely flat. Much of it consists of rolling hillsides, with the highest elevations found in the north, northwest, and southwest. This landscape is based on complex underlying structures that form intricate patterns on England’s geologic map. The oldest sedimentary rocks and some igneous rocks (in isolated hills of granite) are in Cornwall and Devon on the southwestern peninsula, ancient volcanic rocks underlie parts of the Cumbrian Mountains, and the most recent alluvial soils cover the Fens of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk. Between these regions lie bands of sandstones and limestones of different geologic periods, many of them relicts of primeval times when large parts of central and southern England were submerged below warm seas. Geologic forces lifted and folded some of these rocks to form the spine of northern England—the Pennines, which rise to 2,930 feet (893 metres) at Cross Fell. The Cumbrian Mountains, which include the famous Lake District, reach 3,210 feet (978 metres) at Scafell Pike, the highest point in England. Slate covers most of the northern portion of the mountains, and thick beds of lava are found in the southern part. Other sedimentary layers have yielded chains of hills ranging from 965 feet (294 metres) in the North Downs to 1,083 feet (330 metres) in the Cotswolds.
The hills known as the Chilterns, the North York Moors, and the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wolds were rounded into characteristic plateaus with west-facing escarpments during three successive glacial periods of the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago). When the last ice sheet melted, the sea level rose, submerging the land bridge that had connected Great Britain with the European mainland. Deep deposits of sand, gravel, and glacial mud left by the retreating glaciers further altered the landscape. Erosion by rain, river, and tides and subsidence in parts of eastern England subsequently shaped the hills and the coastline. Plateaus of limestone, gritstone, and carboniferous strata are associated with major coalfields, some existing as outcrops on the surface.
- The Seven Sisters. While Dover’s iconic white cliffs grab the most attention, the colossal chalky walls of the Seven Sisters are a more spectacular affair, a four-mile roller-coaster of sheer white rock stretching along the Sussex shore and overlooking the waters of the English Channel.
- Oxford. Oxford lets visitors feel close to the brilliant minds and august institutions that have made this city famous across the globe. This rarefied world comes to life in the cobbled lanes and ancient quads where cycling students and eccentric academics roam.
- Cambridge. In England’s other great historic university city, Cambridge, you can tour a college, and spend time marveling at the intricate vaulting of King’s College Chapel.
- Bath. In a nation packed with pretty cities, Bath stands out as the belle of the ball. Founded by the Romans, who established the spa resort of Aquae Sulis to take advantage of the area’s hot springs, Bath hit its stride in the 18th century, when the rich industrialist Ralph Allen and architects John Wood the Elder and John Wood the Younger oversaw the city’s transformation into a model of Georgian architecture at its most refined.
3 days ago · The United Kingdom comprises the whole of the island of Great Britain —which contains England, Wales, and Scotland —as well as the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The name Britain is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. The capital is London, which is among the world’s leading commercial, financial, and ...
Apr 24, 2023 · Learn about the geography, history, and culture of England with maps and facts. See the location, outline, regions, rivers, and major cities of the country on a detailed map. Find out where England is located in the world and its physical features.
- London
- Part of England
- UK-UKE
Internet TLD. .uk [j] The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom ( UK) or Britain, [k] is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. [13] [14] It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Mar 22, 2024 · Discover England's rich history, culture and nature with these 15 suggestions, from medieval walls and stone circles to surfing and sea trains. Whether you're into art, architecture, nature or adventure, you'll find something to suit your taste in this diverse destination.
