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-English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century via the British Empire and the Commonwealth, and later via influence of the United States since the mid-20th century, it has been widely dispersed around the world, become the leading language of international discourse, and has acquired use as lingua franca in many regions. It is widely learned as a second language and used as an official language of the European Union and many Commonwealth countries, as well as in many world organizations. It is the third most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. It is the most widely spoken language across the world.
-Historically, English originated from the fusion of languages and dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to the eastern coast of Great Britain by Germanic (Anglo-Saxon) settlers by the 5th century – with the word English being derived from the name of the Angles, and ultimately from their ancestral region of Angeln (in what is now Schleswig-Holstein). A significant number of English words are constructed based on roots from Latin, because Latin in some form was the lingua franca of the Christian Church and of European intellectual life. The language was further influenced by the Old Norse language due to Viking invasions in the 8th and 9th centuries.
-The Norman conquest of England in the 11th century gave rise to heavy borrowings from Norman-French, and vocabulary and spelling conventions began to give the superficial appearance of a close relationship with Romance languages to what had now become Middle English. The Great Vowel Shift that began in the south of England in the 15th century is one of the historical events that mark the emergence of Modern English from Middle English.
-Owing to the significant assimilation of various European languages throughout history, modern English contains a very large vocabulary. The Oxford English Dictionary lists over 250,000 distinct words, not including many technical or slang terms, or words that belong to multiple word classes.
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-Significance
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-See also: English-speaking world and Anglosphere
-Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca, is the dominant language or in some instances even the required international language of communications, science, information technology, business, seafaring, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy. Its spread beyond the British Isles began with the growth of the British Empire, and by the late 19th century its reach was truly global . Following British colonisation from the 16th to 19th centuries, it became the dominant language in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The growing economic and cultural influence of the US and its status as a global superpower since World War II have significantly accelerated the language's spread across the planet. English replaced German as the dominant language of science Nobel Prize laureates during the second half of the 20th century (compare the Evolution of Nobel Prizes by country). English equalled and may have surpassed French as the dominant language of diplomacy during the last half of the 19th century.
-A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine and computing; as a consequence over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level (see English language learning and teaching). It is one of six official languages of the United Nations.
-One impact of the growth of English is the reduction of native linguistic diversity in many parts of the world. Its influence continues to play an important role in language attrition. Conversely, the natural internal variety of English along with creoles and pidgins have the potential to produce new distinct languages from English over time.
-History
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-Main article: History of the English language
-English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian and Old Saxon dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of what is now northwest Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. Up to that point, in Roman Britain the native population is assumed to have spoken the Celtic language Brythonic alongside the acrolectal influence of Latin, from the 400-year Roman occupation.
-One of these incoming Germanic tribes was the Angles, whom Bede believed to have relocated entirely to Britain. The names 'England' (from Engla land "Land of the Angles") and English (Old English Englisc) are derived from the name of this tribe—but Saxons, Jutes and a range of Germanic peoples from the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland and Southern Sweden also moved to Britain in this era.
-Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting the varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Great Britain but one of these dialects, Late West Saxon, eventually came to dominate, and it is in this that the poem Beowulf is written.
-Old English was later transformed by two waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of the North Germanic language branch when Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ivar the Boneless started the conquering and colonisation of northern parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries (see Danelaw). The second was by speakers of the Romance language Old Norman in the 11th century with the Norman conquest of England. Norman developed into Anglo-Norman, and then Anglo-French – and introduced a layer of words especially via the courts and government. As well as extending the lexicon with Scandinavian and Norman words these two events also simplified the grammar and transformed English into a borrowing language—more than normally open to accept new words from other languages.
-The linguistic shifts in English following the Norman invasion produced what is now referred to as Middle English, with Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales being the best known work.
-Throughout all this period Latin in some form was the lingua franca of European intellectual life, first the Medieval Latin of the Christian Church, but later the humanist Renaissance Latin, and those that wrote or copied texts in Latin commonly coined new terms from Latin to refer to things or concepts for which there was no existing native English word.
-Modern English, which includes the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, is generally dated from about 1550, and when the United Kingdom became a colonial power, English served as the lingua franca of the colonies of the British Empire. In the post-colonial period, some of the newly created nations which had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the lingua franca to avoid the political difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. As a result of the growth of the British Empire, English was adopted in North America, India, Africa, Australia and many other regions, a trend extended with the emergence of the United States as a superpower in the mid-20th century.
-Classification and related languages
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-The English language belongs to the Anglo-Frisian sub-group of the West Germanic branch of the Germanic family, a member of the Indo-European languages. Modern English is the direct descendant of Middle English, itself a direct descendant of Old English, a descendant of Proto-Germanic. Typical of most Germanic languages, English is characterised by the use of modal verbs, the division of verbs into strong and weak classes, and common sound shifts from Proto-Indo-European known as Grimm's Law. The closest living relatives of English are the Scots language (spoken primarily in Scotland and parts of Ireland) and Frisian (spoken on the southern fringes of the North Sea in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany).
-After Scots and Frisian come those Germanic languages that are more distantly related: the non-Anglo-Frisian West Germanic languages (Dutch, Afrikaans, Low German, High German), and the North Germanic languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese). With the (partial) exception of Scots, none of the other languages is mutually intelligible with English, owing in part to the divergences in lexis, syntax, semantics, and phonology, and to the isolation afforded to the English language by the British Isles, although some, such as Dutch, do show strong affinities with English, especially to earlier stages of the language. Isolation has allowed English and Scots (as well as Icelandic and Faroese) to develop independently of the Continental Germanic languages and their influences over time.
-In addition to isolation, lexical differences between English and other Germanic languages exist due to heavy borrowing in English of words from Latin and French. For example, compare "exit" (Latin), vs. Dutch uitgang, literally "out-going" (though outgang survives dialectally in restricted usage) and "change" (French) vs. German Änderung (literally "alteration, othering"); "movement" (French) vs. German Bewegung ("be-way-ing", i.e. "proceeding along the way"); etc. Preference of one synonym over another also causes differentiation in lexis, even where both words are Germanic, as in English care vs. German Sorge. Both words descend from Proto-Germanic *karō and *surgō respectively, but *karō has become the dominant word in English for "care" while in German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages, the *surgō root prevailed. *Surgō still survives in English, however, as sorrow.
-Despite lexical borrowing, English retains its classification as a Germanic language due to its structure and grammar. Non-native words are incorporated into a Germanic system of conjugation, declension, and syntax (For example, the word reduce is borrowed from Latin redūcere; however, in English we say "I reduce - I reduced - I will reduce" rather than "redūcō - redūxī - redūcam"; likewise, we say: "John's life insurance company" rather than "the company of insurance life of John", cf. the French: la compagnie d'assurance-vie de John). Furthermore, in English, all basic grammatical particles added to nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are Germanic. For nouns, these include the normal plural marker -s/-es, and the possessive markers -'s and -s' . For verbs, these include the third person present ending -s/-es (e.g. he stands/he reaches ), the present participle ending -ing, the simple past tense and past participle ending -ed, and the formation of the English infinitive using to (e.g. "to drive"; cf. Old English tō drīfenne). Adverbs generally receive an -ly ending, and adjectives and adverbs are inflected for the comparative and superlative using -er and -est (e.g. fast/faster/fastest), or through a combination with more and most. These particles append freely to all English words regardless of origin (tsunamis; communicates; to buccaneer; during; calmer; bizarrely) and all derive from Old English. Even the lack or absence of affixes, known as zero or null (-Ø) affixes, derive from endings which previously existed in Old English (usually -e, -a, -u, -o, -an, etc.), that later weakened to -e, and have since ceased to be pronounced and spelt (e.g. Modern English "I sing" = I sing-Ø < I singe < Old English ic singe; "we thought" = we thought-Ø < we thoughte(n) < Old English wē þōhton).
-Although the syntax of English is somewhat different from that of other West Germanic languages with regards to the placement and order of verbs (for example, "I have never seen anything in the square" = German Ich habe nie etwas auf dem Platz gesehen, and the Dutch Ik heb nooit iets op het plein gezien, where the participle is placed at the end), English syntax continues to adhere closely to that of the North Germanic languages, which are believed to have influenced English syntax during the Middle English Period (e.g., Danish Jeg har aldrig set noget på torvet; Icelandic Ég hef aldrei séð neitt á torginu). As in most Germanic languages, English adjectives usually come before the noun they modify, even when the adjective is of Latinate origin (e.g. medical emergency, national treasure). Also, English continues to make extensive use of self-explaining compounds (e.g. streetcar, classroom), and nouns which serve as modifiers (e.g. lamp post, life insurance company), traits inherited from Old English (See also Kenning).
-The kinship with other Germanic languages can also be seen in the tensing of English verbs (e.g. English fall/fell/fallen/will or shall fall, West Frisian fal/foel/fallen/sil falle, Dutch vallen/viel/gevallen/zullen vallen, German fallen/fiell/gefallen/werden fallen), the comparatives of adjectives and adverbs (e.g. English good/better/best, West Frisian goed/better/best, Dutch goed/beter/best, German gut/besser/best), the treatment of nouns (English shoemaker, shoemaker's, shoemakers, shoemakers'; Dutch schoenmaker, schoenmakers, schoenmakers, schoenmakeren; Swedish skomaker, skomakers, skomakere, skomakere), and the large amount of cognates (e.g. English wet, Scots weet, West Frisian wiet, Swedish våt; English send, Dutch zenden, German senden; English meaning, Swedish mening, Icelandic meining, etc.). It also gives rise to false friends (e.g. English time vs Norwegian time, meaning "hour"; English gift vs German Gift, meaning "poison"), while differences in phonology can obscure words that really are related (tooth vs. German Zahn; compare also Danish tand). Sometimes both semantics and phonology are different (German Zeit ("time") is related to English "tide", but the English word, through a transitional phase of meaning "period"/"interval", has come primarily to mean gravitational effects on the ocean by the moon, though the original meaning is preserved in forms like tidings and betide, and phrases such as to tide over).[citation needed]
-Many North Germanic words entered English due to the settlement of Viking raiders and Danish invasions which began around the 9th century (see Danelaw). Many of these words are common words, often mistaken for being native, which shows how close-knit the relations between the English and the Scandinavian settlers were (See below: Old Norse origins). Dutch and Low German also had a considerable influence on English vocabulary, contributing common everyday terms and many nautical and trading terms (See below: Dutch and Low German origins).
-Finally, English has been forming compound words and affixing existing words separately from the other Germanic languages for over 1500 years and has different habits in that regard. For instance, abstract nouns in English may be formed from native words by the suffixes "‑hood", "-ship", "-dom" and "-ness". All of these have cognate suffixes in most or all other Germanic languages, but their usage patterns have diverged, as German "Freiheit" vs. English "freedom" (the suffix "-heit" being cognate of English "-hood", while English "-dom" is cognate with German "-tum"). The Germanic languages Icelandic and Faroese also follow English in this respect, since, like English, they developed independent of German influences.
-Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker, especially when they are seen in writing (as pronunciations are often quite different), because English absorbed a large vocabulary from Norman and French, via Anglo-Norman after the Norman Conquest, and directly from French in subsequent centuries. As a result, a large portion of English vocabulary is derived from French, with some minor spelling differences (e.g. inflectional endings, use of old French spellings, lack of diacritics, etc.), as well as occasional divergences in meaning of so-called false friends: for example, compare "library" with the French librairie, which means bookstore; in French, the word for "library" is bibliothèque. The pronunciation of most French loanwords in English (with the exception of a handful of more recently borrowed words such as mirage, genre, café; or phrases like coup d’état, rendez-vous, etc.) has become largely anglicised and follows a typically English phonology and pattern of stress (compare English "nature" vs. French nature, "button" vs. bouton, "table" vs. table, "hour" vs. heure, "reside" vs. résider, etc.).
-Geographical distribution
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-See also: List of countries by English-speaking population
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-Pie chart showing the relative numbers of native English speakers in the major English-speaking countries of the world
-Approximately 375 million people speak English as their first language. English today is probably the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though possibly second to a combination of the Chinese languages (depending on whether or not distinctions in the latter are classified as "languages" or "dialects").
-Estimates that include second language speakers vary greatly from 470 million to over a billion depending on how literacy or mastery is defined and measured. Linguistics professor David Crystal calculates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1.
-The countries with the highest populations of native English speakers are, in descending order: United States (215 million), United Kingdom (61 million), Canada (18.2 million), Australia (15.5 million), Nigeria (4 million), Ireland (3.8 million), South Africa (3.7 million), and New Zealand (3.6 million) 2006 Census.
-Countries such as the Philippines, Jamaica and Nigeria also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to a more standard version of English. Of those nations where English is spoken as a second language, India has the most such speakers ('Indian English'). Crystal claims that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world.
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-Countries where English is a major language
-English is the primary language in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Guyana, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Singapore, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
-In some countries where English is not the most spoken language, it is an official language; these countries include Botswana, Cameroon, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines (Philippine English), Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
-It is also one of the 11 official languages that are given equal status in South Africa (South African English). English is also the official language in current dependent territories of Australia (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and Cocos Island) and of the United States (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands), and the former British colony of Hong Kong. (See List of countries where English is an official language for more details.)
-English is not an official language in the United States. Although the United States federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments. Although falling short of official status, English is also an important language in several former colonies and protectorates of the United Kingdom, such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cyprus, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates.
-English as a global language
-See also: English in computing, International English, World language, and English as a foreign or second language
-Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language. Some linguists believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural property of "native English speakers", but is rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures worldwide as it continues to grow. It is, by international treaty, the official language for aerial and maritime communications. English is an official language of the United Nations and many other international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee.
-English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the European Union, by 89% of schoolchildren, ahead of French at 32%, while the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages amongst Europeans is 68% in favour of English ahead of 25% for French. Among some non-English speaking EU countries, a large percentage of the adult population can converse in English – in particular: 85% in Sweden, 83% in Denmark, 79% in the Netherlands, 66% in Luxembourg and over 50% in Finland, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, and Germany.
-Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries.
-This increasing use of the English language globally has had a large impact on many other languages, leading to language shift and even language death, and to claims of linguistic imperialism. English itself is now open to language shift as multiple regional varieties feed back into the language as a whole.
-Dialects and regional varieties
-Main article: List of dialects of the English language
-The expansion of the British Empire and—since World War II—the influence of the United States have spread English around the world. Because of that global spread, English has developed a host of English dialects and English-based creole languages and pidgins.
-Several educated native dialects of English have wide acceptance as standards in much of the world,. In the United Kingdom much emphasis is placed on Received Pronunciation, an educated dialect of South East England. General American, which is spread over most of the United States and much of Canada, is more typically the model for the American continents and areas (such as the Philippines) that have had either close association with the United States, or a desire to be so identified. In Oceania, the major native dialect of Australian English is spoken as a first language by the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Australian continent, with General Australian serving as the standard accent. The English of neighbouring New Zealand as well as that of South Africa have to a lesser degree been influential native varieties of the language.
-Aside from these major dialects, there are numerous other varieties of English, which include, in most cases, several subvarieties, such as Cockney, Scouse and Geordie within British English; Newfoundland English within Canadian English; and African American Vernacular English ("Ebonics") and Southern American English within American English. English is a pluricentric language, without a central language authority like France's Académie française; and therefore no one variety is considered "correct" or "incorrect" except in terms of the expectations of the particular audience to which the language is directed.
-Scots has its origins in early Northern Middle English and developed and changed during its history with influence from other sources, but following the Acts of Union 1707 a process of language attrition began, whereby successive generations adopted more and more features from Standard English, causing dialectalisation. Whether it is now a separate language or a dialect of English better described as Scottish English is in dispute, although the UK government now accepts Scots as a regional language and has recognised it as such under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. There are a number of regional dialects of Scots, and pronunciation, grammar and lexis of the traditional forms differ, sometimes substantially, from other varieties of English.
-English speakers have many different accents, which often signal the speaker's native dialect or language. For the most distinctive characteristics of regional accents, see Regional accents of English, and for a complete list of regional dialects, see List of dialects of the English language. Within England, variation is now largely confined to pronunciation rather than grammar or vocabulary. At the time of the Survey of English Dialects, grammar and vocabulary differed across the country, but a process of lexical attrition has led most of this variation to die out.
-Just as English itself has borrowed words from many different languages over its history, English loanwords now appear in many languages around the world, indicative of the technological and cultural influence of its speakers. Several pidgins and creole languages have been formed on an English base, such as Jamaican Patois, Nigerian Pidgin, and Tok Pisin. There are many words in English coined to describe forms of particular non-English languages that contain a very high proportion of English words.
-Constructed varieties of English
-Basic English is simplified for easy international use. Manufacturers and other international businesses tend to write manuals and communicate in Basic English. Some English schools in Asia teach it as a practical subset of English for use by beginners.
-E-Prime excludes forms of the verb to be.
-English reform is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language.
-Manually Coded English constitutes a variety of systems that have been developed to represent the English language with hand signals, designed primarily for use in deaf education. These should not be confused with true sign languages such as British Sign Language and American Sign Language used in Anglophone countries, which are independent and not based on English.
-Seaspeak and the related Airspeak and Policespeak, all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by Edward Johnson in the 1980s to aid international cooperation and communication in specific areas. There is also a tunnelspeak for use in the Channel Tunnel.
-Simplified Technical English was historically developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals and is now used in various industries.
-Special English is a simplified version of English used by the Voice of America. It uses a vocabulary of only 1500 words.
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+'''England'''  is a  that is  the . It shares land borders with  to the north and  to the west; the  is to the north west, the  to the south west, with the  to the east and the  to the south separating it from . Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of  in the . The country also includes  such as the  and the .
+
+The area now called England was first inhabited by modern  during the  period, but it takes its name from the , one of the  tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the , which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The , the , and —the basis for the  s of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's  of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The  began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first  nation. England's  laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
+
+England's terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north (for example, the mountainous , , and ) and in the south west (for example,  and the ). , England's , is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the  by most measures.  is about 51 million, around 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, and is largely concentrated in London, the  and s in the , the , the  and , which each developed as major s during the 19th century. Meadowlands and pastures are found beyond the major cities.
+
+The —which  included Wales—was a sovereign state until 1 May 1707, when the  put into effect the terms agreed in the  the previous year, resulting in a  with the  to create the new .William E. Burns, ''A Brief History of Great Britain'',  parliament.uk, accessed 27 January 2011 In 1801, Great Britain was united with the  through another  to become the . In 1922, the  was established as a separate , but the  reincorporated into the kingdom six Irish counties to officially create the current .
+
+
+== Toponymy ==
+
+The name "England" is derived from the  name ''Engla land'', which means "land of the ". The Angles were one of the  that settled in Great Britain during the . The Angles came from the  peninsula in the  area of the .. According to the '''', the first known use of "England" to refer to the southern part of the island of Great Britain occurs in 897, and its modern spelling was first used in 1538.
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+The earliest attested mention of the name occurs in the 1st century work by , '''', in which the  word ''Anglii'' 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 , 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. It may be worth noting that in , another language which developed on the island of Great Britain, it was the dominant Saxon tribe who gave their name to the word for 'England' ("Sasunn"). 
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+An alternative name for England is . The name ''Albion'' originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The earliest record of the name appears in the  , specifically the 4th century BC ''De Mundo'':. "Beyond the  is the ocean that flows round the earth. In it are two very large islands called Britannia; these are  and ". The word '''' (Ἀλβίων) or ''insula Albionum'' has two possible origins. It either derives from a cognate of the Latin ''albus'' meaning white, a reference to the , the only part of Britain visible from the European Continent,. or from the phrase in '''', the "island of the ''Albiones''".. ''Albion'' is now applied to England in a more poetic capacity.. Another romantic name for England is , related to the  word for England, ''Lloegr'', and made popular by its use in .
+
+== History ==
+
+
+=== Prehistory and antiquity ===
+
+, a  monument]]
+The earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of '''', dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago. Modern s are known to have first inhabited the area during the  period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years.
+After the last  only large mammals such as s,  and  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 .. The sea level was lower than now, and Britain was connected by land to both Ireland and .
+As the seas rose, it was separated from Ireland 10,000 years ago and from Eurasia two millennia later.
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+The  arrived around 2500 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  monuments such as  and  were constructed. By heating together tin and copper, both of which were in abundance in the area, the Beaker culture people made , and later  from s. The development of iron  allowed the construction of better s, advancing agriculture (for instance, with s), as well as the production of more effective weapons.
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+According to  and others, England in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the  that included the whole of the British Isles and much of what we now regard as France together with the Iberian Peninsula.  developed in those areas;  may have been the earliest written Celtic language.
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+ led an uprising against the .]]
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+During the , , deriving from the  and s, arrived from Central Europe.  was the spoken language during this time. Society was tribal; according to 's '''' there were around 20 different tribes in the area. However, 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  attempted to  in 55 BC; although largely unsuccessful, he managed to set up a  from the .
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+The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 during the reign of Emperor , subsequently , and the area was incorporated into the Roman Empire as . The best-known of the native tribes who attempted to resist were the  led by . Later, an uprising led by , Queen of the , ended with Boudica's suicide following her defeat at the . This era saw a  culture prevail with the introduction of , , sewage systems, many agricultural items, and silk. In the 3rd century, Emperor  died at  ''(modern-day )'', where  was subsequently proclaimed emperor..
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+There is debate about when Christianity was first introduced; it was no later than the 4th century, with probability lying much earlier. According to , missionaries were sent from  by  at the request of the chieftain  in AD 180 to settle controverted points of differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials which were disturbing the church. There are, however, traditions linked to Glastonbury claiming an introduction through , while others claim through .. By 410, as the Empire , Britain was left exposed by the , to defend the frontiers in continental Europe and partake in civil wars.
+
+=== Middle Ages ===
+
+, found at .]]
+Roman military withdrawals left Britain open to invasion by pagan, seafaring warriors from north-western continental Europe, chiefly the ,  and  who had long raided the coasts of the Roman province and now began to settle, initially in the eastern part of the country. Their advance was contained for some decades after the Britons' victory at the , but subsequently resumed, over-running the fertile lowlands of Britain and reducing the area under  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 . The nature and progression of the  is consequently subject to considerable disagreement. Christianity had in general disappeared from the conquered territories, but was reintroduced by missionaries from Rome led by  from 597 onwards and by Irish missionaries led by  around the same time. Disputes between the varying influences represented by these missions ended in victory for the Roman tradition.
+
+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 , , , , ,  and . 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  culminated in the conquest of the north and east of England, overthrowing the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. Wessex under  was left as the only surviving English kingdom, and under his successors it steadily expanded at the expense of the kingdoms of the . This brought about the political unification of England, first accomplished under  in 927 and definitively established after further conflicts by  in 953. A fresh wave of n attacks from the late 10th century ended with the conquest of this united kingdom by  in 1013 and again by his son  in 1016, turning it into the centre of a short-lived  empire that also included  and . However the native royal dynasty was restored with the accession of  in 1042.
+
+ at the , fought on  and concluded with an English victory against a larger French army in the .]]
+A dispute over the succession to Edward led to the  in 1066, accomplished by an army led by . The  themselves originated from  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 .
+
+The  from Anjou inherited the English throne under , adding England to the budding  of fiefs the family had inherited in France including .. They reigned for three centuries, proving noted monarchs such as , ,  and . The period saw changes in trade and legislation, including the signing of the '''', an English legal charter used to limit the sovereign's powers by law and protect the privileges of freemen. Catholic  flourished, providing philosophers and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were founded with royal patronage. The  became a Plantagenet fief during the 13th century and the  was gifted to the English monarchy by the .
+
+During the 14th century, the Plantagenets and  both claimed to be legitimate claimants to  and with it France—the two powers clashed in the .. The  epidemic , starting in 1348, it eventually killed up to half of England's ... From 1453 to 1487 civil war between two branches of the royal family occurred—the  and —known as the .. Eventually it led to the Yorkists losing the throne entirely to a Welsh noble family the , a branch of the Lancastrians headed by  who invaded with Welsh and Breton mercenaries, gaining victory at the  where the Yorkist king  was killed.
+
+=== Early Modern ===
+ became .]]
+During the , the  reached England through Italian courtiers, who reintroduced artistic, educational and scholarly debate from classical antiquity. During this time England began to develop , and exploration to the West intensified.
+
+ broke from communion with the Catholic Church, over issues relating to divorce, under the  in 1534 which proclaimed the monarch head of the . In contrast with much of European Protestantism, the  were more political than theological..|group=note}} He also legally incorporated his ancestral land Wales into the Kingdom of England with the . There were internal religious conflicts during the reigns of Henry's daughters,  and . The former brought the country back to Catholicism, while the later broke from it again, more forcefully asserting the supremacy of .
+
+An English fleet under  defeated an invading  during the . Competing with , the first English colony in the  was founded in 1585 by explorer  in  and named . 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 , England also competed with the  and  in the East. The political structure of the island was changed in 1603, when the  , a kingdom which was a longtime rival, inherited the throne of England as —creating a  .. He styled himself , although this had no basis in English law.
+
+ restored the monarchy under King  and peace after the .]]
+Based on conflicting political, religious and social positions, the  was fought between the supporters of  and those of King , known as s and s respectively. This was an interwoven part of the wider multifaceted , involving  and . The Parliamentarians were victorious, Charles I was executed and the kingdom replaced with the . Leader of the Parliament forces,  declared himself  in 1653, a period of  followed. After Cromwell's death, and his son  resignation as Lord Protector,  was invited to return as monarch in 1660 with the . It was now constitutionally established that King and Parliament should rule together, though Parliament would have the real power. This was established with the  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, and the King could not impose taxes or raise an army without prior approval by Parliament. With the founding of the  in 1660, science was greatly encouraged.
+
+The  in 1666 gutted the City of London but it was rebuilt shortly afterwards. In Parliament two factions had emerged—the  and . The former were royalists while the latter were classical liberals. Though the Tories initially supported Catholic king , some of them, along with the Whigs, deposed him in the  and invited Dutch prince  to become monarch. Some English people, especially in the north, were  and continued to support James and his sons. After the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed, the two countries joined in , to create the  in 1707. To accommodate the union, institutions such as the law and national church of each remained separate..
+
+=== Late Modern and contemporary ===
+, , is a model mill town from the , and a .]]
+Under the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain, output from the Royal Society and other  combined with the  to create innovations in science and engineering. This paved the way for the establishment of the . Domestically it drove the , a period of profound change in the  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  in 1761 ushered in the .. In 1825 the world's first permanent steam locomotive-hauled passenger railway—the —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  and , dubbed "Warehouse City" and "Workshop of the World" respectively.. England maintained relative stability throughout the ;  was British Prime Minister for the reign of . During the ,  planned to . However this failed to manifest and the Napoleonic forces were defeated by the British at sea by  and on land by the . The Napoleonic Wars fostered a concept of  and a united national , shared with the  and Welsh..
+
+ is a memorial to members of the  who died during the two World Wars.]]
+London became the largest and most populous metropolitan area in the world during the , and trade within the British Empire—as well as the standing of the British military and navy—was prestigious. Political agitation at home from radicals such as the  and the s enabled legislative reform and . 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 .|group=note}} Two decades later, in , the United Kingdom was again one of the . At the end of the ,  became the wartime Prime Minister. Developments in warfare technology saw many cities damaged by air-raids during . Following the war, the British Empire experienced rapid , and there was a speeding up of technological innovations; s became the primary means of transport and 's development of the  led to wider . Residential patterns were altered in England by private motoring, and by the creation of the  (NHS) in 1948. England's NHS provided  to all UK permanent residents free at the point of need, being paid for from general taxation. Combined, these changes prompted the reform of  in the mid-20th century..
+
+Since the 20th century there has been significant population movement to England, mostly from other parts of the , but also from the , particularly the .. Since the 1970s there has been a large move away from  and an increasing emphasis on the . As part of the United Kingdom, the area joined a  initiative called the  which became the . Since the late 20th century the  has moved towards  in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  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 ===
+
+, the seat of the ]]
+As part of the United Kingdom, the basic political system in England is a  and . There has not been a  since 1707, when the , putting into effect the terms of the , joined England and Scotland to form the . Before the union England was ruled by  and the . Today England is governed directly by the , although other  have  governments. In the  which is the  of the British Parliament based at the , there are 532 Members of Parliament (MPs) for constituencies in England, out of the 650 total.
+
+In the  the  had won an absolute majority in England's 532 contested seats with 61 seats more than all other parties combined (the  not being counted as a Conservative). However, taking Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales into account this was not enough to secure an overall majority, resulting in a . In order to achieve a majority the Conservative party, headed by , entered into a coalition agreement with the third largest party, the , led by . Subsequently the  leader,  was forced to step down as prime minister and leader of the Labour party, now led by .
+
+ at the , ]]
+As the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, there are elections held regionally in England to decide who is sent as . The  saw the regions of England elect the following MEPs: 23 Conservatives, ten Labour, nine  (UKIP), nine Liberal Democrats, two  and two  (BNP).
+
+Since , in which other countries of the United Kingdom—Scotland, Wales and —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  would be devolved, but following the proposal's rejection by the  in a referendum, this has not been carried out.
+
+One major issue is the , 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 , has led to a steady rise in . Some have suggested the creation of a , while others have proposed simply limiting voting on legislation which only affects England to English MPs.
+
+
+=== Law ===
+
+]]
+The  legal system, developed over the centuries, is the basis of  legal systems used in most  countries and the  (except ). Despite now being part of the United Kingdom, the legal system of the  continued, under the , 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 s, applying their common sense and knowledge of —''''—to the facts before them..
+
+The  is headed by the Supreme Court of Judicature, consisting of the , the  for civil cases, and the  for criminal cases.. The  is the highest court for criminal and civil cases in . It was created in 2009 after constitutional changes, taking over the  of the . A decision of the Supreme Court is binding on every other court in the hierarchy, which must follow its directions..
+
+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 the  in Western Europe at 147 per 100,000. , reporting to the , manages most , housing over 80,000 convicts.
+
+=== Regions, counties, and districts ===
+
+
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+
+The  consist of up to four levels of  controlled through a variety of types of administrative entities created for the purposes of . The highest tier of local government were the nine : , , , , , , , , and . These were created in 1994 as s, used by the British 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. The same boundaries remain in use for electing  on a regional basis.
+
+After  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  as a counterweight.  in 1998: the  was created two years later. However, when the proposal was rejected by the  in the North East, further referendums were cancelled. The regional assemblies outside London were abolished in 2010, and their functions transferred to respective  and a new system of s.
+
+Below the regional level, all of England is divided into 48 . These are used primarily as a geographical frame of reference and have developed gradually since the , with some established as recently as 1974.. Each has a  and ; these posts are used to represent the  locally. Outside  and the , England is also divided into 83 ; 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  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 s. Elsewhere, 27  have a  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 counties with low populations; they are known as . Greater London has a different system for local government, with 32 s, plus the  covering a small area at the core, governed by the .. At the most localised level, much of England is divided into es with ; they do not exist in Greater London..
+
+== Geography ==
+
+
+=== Landscape and rivers ===
+ in the ]]
+Geographically England includes the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus such offshore islands as the  and the . It is bordered by two other countries of the United Kingdom— by Scotland and  by Wales. England is closer to the European continent than any other part of mainland Britain. It is separated from  by a  sea gap, though the two countries are connected by the  near . England also has shores on the ,  and .
+
+The ports of London, , and  lie on the tidal rivers ,  and  respectively. At , the  is the longest river flowing through England. It empties into the  and is notable for its  tidal waves, which can reach  in height. However, the longest river entirely in England is the Thames, which is  in length. There are many ; the largest is , within the aptly named .
+
+, ]]
+In geological terms, the , known as the "backbone of England", are the oldest range of mountains in the country, originating from the end of the  around 300 million years ago. Their geological composition includes, among others,  and , and also . There are  landscapes in calcite areas such as parts of Yorkshire and . The Pennine landscape is high  in upland areas, indented by fertile valleys of the region's rivers. They contain three , the , , and the . The highest point in England, at , is  in Cumbria. Straddling the border between England and Scotland are the .
+
+The  are to the south of the Pennines, consisting of green rolling hills, including the , ,  and —where they meet the sea they form white rock exposures such as the . The granite Southwest Peninsula in the  includes upland moorland, such as  and , and enjoys a ; both are national parks.
+
+
+=== Climate ===
+
+England has a  : 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 , 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  and the warming of the sea by the . Rainfall is higher in the west, and parts of the  receive more rain than anywhere else in the country. Since weather records began, the highest temperature recorded was  on 10 August 2003 at  in , while the lowest was  on 10 January 1982 in , .
+
+
+=== Major conurbations ===
+
+The  is by far the largest metropolitan area in England and one of the busiest cities in the world. It is considered a  and has a population larger than other countries in the United Kingdom besides England itself. Other urban areas of considerable size and influence tend to be in  or the . There are  which have been designated , while the wider United Kingdom has sixty-six.
+
+While many cities in England are quite large in size, such as , , , , , , ,  and others, a large population is not necessarily a prerequisite for a settlement to be afforded city status. Traditionally the status was afforded to towns with  and so there are smaller cities like , , ,  and . According to the  the ten largest, continuous built-up urban areas are:
+
+
+== Economy ==
+
+ is the world's largest .]]
+England's economy is one of the largest in the world, with an average  of £22,907. Usually regarded as a , it has adopted many  principles, yet maintains an advanced social welfare infrastructure. The official currency in England is the , whose  code is GBP.  is quite competitive when  to much of the rest of Europe—as of 2009 the basic rate of personal tax is 20% on taxable income up to £37,400, and 40% on any additional earnings above that amount.
+
+The economy of England is the largest part of the , which has the  highest GDP  per capita in the world. England is a leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors and in key technical industries, particularly , the , and the manufacturing side of the . London, home to the , the United Kingdom's main  and the largest in Europe, is England's financial centre—100 of Europe's 500 largest corporations are based in London. London is the largest financial centre in Europe, and  is also the largest in the world.
+
+.  is a well-known English car company.]]
+The , founded in 1694 by Scottish banker , is the United Kingdom's . Originally established as private banker to the Government of England, since 1946 it has been a . The Bank has a  on the issue of banknotes in , although not in other parts of the United Kingdom. The government has devolved responsibility to the Bank's  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  industries, and an increasing emphasis on a more  oriented economy..  has become a significant industry, attracting millions of visitors to England each year. The  part of the economy is dominated by , —although many English s are now foreign-owned, such as , ,  and — and petroleum from the English parts of  along with , s and s.  is intensive and highly mechanised, 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.
+
+=== Science and technology ===
+
+ is one of the most influential figures in the .]]
+Prominent English figures from the field of science and mathematics include Sir , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  and . Some experts claim that the earliest concept of a  was invented by , the first secretary of the , in 1668. As the birthplace of the , England was home to many significant inventors during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Famous English engineers include , best known for the creation of the , a series of famous s, and numerous important bridges, hence revolutionising public transport and modern-day engineering. 's  helped spawn the Industrial Revolution. The physician 's  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 , the first industrial ,  and the first , the  along with , the first successful human , the motorised , the , the , the , the , s, and theories such as the Darwinian theory of  and . Newton developed the ideas of , , and , and  his eponymously named . Other inventions include the iron plate , the , , the , the ,  , joint development of the , steam s, the modern  and many modern techniques and technologies used in .
+
+=== Transport ===
+
+ has more international  than any other airport in the world..]]
+
+The  is the government body responsible for overseeing transport in England. There are many , and many other trunk roads, such as the , 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 , from  through the  up to the . Other major routes include: the  from London to Leeds, the  which encircles London, the  which encircles Manchester, the  from London to South Wales, the  from Liverpool via Manchester to East Yorkshire, and the  from Birmingham to Bristol and the South West.
+
+ transport across the country is widespread; major companies include ,  and . The red es in London have become a symbol of England. There is a  network in two English cities: the ; and the  in Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland.. There are several tram networks, such as the , ,  and , and the Tramlink system centred on Croydon in South London.
+
+ 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. These lines are mostly standard gauge (,  or ) though there are also a few . There is rail transport access to France and Belgium through an undersea rail link, the , which was completed in 1994.
+
+England has extensive domestic and international  links. The largest airport is , which is the . Other large airports include , ,  and . By sea there is  transport, both local and international, including to Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium.. There are around  of navigable waterways in England, half of which is owned by  (), however water transport is very limited. The  is the major waterway in England, with imports and exports focused at the  in the Thames Estuary, one of the United Kingdom's three major ports.
+
+== Healthcare ==
+
+, an NHS hospital.]]
+
+The  (NHS) is the  in England responsible for providing the majority of healthcare in the country. The NHS began on 5 July 1948, putting into effect the provisions of the . It was based on the findings of the , prepared by economist and social reformer . The NHS is largely funded from general taxation including  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 , headed by the , who sits in the . 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. The average  of people in England is 77.5 years for males and 81.7 years for females, the highest of the four .
+
+== Demography ==
+=== Population ===
+
+ and , colour-coded to show population.]]
+With over 51 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 has the fourth largest population in the European Union and would be the 25th largest  in the world. With a density of 395 people per square kilometre, it would be the second most densely populated country in the European Union after .
+
+The  are a . Some genetic evidence suggests that 75–95% descend in the paternal line from prehistoric settlers who originally came from the , as well as a 5% contribution from  and , and a significant  element.. However, other geneticists place the Norse- estimate up to half. Over time, various cultures have been influential: , , , ,  ,  cultures, as well as a large influence from . There is an English diaspora in former parts of the British Empire; especially the United States, Canada, Australia, , South Africa and New Zealand. In Canada there are around 6.5 million  who claim . Around 70% of  in 1999 denoted their origins as , a category which includes all peoples from Great Britain and Ireland. Chileans of  are somewhat of an anomaly in that  itself was never part of the British Empire, but today there are around 420,000 people of English origins living there. |group=note}} Since the late 1990s, English people  to Spain.
+.]]
+At the time of the '''', compiled in 1086, more than 90% of the English population of about two million lived in the countryside. By 1801 the population had grown to 8.3 million, and by 1901 had grown to 30.5 million. Due in particular to the economic prosperity of , there are many economic migrants from the other parts of the United Kingdom. There has been . The proportion of ethnically European residents totals at 87.50%, including  and .
+
+Other people from much further afield in the former British colonies have arrived since the 1950s: in particular, 6.00% of people living in England have family origins in the , mostly India and . 2.90% of the population are black, mostly from the . There is a significant number of Chinese and . , 22% of primary school children in England were from  families. About half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001 was due to immigration. Debate over immigration is politically prominent; according to a  poll, 80% of people want to cap it. The  has projected that the population will grow by six million between 2004 and 2029.
+
+=== Language ===
+
+. Countries in dark blue have a majority of native speakers. Countries in light blue have English as an official language, ''de jure'' or ''de facto''. English is also one of the .]]
+
+As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today. It is an  language in the  branch of the  family.. After the , the  was displaced and confined to the lower social classes as  and  were used by the aristocracy.
+
+By the 15th century, English came back into fashion among all classes, though much changed; the  form showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the , many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins..  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 ''''.
+
+ is an important economic activity, and includes , tourism spending, and publishing. There is no  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 , and individuals with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood everywhere in the country.
+
+, which died out as a community language in the 18th century, is being revived, and is now protected under the . It is spoken by 0.1% of people in Cornwall, and is taught to some degree in several primary and secondary schools. State schools teach students a second language, usually French, German or Spanish. Due to immigration, it was reported in 2007 that around 800,000 school students spoke a foreign language at home, the most common being  and .
+
+=== Religion ===
+
+, seat of the ]]
+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. It continued through , and today about 72% of English people identify as Christians. The largest form practised in the present day is , dating from the 16th century  period, with the 1536 split from Rome over  wanting to divorce ; the religion regards itself as both Catholic and .
+
+There are  and  traditions, and some Anglicans regard themselves as , after the . The monarch of the United Kingdom is a titular leader of the Church, acting as its . It has the status of  in England. There are around 26 million adherents to the Church of England and they form part of the  with the  acting as the symbolic worldwide head. Many  and parish churches are historic buildings of significant architectural importance, such as , ,  and .
+
+, the  of England]]
+The second largest Christian practice is the  of the Catholic Church, which traces its formal, corporate history in England to the 6th century with  and was the main religion on the entire island for around a thousand years. Since its reintroduction after the , the Church has organised ecclesiastically on an  basis where there are 4.5 million members (most of whom are English). There has been one Pope from England to date, ; while saints  and  are regarded as .
+
+A form of  known as  is the third largest and grew out of Anglicanism through . It gained popularity in the s of  and , and amongst tin miners in . There are other  minorities, such as , , ,  and .
+
+The patron saint of England is ; he is represented in the national flag, as well as the Union Flag as part of a combination. There are many other English and associated saints; some of the best known include: , , , , , , , , ,  and . 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 , only to be allowed back in 1656.
+
+Especially since the 1950s, Eastern religions from the  have begun to appear, due to foreign immigration;  is the most common of these, accounting for around 3.1% in England. ,  and  are next in number, adding up to 2% combined, introduced from India and . Around 14.6% claim to have .
+
+== Education ==
+
+, the administrative centre of the ]]
+The  is the government department responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including education.. State-run and -funded schools are attended by approximately 93% of English schoolchildren.. Of these, a minority are s, primarily Church of England or Catholic. Between three and four is , 4 and 11 is primary school, and 11 to 16 is secondary school, with an option for a two-year extension to attend .
+
+Although most English secondary schools are , in some areas there are selective intake s, to which entrance is subject to passing the . Around 7.2% of English schoolchildren attend , which are funded by private sources. Standards in state schools are monitored by the , and in private schools by the ..
+
+, University of Cambridge]]
+After finishing compulsory education, pupils take a  examination, following which they may decide to continue in  and attend a . Students normally enter  from 18 onwards, where they study for an . There are over 90 universities England, all but one of which are . The  is the government department responsible for higher education in England. Students are generally entitled to s for maintenance. The  offered to undergraduates is the , which usually takes three years to complete. Students are then eligible for a postgraduate degree, a , taking one year, or a  degree, which takes three.
+
+ include some of the highest-ranked universities in the world; the , , the  and  are all ranked in the global top 10 in the 2010 ''''. The  has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research. The  is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme was ranked best in the world by the ''''. s in England are usually split into classes: first class (I), upper second class (II:1), lower second class (II:2) and third (III), and unclassified (below third class).
+
+ and  are the oldest schools in the English-speaking world.. Many of England's better-known schools, such as , , , , and  are fee-paying institutions..
+
+
+== Culture ==
+
+
+=== Architecture ===
+, ]]
+Many ancient  monuments were erected during the prehistoric period, amongst the best known are , ,  and . With the introduction of  there was a development of , , , es, s, s, s, s, s and s. 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  stretching right across northern England. Another well preserved example is the  at .
+
+ secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using  with  for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of — ,.. to   and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various  were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best known medieval castles include the , ,  and  amongst others.
+
+ is a , or mock tower, in .]]
+Throughout the Plantagenet era an  flourished—the  such as ,  and  are prime examples.. Expanding on the  there was also s, s, ,  and es. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th century ; the four-centred arch, now known as the , was a defining feature as were  houses domestically. In the aftermath of the  a form of architecture echoing classical antiquity, synthesised with Christianity appeared—the  style, architect  was particularly championed..
+
+ followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the  at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of  during Victorian period, a  was launched—in addition to this around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as . Since the 1930s various  forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places. Architects like ,  and  continued to practice in the classical style.|group=note}}
+
+=== Folklore ===
+
+ illustrated in 1912 wearing ]]
+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 s, , s, , s, s and . While many legends and folk-customs are thought to be ancient, for instance the tales featuring  and ,. others date from after the Norman invasion;  and his  of  and their battles with the  being, perhaps, the best known..
+
+During the  tales originating from Brythonic traditions entered English folklore—the ... These were derived from , French and Welsh sources, featuring , , ,  and the  such as . These stories are most centrally brought together within 's ''''.. Also  explains; "Over the centuries the figure of Arthur became a symbol of British history—a way of explaining the matter of Britain, the relationship between the Saxons and the Celts, and a way of exorcising ghosts and healing the wounds of the past."|group=note}} Another early figure from , , may have been based on a real figure from Sub-Roman Britain. Many of the tales and  make up part of the wider , a collection of shared British folklore.
+
+, an English ]]
+Some folk figures are based on semi or actual historical people whose story has been passed down centuries;  for instance was said to have ridden naked on horseback through ,  was a heroic English figure resisting the Norman invasion,  is an   associated with  Forest and  and  is the archetypal witch.. On 5 November people make bonfires, set off  and eat s in  of the foiling of the  centred around . The chivalrous bandit, such as , is a recurring character, while  is the archetypal pirate. There are various national and regional folk activities, participated in to this day, such as , ,  in the North East,  in Yorkshire, s,  in Leicestershire, and  at .. There is no official national costume, but a few are well established such as the  associated with cockneys, the , the  and s.
+
+
+=== Cuisine ===
+
+ is a widely consumed part of .]]
+Since the  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  and through the Renaissance period, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the  with the move away from the land and increasing urbanisation of the populace. The French sometimes referred to English people as ''les rosbifs'', as a stereotype to suggest that English food is unsophisticated or crude.. The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by the food critics with some good ratings in '''''s  charts. An early book of English recipes is the '''' from the royal court of .
+
+ has been consumed in England since the .]]
+Traditional examples of English food include the , featuring a , usually ,  or , served with assorted boiled vegetables,  and . Other prominent meals include  and the —consisting of , grilled tomatoes, fried bread, , , fried , sausages and eggs. Various s are consumed such as , , Cornish  and , the last of which is eaten cold.
+
+Sausages are commonly eaten, either as  or .  is a well known stew. Some of the most popular s are  and . Many  hybrid dishes, , have been created such as  and . Sweet English dishes include , s, , , s,  and . Common drinks include tea, whose popularity was increased by , while alcoholic drinks include s, s and s such as , , , and .
+
+=== Visual arts ===
+
+'' by  in the  style.]]
+The earliest known examples are the prehistoric rock and  pieces, most prominent in ,  and , but also feature further south, for example at . With the arrival of  in the 1st century, various forms of art utilising statues, busts, glasswork and mosaics were the norm. There are numerous surviving artefacts, such as those at  and . During the Early Middle Ages the style was sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs such as in the  discovered in 2009. Some of these blended  styles, such as the  and . Later  was popular at Winchester and Canterbury, examples survive such as  and .
+
+The Tudor era saw  as part of their court, portrait painting which would remain an enduring part of English art, was boosted by German , natives such as  built on this. Under the Stuarts, Continental artists were influential especially the Flemish, examples from the period include—, ,  and . The 18th century was a time of significance with the founding of the , a  based on the  prevailed— and  became two of England's most treasured artists.
+
+The  continued the landscape tradition, while the  with their vivid and detailed style revived the  style—,  and  were leaders. Prominent amongst 20th century artists was , regarded as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general. Contemporary painters include , whose work '''' in 2008 set a world record for sale value of a painting by a living artist.
+
+=== Literature, poetry and philosophy ===
+
+ was an English author, poet and philosopher, best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative ''''.]]
+Early authors such as  and  wrote in Latin.. The period of  provided the epic poem '''' and the secular prose of the '''',. along with Christian writings such as '''',  '''' and . Following the Norman conquest  continued amongst the educated classes, as well as an .
+
+ emerged with , author of '''', along with , the  and .  and , who were , were major s of the Middle Ages. , who wrote '''', was a prominent Christian mystic. With the  literature in the  style appeared. , whose works include '''', '''', '''', and '''', remains one of the most championed authors in English literature..
+
+, , , , , and  are other established authors of the ..  and  wrote on  and , including  and .  wrote on the .  was the best known poet of the ,. while  authored '''' during the .
+
+Some of the most prominent philosophers of the  were , ,  and . More radical elements were later countered by  who is regarded as the founder of conservatism.. The poet  with his satirical verse became well regarded. The English played a significant role in : , , , , ,  and  were major figures..
+
+In response to the , agrarian writers sought a way between  and ; ,  and  were main exponents, while the founder of , , and  advocate  are somewhat related.. Empiricism continued through  and , while  was involved in . Authors from around the  include , the , , , , , ,  and .. Since then England has continued to produce novelists such as , , , , , , , , , and ..
+
+
+=== Performing arts ===
+
+
+The traditional  is centuries old and has contributed to several genres prominently; mostly , s, s and . It has its own distinct variations and regional peculiarities.  printed ballads of Robin Hood from the 16th century are an important artefact, as are 's '''' and  '''' collections.. Some of the best known songs are ''The Good Old Way'', '''', '''' and '''' amongst others. Many  are of English origin such as '''', '''', '''', '''' and ''''..
+
+Early English composers in  include Renaissance artists  and , followed up by  from the . German-born  became a British subject and spent most of his composing life in London, creating some of the most well-known works of classical music, ''The '', '''', and ''''. There was a revival in the profile of composers from England in the 20th century led by , , , ,  and others.. Present-day composers from England include , best known for ''''.
+
+In the field of  many English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as , , , , ,  and  are among the highest selling recording artists in the world. Many musical genres have origins or strong associations with England, such as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  and ..
+
+Large outdoor  in the summer and autumn are popular, such as , , . The most prominent  in England is the  at .. , a season of   concerts held at the , is a major cultural event held annually.  is one of the world's foremost classical ballet companies, its reputation built on two prominent figures of 20th century dance, ''''  and  .
+
+=== Museums, libraries, and galleries ===
+
+ in London]]
+ is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the . The charity  holds a contrasting role. 17 of the 25 United Kingdom  s fall within England. Some of the best known of these include; , , , , , ,  and various others.
+
+There are many , but the most notable is London's . 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  in London is the  and is one of the world's largest , holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; including around 25 million books. The most senior art gallery is the  in , which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The  galleries house the national collections of British and international modern art; they also host the famously controversial .
+
+== Sports ==
+
+, one of the most expensive stadiums ever built]]
+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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  and . It has helped the development of  and . Football is the most popular of these sports. The , whose home venue is , won the  against the  where they won it 4-2 in extra time helped by the fact that  scored a hatrick. That was the year the country hosted the competition.
+
+At club level England is recognised by  as the birth-place of club football, due to  founded in 1857 being the oldest club.  is the oldest of its kind,  and  were the first cup and league competitions respectively. In the modern day the  is the world's most lucrative football league and amongst the elite. The  has been won by , ,  and , while ,  and  have reached the final.
+
+ on the way to victory against  in the  at ]]
+ is generally thought to have been developed in the early medieval period among the farming and metalworking communities of the .. The  is a composite England and Wales team. One of the game's top rivalries is  series between England and , contested since 1882. The finale of the  was watched by nearly 2 million people, although the climax of the  was viewed by 7.4 million as it was available on terrestrial television. England are the current holders of the trophy and are ranked 1st in  and 4th in  cricket.
+
+England has hosted four s (1975, 1979, 1983, 1999) and the  in . There are several domestic level competitions, including the  in which  are by far the most successful club having won the competition 31 times.  situated in London is sometimes referred to as the "Mecca of Cricket".  was prominent in organising the format for the modern . London hosted the  in  and , and will host them again in . England competes in the , held every four years.  is the governing body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in England. A  is held at .
+
+ during their victory parade after winning the ]]
+The  won the , the country was one of the host nations of the competition in the  and is set to host the . The top level of club participation is the . , ,  and  have had success in the Europe-wide . In another form of the sport— which was born in  in 1895, the  are ranked third in the world and first in Europe.
+
+Since 2008 England has been a full test nation in lieu of the , which won three  but is now retired. Club sides play in , the present-day embodiment of the . Some of the most successful clubs include , ,  and ; the former three have all won the  previously. The United Kingdom is to host the . In tennis,  are the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely considered the most prestigious..
+
+
+== National symbols ==
+
+]]
+The St George's Cross has been the national  since the 13th century. Originally the flag was used by the maritime . The English monarch paid a tribute to the  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  in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with , along with countries and cities, which claimed him as their  and used his cross as a banner. Since 1606 the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the , a Pan-British flag designed by King .
+, England's ]]
+There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the , the nation's , the , and the Three Lions featured on the . The Tudor rose was adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of the  as a symbol of peace. It is a  symbol in that it merged the white rose of the  and the red rose of the —cadet branches of the  who went to war over control of the nation. It is also known as the ''Rose of England''. The  is a symbol of England, representing strength and endurance. The term  alludes to the escape of King  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  featuring three lions, originated with its adoption by  in 1198. It is ed 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 . England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has ''''. However, the following are often considered unofficial English national anthems:
+'''', '''' (used for England during the ), and ''''. England's  is 23 April which is : St George is the patron saint of England.
+
+== See also ==
+
+
+
+== Notes ==
+
+
+== References ==
+
+
+=== Bibliography ===
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+
+== External links ==
+
+* 
+*   – national body protecting English heritage
+*   – wildlife and the natural world of England
+*   – website of the English Tourist Board
+*   – news items from the BBC relating to England
+* 
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