Proper noun

Singular England

Plural -

England

1. The southern part of the island of Great Britain, now specified geopolitically as one of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom.

England /ˈɪŋɡlənd/ (help·info) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population, while its mainland territory occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain. England is bordered by Scotland to the north, Wales to the west and the North Sea, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel. The capital is London, the largest metropolitan area in Great Britain, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by many measures.

England became a unified state in the year 927 and takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled there during the 5th and 6th centuries. It has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world being the place of origin of the English language, the Church of England, and English law, which forms the basis of the common law legal systems of countries around the world. In addition, England was the birth place of the Industrial Revolution, thus being the first country in the world to industrialise. It is home to the Royal Society, which laid the foundations of modern experimental science. England has the world's oldest parliamentary system, and consequently, other constitutional, governmental and legal innovations that stemmed from England have been widely adopted by other nations.

England is a predominantly lowland country, although there are upland regions in the north (including the Lake District, Pennines and Yorkshire Moors) and in the south and south west (including Dartmoor, the Cotswolds, and the North and South Downs). The population of England is concentrated in London and the South East, as well as conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire, all of which developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century.

The Kingdom of England (including Wales) continued as a separate state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union, putting into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulted in political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1800, Great Britain was united with Ireland through another Act of Union 1800 to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State was established as a separate dominion, but the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act in 1927 reincorporated into the kingdom six Irish counties to officially create the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

England, a country in northwest Europe, is the largest and most populous country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Sourced

• This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,— This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
  • William Shakespeare, Richard II (1595) Act 2, Scene 1

• You often hear that the English climate has had a profound effect upon the English temperament. I don't believe it. I believe they were always like that.
  • Will Cuppy in W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, Garden Rubbish and Other Country Bumps (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1937)

• The rustics of England, especially those inhabiting the South hams (villages) of Devonshire, have great fun Wassailing the Orchards on Christmans Eve, New Year's and Twelfth Nigh (Boxing Day), when they drink toasts to the largest apple trees and sprinkle them with cyder (cider) carried by the beadle, the parish clerk, or some other such obsolete individual. The Devonshire people do this because they did it the year before.
  • Will Cuppy in W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, Garden Rubbish and Other Country Bumps (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1937)

• The English take their pleasures sadly after the fashion of their country.
  • Maximillian, Duc de Sully, (1559-1641), Memoirs.

• To be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club there is.
  • Ogden Nash, England Expects.

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Mon Jul 6 19:02:36 2009