Portal:England
The England Portal
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England () is a country that is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its mainland is on the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. England shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; and adjoins the Irish Sea to the north-west, the Celtic Sea to the south-west and the North Sea to the east. The English Channel separates it from continental Europe. In addition to the mainland, England includes over 100 smaller islands, including the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. England's population is about 51 million, around 84% of the United Kingdom.
England has been settled by humans of various cultures for over 29,000 years but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled Great Britain during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927 and after the Age of Discovery has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. England was where the English language, the Anglican Church and English law, which forms the basis of the common law legal systems of countries around the world, developed. The innovations that came from England have been widely adopted by other nations, such as its parliamentary system, which is the world's oldest. During the 18th century England underwent the Industrial Revolution and became the first country in the world to industrialise. Its Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
Most of England is lowland but there are upland regions in the north (such as the Lake District, Pennines and Yorkshire Moors) and in the south and south west (such as Dartmoor, the Cotswolds, and the North and South Downs). London, a global city and England's capital, is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. The population of England is concentrated in London and the South East, as well as the conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire, which developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century.
The Kingdom of England (which included Wales) was a sovereign state until 1 May 1707 when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year and resulted in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland that created 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.
Selected article
Manchester /ˈmæntʃɛstər/ is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. Manchester was granted city status in 1853. It has a population of 452,000, and lies at the centre of the wider Greater Manchester Urban Area, which has a population of 2,240,230, the United Kingdom's third largest conurbation. Manchester has the second largest urban zone in the UK and the fourteenth most populous in Europe.
Forming part of the English Core Cities Group, often described as the second city of the UK, and the "Capital of the North", Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and commerce. In a poll of British business leaders published in 2006, Manchester was regarded as the best place in the UK to locate a business. A report commissioned by Manchester Partnership, published in 2007, showed Manchester to be the "fastest-growing city" economically. It is the third most visited city in the United Kingdom by foreign visitors. Manchester was the host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and among its other sporting connections are its two Premier League football teams, Manchester United and Manchester City.
Selected picture
Photo credit: Chris Howells
Selected biography
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623 two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.
Did you know?
- ...that the HMS Queen (1902) was fitted with Babcock and Wilcox cylindrical boilers due to service problems with the water service boilers?
- ...that the Charter Roll is the administrative record created by the medieval office of the chancery that recorded all the charters issued by the chancery?
- ...that Canterbury in eastern Kent was abandoned at the end of the Roman period, but was resettled by the Saxons?
- ...that English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams has sold more albums in the United Kingdom than any other British solo artist in history?
In the news
- 6 November 2024 – Protests against Donald Trump
- Just Stop Oil protesters spray orange paint on the outside of the American Embassy in London, United Kingdom, following Donald Trump's re-election in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. (The Independent)
- 24 October 2024 – Regulation of electronic cigarettes, Smoking bans in the United Kingdom
- The British government announces that single-use vapes will be banned in England and Wales beginning on 1 June 2025. (BBC News)
- 23 October 2024 –
- Three people are found deceased and seven are hospitalized due to carbon monoxide poisoning at a care home in Swanage, Dorset, England. (Sky News)
- 16 October 2024 –
- An explosion at a house in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, kills at least two people and injures six others. An investigation to determine the cause of the explosion by the Health and Safety Executive is underway. (BBC News)
- 15 October 2024 –
- A car driving in the wrong direction collides with another car on the M6 motorway in Cumbria, England, killing five people, including two children and seriously injuring another. (BBC News) (Sky News)
Selected featured content
- Arsenal F.C.
- BBC television drama
- Charles I of England
- Manchester
- Mendip Hills
- National parks of England and Wales
- Only Fools and Horses
- Weymouth
- William IV of the United Kingdom
- Grade I listed buildings in Bristol
- List of English Academy Award nominees and winners
- List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cleveland
- Locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal
Categories
Selected quotes
| “ | England... is a nation of shopkeepers | ” |
- — Napoleon
Related WikiProjects
England • Bedfordshire • Brighton • Cheshire • Cornwall • Derbyshire • Dorset • Greater Manchester • Hampshire • Lincolnshire • London • Merseyside • Northamptonshire • North East England • Sheffield • Surrey. Warwickshire • West Midlands • Worcestershire • Yorkshire
Topics
Things you can do
- Please visit the English Wikipedians' notice board and help to write new England-related articles, and expand and improve existing ones.
- Visit Wikipedia:WikiProject England/Assessment, and help out by assessing unrated English articles.
- Add the Project Banner to English articles around Wikipedia.
- Check for announcements and open tasks for ways to improve English related articles.
- Help nominate and select new content for the England portal.
- Requested articles: Charterhouse Lane • Renewable energy in England • Ealing Village
- Expand: Dorothy Boyd • David Troughton
Related Portals
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| East Midlands | London | North East | North West | South East | South West | West Midlands | Yorkshire and the Humber |
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| Ireland | Northern Ireland | Scotland | United Kingdom | Wales |
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