England is a great and ancient country which is a part of the UK. Its capital city is London.

England has a Queen, Queen Elizabeth II. It has a Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who leads the Houses of Parliament.

English people like their football, and England has one of the best football teams in the world.

England produces the world's best Real Ale.

How weird Everything can be. Why is there no sensible write-up on England? Okay, everyone knows what it is, but surely we could do with a basic outline. The following was written in haste with no intention of completeness.

The southern half of the island of Great Britain, corresponding roughly to the Roman province of Britannia; they ruled the local Celtic peoples through client kingdoms. After the withdrawal of the Roman legions in about 410, Germanic tribes began to invade: the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. The name England was early on used for the whole country, not just the region of the Angles. The Saxon kingdoms were gradually united under the house of Wessex, and by about 950 England was a unified kingdom, except that from time to time some parts of it were occupied by Danes. The Duke of Normandy claimed the throne in 1066 and conquered the country.

England conquered Ireland in the twelfth century, and Wales in the fourteenth, began to acquire an overseas empire in the sixteenth century, and was united with Scotland in the seventeenth. This was later formalized into the kingdom of Great Britain, then into the United Kingdom. The nation of England results from the fusion of all these influences. ("Britain" in modern use is a synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole.)

England is small in area but has a large population, being the great majority of the UK. This unavoidable dominance understandably causes friction in the other member countries. Wales has technically been part of England for legal purposes since 1536 (see England and Wales), but is de facto one of the four separate countries of the UK, and cannot in any other way be considered as part of England.

The country's pride is its countryside, green and small-scale, created by over a thousand years of habitation. There are no mountains or forests of any significance size, though the small patches of woodland are exquisite, and all the available agricultural land was taken by Saxon times. The highest peaks are in the beautiful Lake District in the north-west. The famous 'forests' such as Sherwood Forest and the New Forest are open spaces containing villages and some woodland. There is rugged moorland of great beauty in North Yorkshire, in Dartmoor and Exmoor in the south-west, and in Shropshire. The coast of Cornwall is spectacular.

The other element in England is its buildings, especially the parish churches. Virtually every last village has its church, dating from between 1100 and 1400, with brasses and effigies and gravestones. The cathedrals are magnificent. But England largely lacks stained glass, which was invented here (Jarrow) because of the savage iconoclasm of the Civil War. Then there are the magnificent houses of the past, the "stately homes", many of which are now open to the public. (My advice to those intending to visit and tour is to join the National Trust straight away, which will save a lot on individual admission prices, trust me.)

Every village also has its pub, where the people congregate every night, and here we drink beer. There's whole lot more to the country but someone else can tell it. The climate is mild and pleasant because of the Gulf Stream.

A medium sized country, too large to be properly livable, too small to be of any global significance, in or around NW Europe. Superficially attractive, although travel around it is largely impracticable, its main social characteristics are a complete lack of solidarity and a tendency to despise anything that might be considered "clever", fostered by the lingering squirearchy and the tabloid press. Possesses a vestigial empire which includes Wales, Scotland and the Falkland Islands. The seat of government is Washington, DC and the established religion is shopping.

The beer is quite good, though.

'And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon England's mountains green?'

Jerusalem

England is the largest country in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which also comprises Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Geographically it is characterised by a large coastline which led to the growth of its navy in early times. The Pennines mountain range runs down the north of the country, and is described as "the backbone of England". England is divided into counties or shires, and its industrial towns and cities are concentrated mainly in the Midlands.

England's long history pre-dates the Roman invasions of 54BC and 43AD, and includes the Norman Conquest of 1066, and many conflicts with Scotland.

The parliament in Westminster, London, is the base for the government of the UK.

English art and literature is globally recognised, including famous names like William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens.

The English language has become the global language of trade, stemming from the importance of former British colonies like the United States, Canada, and Australia, to name but three.

In sport, England has great hopes for its countrymen and women in the fields of cricket, football (soccer), and athletics, and participates in many other competitive sports at an international level.

The English flag is a red cross of St George on a white background.

I thought I might try a list for collecting articles about England which are fairly scattered around E2 at the moment. It's not intended to be comprehensive and I'll add more as I find them. I’ve tried to categorise them as well as possible – please let me know if there should be additions to this list.

English nodes:

English geography
Basildon
Bedford County town
Berwick-upon-Tweed Most northerly town in England
Birmingham 2nd largest city in UK
Blackpool Seaside holiday resort
Bournville
Bradford Northern industrial town
Brixham
Cambridge
Chesterfield
Cornwall Southwestern region of England, with Celtic roots
Dartmoor An area famous for its bleak moors and prison
Dewsbury West Yorkshire market town
Dulwich
Durham Cathedral city in northeast
Great Britain England, Scotland, and Wales
Grimsby
Guisborough Market town near North Yorkshire moors
Humber Bridge
Isle of Wight Island off southern coast
Kent Southeastern county
Kidderminster Carpet-making town in Worcestershire
Lake District Mountainous northern region
Lancaster Historic northern town
Lancashire
Langport
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool Northern industrial town, home of the Beatles and the Mersey Beat
London The capital city
Manchester Industrial northern town, rival of Liverpool
Middlesbrough Industrial town in the northeast
Newcastle Northern town, home of the Geordie
New Forest Historic southern forest
Nottingham East Midlands city, home of Robin Hood
Oxford
Paignton
Peak District Scenic mountain region
Putney London suburb
Richmond Market town in North Yorkshire
Scunthorpe
Sherwood Forest Robin Hood's forest home
Stourport Worcestershire town
Torquay
Worthing South coast seaside resort
Yorkshire Dales Scenic northern region
English counties:
 Cheshire
 Cumbria
 Durham
 Essex
 Lancashire
 Middlesex
 Midlands
 Northumberland
 Nottinghamshire
 Surrey
 Sussex
 Shropshire
 Somerset
 Yorkshire

English history
Angles
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon England
archers
Britannia
British Monarchs Mnemonic Poem
Cinque Ports
Christmas Traditions In England During the Middle Ages
Church of England
Civil War
The Condition of the Working Class in England
Oliver Cromwell
Richard Cromwell
Danes
English Reformation
The Entente Cordiale Between England and France
Great Britain
The Hellfire Club
Henge
Hexhamshire
The History of England
Jutes
Kent
Monarchy
Montacute
National Trust
Norman Conquest
Primate of All England
Queen of England
Rulers of England
Runnymede
Saxons
social caste in medieval England
Stonehenge
Sussex
The Thames Valley Catastrophe
United Kingdom
UK
Viking
The War of the Roses
Wessex
Whig History
Why Did England Arrive Late?
World War I
World War II

English art and literature
Adventures in English Literature
Jane Austen
John Bunyan
Charles Dickens
England, Home and Beauty for Sale
English literature
The Oxford Book of English Verse
Beatrix Potter
William Shakespeare
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Sonnet: England in 1819
Thirty Sonnets: To England at the Outbreak of the Balkan War
Yorkshire Sculpture Park

English language
The anal-retentive English teacher who lives in my forebrain
Babel Fish Engrish
British English
Canadian English
Do You Speak English?
English
English As A Second F*cking Language
English as a World Language
English As She Is Spoke: Useful Words, Part II
English curse words
English dub (of anime)
English language letter frequencies
The English Language
English Prime
English transformations
Examples of the Inadequacy of the English Language
Fun words to Introduce into the English Language
High English
How to write in correct English
If the King's English was good enough for Jesus
Irregular verbs of English
loudly speaking English in a French accent won't help the locals understand you
Non English speaker Everything handicap
Old English
Politics and the English Language
Standard American English
Standard African American English
The Subjunctive Mood of English
The unfortunate streamlining of the english language

English sport
All England Lawn Tennis Club
Athletics
David Beckham
Cricket
England Monarchs
England's official 2002 FIFA World Cup squad
English Football Chants
Football
Robbie Fowler
Hillsborough
Leeds United
Liverpool FC
Manchester United
Michael Owen
Rugby
World Cup

Miscellaneous
Alias Mother Jonez's Ever-Expanding Metanode on Her Summer of 1999 Trip to England
Americans' inability to distinguish between England and Britain
Bank of England
BBC
beer
Cambridge University
Comparison of England and New England
Ely Cathedral
England and Wales
The English
englishman
English Breakfast
English muffin
Eurotunnel
The Everything People Registry : United Kingdom : England
For England, James
Houses of Parliament
Hull Fair
Jolablot: The York Viking Festival
lie on your back and think of England
Made In England
Prime Minister
Princess Diana
Probably the most useful phone number in England
Pub
punk rock started in England, not America
The Queen of England uses Linux!
Radio 4
Real Ale
Real Geordies come from Gateshead
The social structure in English schools
Stott Hall Farm
University of Leicester

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