| ||||||
| Motto: Dieu et mon droit (French) "God and my right"[1][2] | ||||||
| Anthem: None (de jure) Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory (de facto) | ||||||
 Location of England (inset — orange) in the United Kingdom (camel) in the European continent (white) | ||||||
| Capital (and largest city) | London 51°30′N 0°7′W / 51.5°N 0.117°W | |||||
| Official languages | English1 | |||||
| Recognised regional languages | Cornish | |||||
| Ethnic groups (2006 [3][4]) | 90% White, 5.3% South Asian, 2.7% Black, 1.6% Mixed race, 0.7% Chinese, 0.6% Other | |||||
| Demonym | English | |||||
| Government | Constitutional monarchy | |||||
| - | Monarch | Queen Elizabeth II | ||||
| - | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | Gordon Brown MP | ||||
| Legislature | Parliament of the United Kingdom | |||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 130,395 km2 50,346 sq mi | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2008 estimate | 51,446,0003 | ||||
| - | 2001 census | 49,138,831 | ||||
| - | Density | 395/km2 1,023/sq mi | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2006 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $1.9 trillion | ||||
| - | Per capita | US$38,000 | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2006 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $2.2 trillion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $44,000 | ||||
| HDI (2006) | ▲ 0.940 (high) | |||||
| Currency | Pound sterling (GBP) | |||||
| Time zone | GMT (UTC0) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | BST (UTC+1) | ||||
| Internet TLD | .uk4 | |||||
| Calling code | 44 | |||||
| Patron saint | Saint George | |||||
| 1 | English is established by de facto usage. | |||||
| 3 | National Statistics: 2008 Population Estimates. | |||||
| 4 | Assigned on a UK basis, not constituent country. | |||||
England (
England has been settled by humans of various cultures for over 29,000 years,[8] 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;[9] 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.[10] During the 18th century England underwent the Industrial Revolution and became the first country in the world to industrialise.[11] Its Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.[12]
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 metropolian area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures.[note 1] 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.
