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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It has land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, and is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south, the Celtic Sea to the south-west, and the Irish Sea to the west. Continental Europe lies to the south-east, and Ireland to the west. At the 2021 census, the population was 56,490,048. London is both the largest city and the capital.

The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic. It takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had extensive cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The Kingdom of England, which included Wales after 1535, ceased to be a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union brought into effect a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland that created the Kingdom of Great Britain.

England is the origin of the English language, the English legal system (which served as the basis for the common law systems of many other countries), association football, and the Anglican branch of Christianity; its parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England is home to the two oldest universities in the English-speaking world: the University of Oxford, founded in 1096, and the University of Cambridge, founded in 1209. Both universities are ranked among the most prestigious in the world.

England's terrain chiefly consists of low hills and plains, especially in the centre and south. Upland and mountainous terrain is mostly found in the north and west, including Dartmoor, the Lake District, the Pennines, and the Shropshire Hills. The country's capital is London, the metropolitan area of which has a population of 14.2 million as of 2021, representing the United Kingdom's largest metropolitan area. England's population of 56.3 million comprises 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, largely concentrated around London, the South East, and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East, and Yorkshire, which each developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century. (Full article...)

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Gropecunt Lane (/ˈɡroʊpkʌnt/) was a street name found in English towns and cities during the Middle Ages, believed to be a reference to the prostitution centred on those areas; it was normal practice for a medieval street name to reflect the street's function or the economic activity taking place within it. Gropecunt, the earliest known use of which is in about 1230, appears to have been derived as a compound of the words grope and cunt. Streets with that name were often in the busiest parts of medieval towns and cities, and at least one appears to have been an important thoroughfare.

Although the name was once common throughout England, changes in attitude resulted in its replacement by more innocuous versions such as Grape Lane. A variation of Gropecunt was last recorded as a street name in 1561. (Full article...)

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The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from its foundation until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split from it to form the Premier League. The Football League was rebranded as the "English Football League" (EFL) starting with the 2016–17 season.

The EFL is divided into the Championship, League One and League Two, with 24 clubs in each division, 72 in total, with promotion and relegation between them; the top Championship division clubs change places with the lowest-placed clubs in the Premier League, and the bottom clubs of League Two with the top clubs of the National League. Currently four of the EFL clubs are from Wales – Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham and Newport County – the other 68 are located in England. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various England-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Silbury Hill, c. 2400 BC (from History of England)
Image 2Whitehall by Francis Dodd (1920) displaying the Palace of Westminster (from Culture of England)
Image 3England playing Australia at Lord's Cricket Ground in the 2009 Ashes series. After winning the 2019 Cricket World Cup, England became the first country to win the World Cups in football, rugby union and cricket. (from Culture of England)
Image 4Artefacts from Bush Barrow at Stonehenge. Wessex culture, Early Bronze Age, c. 1900 BC (from History of England)
Image 5First English Civil War at the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644 (from History of England)
Image 6Frontispiece of Bede's Life of St Cuthbert, showing King Æthelstan presenting a copy of the book to the saint himself. c. 930 (from History of England)
Image 7Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol played a major role in reviving the "spirit" of Christmas and seasonal goodwill. (from Culture of England)
Image 8First played in 1877, the Wimbledon Championships is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. (from Culture of England)
Image 9England in 878 (from History of England)
Image 10The epic poem Beowulf, set in 6th century Scandinavia, composed c. 700–1000 AD. (from History of England)
Image 11The first general laws against child labour, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain in the first half of the 19th century. Children younger than nine were not allowed to work and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. (from History of England)
Image 12One of only four surviving exemplifications of the 1215 text, Cotton MS. Augustus II. 106, property of the British Library (from History of England)
Image 13The Fairy Ring by William Holmes Sullivan, c.1908 (from Culture of England)
Image 14Interior of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford (from Culture of England)
Image 15Flatford Mill ('Scene on a Navigable River') by John Constable, c. 1816 (from Culture of England)
Image 16Kingdoms and tribes in Britain, c. AD 600 (from History of England)
Image 17Dover Castle, 12th–13th century (from History of England)
Image 18A pint of real ale (from Culture of England)
Image 19Josiah Wedgwood was a leading entrepreneur in the Industrial Revolution. (from Culture of England)
Image 20The Royal College of Music is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, established by royal charter in 1882. (from Culture of England)
Image 21Alfred Hitchcock is often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, and was described as "a straightforward middle-class Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius." (from Culture of England)
Image 22Remains of the Roman baths at Bath, England. (from History of England)
Image 23Stonehenge, erected in several stages from c.3000–2500 BC (from History of England)
Image 24Sir Francis Drake's voyage 1585–86 (from History of England)
Image 25Portrait of the Royal Tudors. At left, Henry VII, with Prince Arthur behind him, then Prince Henry (later Henry VIII), and Prince Edmund, who did not survive early childhood. To the right is Elizabeth of York, with Princess Margaret, then Princess Elizabeth who didn't survive childhood, Princess Mary, and Princess Katherine, who died shortly after her birth. (from History of England)
Image 26The Alfred Jewel, late 9th century (from History of England)
Image 27Anglo-Saxon king with his Witan. Biblical scene in the Old English Hexateuch (11th century) (from History of England)
Image 28Durham Cathedral, dating from 1093 (from Culture of England)
Image 29The English landscape garden at Stourhead, described as a 'living work of art' when first opened in the 1750s (from Culture of England)
Image 30King Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649 (from History of England)
Image 31Christopher Lee (seen here as Dracula in 1958) starred in many of Hammer's British horror films. (from Culture of England)
Image 32Stinking Bishop cheese (from Culture of England)
Image 33The Ruthwell Cross, 8th century AD (from History of England)
Image 34Edward Elgar is one of England's most celebrated classical composers. (from Culture of England)
Image 35Elizabeth I (from History of England)
Image 36The Battersea Shield (detail), 350 BC. (from History of England)
Image 37Depiction of the Battle of Hastings (1066) on the Bayeux Tapestry (from History of England)
Image 38National performing arts are held annually at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as The Proms during the summer. (from Culture of England)
Image 39Londinium (Roman London), c. 120 AD (from History of England)
Image 40King's College in Cambridge is regarded as one of the greatest examples of late English Gothic architecture. It has the world's largest fan vault, while the chapel's stained-glass windows and wooden chancel screen are considered some of the finest from their era. (from Culture of England)
Image 41The wizard Merlin features as a character in many works of fiction, including the BBC series Merlin. (from Culture of England)
Image 42The Roman Baths in Bath; a temple was constructed on the site between 60–70CE in the first few decades of Roman Britain. (from Culture of England)
Image 43Chester, c. 1880 (from History of England)
Image 44The Mob Quad of Merton College, University of Oxford, 13th–14th century (from History of England)
Image 45King Henry VIII (from History of England)
Image 46Anglo-Saxon helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship burial, 625 AD (replica) (from History of England)
Image 47Jack In the Green, a traditional English folk custom being celebrated in Hastings Old Town, known for its many pre-Victorian buildings. (from Culture of England)
Image 48The Lindisfarne Gospels (from Culture of England)
Image 49King Charles II, a patron of the arts and sciences, supported the Royal Society, a scientific group whose early members included Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle and Sir Isaac Newton. (from Culture of England)
Image 50William Hogarth's depiction of a scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest is an example of how English literature influenced English painting in the 18th century. (from Culture of England)
Image 51Morris dancing (from Culture of England)
Image 52The Procession Picture, c. 1600, showing Elizabeth I borne along by her courtiers (from History of England)
Image 53Durham Cathedral. The Norman cathedral was built 1093–1133 (from History of England)
Image 54Sir Isaac Newton is regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution. (from Culture of England)
Image 55Remains of Hadrian's Wall (from History of England)
Image 56The Great Fire London, 1666. (from History of England)
Image 57Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1340s–1400, author of The Canterbury Tales (from History of England)
Image 58The Billingsgate Fish Market in London in the early 19th century (from History of England)
Image 59Shoulder clasp from Sutton Hoo, 625 AD (from History of England)
Image 60The Spanish Armada and English ships in August 1588, (unknown, 16th-century, English School) (from History of England)
Image 61The White Tower of the Tower of London, built in 1078 (from History of England)
Image 62Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Primate of All England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the most senior bishop of the Church of England. (It was the property of the Roman Catholic Church before the English Reformation.) (from Culture of England)
Image 63A traditional Punch and Judy booth, at Swanage, Dorset, England (from Culture of England)
Image 64Francis Bacon led the advancement of both natural philosophy and the scientific method and his works remained deeply influential in the Scientific Revolution. (from Culture of England)
Image 65View of the ramparts of the hillfort of Maiden Castle (450 BC), as they look today (from History of England)
Image 66Maps of territory held by Royalists (red) and Parliamentarians (green) during the English Civil War (1642–1645) (from History of England)
Image 67Gold torc from Snettisham, 70 BC (from History of England)
Image 68King James I of England (from History of England)
Image 69Procession of characters from Shakespeare's plays (from Culture of England)
Image 70The Lady Chapel of Wells Cathedral (from Culture of England)
Image 71King Charles II (from History of England)
Image 72Countries where English is natively spoken or has official status (from Culture of England)
Image 73The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found^[update]. It consists of almost 4,600 items and metal fragments. (from Culture of England)
Image 74Canterbury Cathedral nave, 1377 (from History of England)
Image 75Victory in Europe Day celebrations in London, 8 May 1945 (from History of England)
Image 76King Alfred the Great statue in Winchester, Hampshire. The 9th-century English king encouraged education in his kingdom. (from Culture of England)
Image 77Tomb of Richard I of England and Isabella of Angoulême (from History of England)
Image 78Portrait of Edward VI, c. 1550 (from History of England)
Image 79Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels, c. 720 AD (from History of England)
Image 80Bronze coins of Cunobelin, called "King of the Britons" by Suetonius. 1–42 AD. (from History of England)

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Digital reconstruction giving an impression of Old St Paul's during the Middle Ages. The image is based on a model of the Cathedral in the Museum of London, composited with a modern city background.

Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314 and dedicated to Saint Paul, this building was perhaps the fourth such church at this site on Ludgate Hill, going back to the 7th century.

Work on the cathedral began after a fire in 1087, which destroyed the previous church. Work took more than 200 years, and over that time the architecture of the church changed from Norman Romanesque to early English Gothic. The church was consecrated in 1240, enlarged in 1256 and again in the early 14th century. At its completion in the mid-14th century, the cathedral was one of the longest churches in the world, had one of the tallest spires and some of the finest stained glass. (Full article...)

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The tower of St. Paul's Church, in Brighton

...that the Rev. Arthur Wagner, the first curate of the Church of St. Paul, Brighton, England, commissioned stained glass windows of his mother, father and aunt for the church?
...that Scots' Dike was constructed by the English and the Scots in 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable Lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the kingdoms of Scotland and England?
...that the famed message "England expects that every man will do his duty" is misquoted on Nelson's Column in London?

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3 January 2025 – 2025 PDC World Darts Championship: Luke Littler defeats Michael van Gerwen 7–3 in the final at Alexandra Palace in London, England, to claim his first World Darts Championship title, becoming the youngest player to win a world title at the age of 17 years. (BBC News)
2 January 2025 – 2025 in paleontology, Dinosaur finds in the United Kingdom: The largest site of dinosaur footprints of the Cetiosaurus and Megalosaurus dating back to the Middle Jurassic Bathonian stage 166 million years ago is discovered at a quarry in Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom. (BBC News)
17 December 2024 – Murder of Sara Sharif: English High Court judge John Cavanagh sentences Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool to life imprisonment for the murder of Sharif's 10-year-old daughter Sara. (ABS-CBN News)
11 December 2024 – 2024 United Kingdom farmers' protests: Hundreds of tractors block Whitehall, City of Westminster, England in protest of Labour government changes to the agricultural inheritance tax. (The Independent)

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“

England... is a nation of shopkeepers

”

— Napoleon

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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

Cities and major towns: Blackpool • Birmingham • Bristol • Chelmsford • Leeds • Liverpool • London • Manchester • Newcastle • Nottingham • Oxford • Portsmouth • Sheffield • Southampton • Stoke-on-Trent

Culture: The Football Association • Rugby Football Union • England and Wales Cricket Board • English inventions and discoveries

Geography: Geology • Climate • Mountains and hills • Islands • Rivers

Economy: Bank of England • London Stock Exchange • Chancellor of the Exchequer • Monetary Policy Committee • HM Treasury

History: Timeline of English history • Prehistoric Britain • Roman Britain • Anglo-Saxon England • Norman England • Plantagenet England • House of Lancaster • House of York • House of Tudor • House of Stuart

Governance: Kingdom of England • Prime Minister of the United Kingdom • Parliament of the United Kingdom • Home Secretary • Local Government Boundary Commission for England • Administrative divisions of England • English law

Symbols: Flags • Flag of England • St George's Cross • Tudor rose • Coat of arms of England

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