CancerTreatmentBooks.com
Information About Cancer and Cancer Treatment

England




England is the largest and most densely populated of the nations that make
up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The name "England" is derived from "Engla-lond" or "land of the Angles". It
is often incorrectly used as a synomym for Great Britain or the United
Kingdom by some, which is inaccurate and can be offensive. Other terms for
England include "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning
"foreign"; "this Green and Pleasant Land", from William Blake's poem
Jerusalem. "Albion" was used by writers such as Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy
in the 1st century, in reference to the white (Latin: "alba") cliffs of Dover.

The Marquis de XimenŽs, an 18th century diplomat, is credited with coining
the phrase La perfide Albion, or "perfidious Albion", which is still heard
from the French -- also an affectionate term, in its own way. It is also
used by the Irish about the English but in a less affectionate manner,
suggesting a degree of untrustworthiness.

                                       Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (God
                                                   and my right)
                                                       None. English is the
                                                       language used by
                                                       administration and
History                                                general population
                                                       for official
                                                       purposes. (There are
                                                       several United
                                                       Kingdom languages
Politics                                Official       registered under the
                                        languages      European Charter of
                                                       Regional and
                                                       Minority Languages.
                                                       Cornish is currently
England, as a significant political                    being added to the
entity, ceased to exist with the Act                   charter, and is the
of Union 1707, which created the                       only such language
Kingdom of Great Britain. All of Great                 strongly associated
Britain has been ruled by the                          with administrative
government of the United Kingdom                       England.)
between that date and 1999, when the
first elections to the newly created    Capital        London
Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly  Area           Ranked 1st
left England as the only nation in the  Ê- Total       130,395 km²
Union with no representative body.      Population
                                        Ê- Total       Ranked 1st
There are calls by some for an English  (2001)         49,138,831
Parliament to counteract what they see  Ê- Density     377/km²
as a democratic imbalance. Many would
have this parliament take the form of   Unification    1066 - William the
an all-England grand committee in the                  Conqueror
United Kingdom House of Commons rather  Currency       Pound Sterling
than as a new body with separate        Time zone      UTC+0
elections.
                                        National       God Save the Queen,
The current Labour government favours   anthems        Land of Hope and
the establishment of regional                          Glory (unofficial)
governments, claiming that England is
too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. It's currently unclear
whether there is any significant support for this from the public,
especially since people generally identify with counties, rather than
regions that have little historical basis. There is, however, substantial
public support in several regions, particularly in the north of England.
Referenda will take place on this issue, possibly some time in 2004, and
consideration has still to be given to what powers regions would be granted,
and what impact this may have on the powers of counties or central
government. Considerable disquiet was caused when changes were made to the
system of counties in 1974.

Unlike the other nations of the Kingdom, there is very little call for
independence of England from the UK. This is overwhelmingly due to its
dominance in the Union. Those groups that do campaign for such a thing tend
to be right-wing organisations.

Subdivisions

Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the
county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old,
pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and
Sussex; Duchies, such as Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land
given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire.

These counties all still exist in, or near to their original form as the
traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily
modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about
due to a number of factors.

The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there
was no regional government able to co-ordinate an overarching plan for the
area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the
cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial
revolution and the mass urbanisation of the country.

The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on
cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into
unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government.

London is a special case, and is the one Region which currently has a
representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The thirty-two
London boroughs remain the local form of government in the city.

Other than Greater London, the other official Regions are:

   * North East England
   * North West England
   * Yorkshire and the Humber
   * West Midlands
   * East Midlands
   * East of England
   * South West England
   * South East England

The Regions hold very little power owing to their lack of accountability -
regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected representatives of
various interests. When, as seems likely, several Regions opt to replace
these QUANGOs with elected assemblies, Local government in England will
remain as variable and, some might say, confusing as ever.

Geography

England comprises most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great
Britain. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales.
Most of England consists of rolling terrain, but the country is more
mountainous in the north. The dividing line between terrain types is usually
indicated by the Tees-Exe line.

The Channel Tunnel near Dover links England to the European mainland.

Major rivers:

   * Thames
   * Severn
   * Trent

Major cities:

   * London
   * Birmingham
   * Manchester
   * Bristol
   * Liverpool
   * Leeds
   * Newcastle upon Tyne

Demographics

England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse country in
the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a
tenth are from non-White ethnic groups.

This population is made up of immigrants who have arrived over millenia. The
principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman
period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350-550 (Angles,
Saxons, Jutes), 800-900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650-1750
(European refugees and Huguenots), 1880-1940 (Jews), 1950-1985 (Caribbeans,
Africans, South Asians), 1985-present (East Europeans, Kurds, refugees).

The general prosperity of England has also made it a destination for
economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This diverse
ethnic mix continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely
used internationally.

Generally, an English person is someone who lives in England regardless of
their racial origin. However, some people (including many south Asians and
whites) use the label as only referring to those people of Anglo-Saxon
origin - preferring to instead use "British" as a racially neutral label.
This is only possible due to the somewhat hazy distinction that many people
in the country make between "England" and "Britain".

Cancer - List of Famous Cancer Patients - Medical Topics - Medical_Terms - Medicine - Alternative Therapies -