Quick Facts
Area: 129,720 sq km (50,085 sq mi)
Population: 57 million
Capital City: London
People: Anglo-Saxons, Scots, Welsh, Irish, West Indians, Pakistanis, Indians
Language: English
Religion: Church of England, Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh
Government: Parliamentary Democracy
Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II
Prime Minister: David Cameron
GDP: US$1254 billion
GDP per head: US$22,800
Annual Growth: 1.7%
Inflation: 2.7%
Major Industries: Banking and finance, steel, transport equipment, oil and gas, coal, tourism
Major trading partners: EU (Germany, France, Netherlands, Ireland) & USA
Member of EU: yes
Euro zone participant: no
COUNTRY FACTS
Events:
March: The traditional Oxford/Cambridge University Boat Race, held in London on the River Thames. April: The gruelling Grand National steeplechase at Aintree, Liverpool. May: Chelsea Flower Show, London's Royal Hospital. June: The Trooping of the Colour pageantry on the Queen's birthday in London. July: Cowes Week yachting extravaganza, Isle of Wight.Currency:
Pound sterling Travelers' cheques are widely accepted in English banks and you might as well buy them in pounds to avoid changing currencies twice. Change bureaus in London frequently levy outrageous commissions and fees, so make sure you establish any deductions in advance. The bureaus at the international airports are exceptions to the rule, charging less than most banks and cashing sterling travelers' cheques for free. ATMs are very common in Britain. If you eat in an English restaurant you should leave a tip of at least 10% unless the service was unsatisfactory.Beaten Track:
Isles of Scilly The balmy Scilly Isles, 28 miles southwest of Land's End, comprise of 140 rocky islands slap in the middle of the warm Gulf Stream. The mild climate enables plants and trees that grow nowhere else in Britain to flourish, and growing flowers for the mainland is an important industry. The pace of life on the five inhabited islands is slow and gentle, and there's no need for a car because the largest island (St Mary's) only measures around three by two miles. Most of the islands have white, sandy beaches, gin-clear waters and a swag of shipwrecks, making it attractive for divers. Northumberland This is one of the wildest and least-spoilt counties in England. There are probably more castles and battlefield sites here than anywhere else in the country, testifying to the long and bloody struggle with the Scots. The most interesting and well-known relic is Hadrian's Wall. The Northumberland National Park has a windswept grandeur that is distinctly un-English in character. The grassy Cheviot Hills, part of the park, are a beautiful and challenging hiking area.History:
According to historians, the first-known inhabitants of England were small bands of hunters. But Stone Age immigrants arrived around 4000 BC and constructed the mysterious stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury. They were followed by the Bronze Age Celts from Central Europe who began arriving in 800 BC, bringing the Gaelic and Brythonic languages. The Romans invaded in 43 AD and within just seven years had most of England in their control. They brought stability, nice and straight paved roads and Christianity. The Romans were never defeated; they just sort of faded away around 410 AD as their empire declined. Tribes of heathen Angles, Jutes and Saxons began to move into the vacuum, absorbing the Celts, and local fiefdoms developed. By the 7th century, these fiefdoms had grown into a series of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which had come to collectively think of themselves as English. By the mid-9th century, Vikings had invaded northern Scotland, Cumbria and Lancashire and the Danes were making inroads into eastern England. By 871, only Wessex - the half-Saxon, half-Celtic country south of the Thames - was under English control. At this low point, the English managed to neutralize the Vikings' military superiority and began a process of assimilation.
The next invader was William of Normandy (soon to become known as William the Conqueror), who arrived on the south coast of England in 1066 with a force of 12,000 men. After victory at the Battle of Hastings, he replaced English aristocrats with French-speaking Normans. The next centuries saw a series of royal tiffs, political intrigues, plague, unrest and revolt. The Hundred Years War with France blurred into the domestic War of the Roses and enough Machiavellian backstabbing among royalty to make the present foibles of the monarchy seem even more trifling than they already are. In the 16th century, Henry VIII's matrimonial difficulties led to the split with Catholicism. Henry was appointed head of the Church of England by the English Parliament and the Bible was translated into English. In 1536, Henry dissolved the smaller monasteries and confiscated their land as the relationship between Church and State hit rocky times.
The power struggle between monarchy and Parliament degenerated into civil war in the mid-17th century, pitching Charles 1st's royalists (Catholics, traditionalists, the gentry and members of the Church of England) against Cromwell's Protestant parliamentarians. Cromwell's victory segued into a dictatorship, which included a bloody rampage through Ireland, and by 1660 Parliament was so fed up that it reinstated the monarchy. A period of progressive expansionism followed, as England collected colonies down the American coast, licensed the East India Company to operate from Bombay and eventually saw Canada and Australia come within its massive sphere of influence. At home, England exerted increasing control over the British Isles. The burgeoning empire's first setback occurred in 1781 when the American colonies won their war of independence. Meanwhile, Britain was fast becoming the crucible of the Industrial Revolution as steam power; steam trains, coal mines and water power began to transform the means of transport and production. The world's first industrial cities sprung up in the Midlands, causing severe dislocation of the population. By the time Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837, Britain had become the world's greatest power. Its fleet dominated the seas, knitting together the British Empire, while its factories dominated world trade.
Britain bumbled into the stalemate of WW I in 1914, resulting in the senseless slaughter of a million Britons and a widening gulf between the ruling and working classes. The latter set the stage for 50 years of labour unrest, beginning with the 1926 Great Strike and growing throughout the 1930s depression. Britain dithered through the 1920s and '30s, with mediocre and visionless government, which failed to confront the problems the country faced - including the rise of Hitler and imperial Germany. Britain's never-say-die character was forged in WW II under the guidance of Winston Churchill. Britain bounced back from Dunkirk, the relentless Luftwaffe air raids and the fall of Singapore and Hong Kong to win the Battle of Britain and play a vital role in the Allied victory. Despite the euphoria, Britain's resources and influence were exhausted and its empire declined as first India (1947), then Malaysia (1957) and Kenya (1963) gained their independence. It took until the 1960s for wartime recovery to be fully completed, but by then Britons had supposedly 'never had it so good', according to their prime minister, Harold Macmillan. The sixties briefly repositioned swinging London back at the cultural heart of the world, as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Mary Quant, David Bailey, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton and Co strutted their stuff on the world stage.
But factionalism in Northern Ireland became overtly violent, leading to the deployment of British troops in 1969. The Troubles, as they are euphemistically known, have been dogging the British and Irish governments and ruining Northern Ireland ever since. The 1970s' oil crisis, massive inflation, the three-day working week and class antagonism also brought reality crashing into the party, and in 1979 the Brits elected matronly Margaret Thatcher to come and mop up their mess for them. Thatcher broke the unions, privatized national industries, established a meritocracy, sent a flotilla to the Falklands and polarized British society. She became the longest-serving prime minister this century and left such a deep mark on the Brits that even now, going on for a decade after her political party dumped her; Baroness Maggie looms large over any discussion of domestic affairs. The ever-so-nice John Major, PM from 1990, failed to rally the nation to the Conservative cause, and was booted out in no uncertain terms in elections in May 1997. Asylum seekers, farming, education, health, Northern Ireland and the European Union still polarize opinion, but cautious optimism prevails. How England responds to the increasingly assertive nationalities of Scotland and Wales, and to the changes caused by closer interaction with Europe, will be primary factors in the future identity of the country.
Culture:
England's greatest artistic contributions have come in the fields of theatre, literature and architecture. The country is also a treasure house of art and sculpture, from every age and continent. Modern architects like Sir Norman Foster and Richard Rodgers have created dramatic and innovative structures like the Tate Modern, Millennium Bridge and Lloyds of London building. Anyone who has studied English literature at school will remember ploughing through Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens and Morrissey, and painful though it might have been at the time, no one can deny England's formidable contribution to the Western literary canon. Perhaps England's greatest cultural export has been the English language, the current lingua franca of the international community. The majority of English who profess religious beliefs belong to the Church of England, which became independent of Rome in the 16th century. Other significant protestant churches include Methodist, Baptist and Salvation Army. One in 10 Britons consider themselves Catholic, and there are now over a million Muslims and sizeable Hindu, Jewish and Sikh populations.Environment:
England is the largest of the three political divisions within the island of Great Britain. Bound by Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, England is no more than 29 km from France across the narrowest part of the English Channel. Much of England is flat or low-lying. In the north is a range of limestone hills. England was once almost entirely covered with woodland, but tree cover is now the second lowest in Europe (after Ireland). Since early this century the government has been planting conifers to reverse this situation, but the pines have turned the soils around them acid and destroyed large areas of ancient peatland. Other common trees include oak, elm, chestnut, lime (not the citrus variety), ash and beech. Although there isn't much tall flora around, you'll see plenty of lovely wildflowers in spring. The red deer is the largest mammal in England, and there are plenty of them (as well as fallow and roe deer) around. Foxes prosper, and if you're lucky you may see a badger or hedgehog. Introduced American gray squirrels are forcing out the smaller local red variety. Rabbits are everywhere, while smaller rodents such as the shrew, harvest mouse and water vole are less common (but frightfully cute). England's only poisonous snake, the adder, is rare and protected. England's national parks cover about 7% of the country and include Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Lake District, the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales, the North York Moors, the New Forest, the Broads and Northumberland. English national parks are not wilderness areas, but they do include areas of outstanding national beauty. England's climate is mild and damp, with temperatures moderated by the light winds that blow in off its relatively warm seas. The north is the coldest area; London, the southeast and the West Country are the warmest.Getting There:
London is one of the most important air-transport hubs in the world. There are five international airports servicing London (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and London City). Britain has a land link with mainland Europe. Two services operate through the Channel Tunnel. You can also get a bus or train connection to mainland Europe with a short ferry or Seacat ride thrown in. The boat trip on the shortest routes (from Dover or Folkestone to Calais or Boulogne) takes about 90 minutes.Getting Around:
Public transport in England is generally of a high standard, but can be expensive. Buses or coaches are the cheapest but slowest way to get around. On longer journeys they are also the least scenic way to travel. England has an impressive rail network, which includes a couple of beautiful lines through sparsely populated country.