England

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REFERAT
England
England (in Latin, Anglia), country and constituent part of the island of Great
Britain, comprising, with the principality of Wales, the principal division of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England occupies all
of the island east of Wales and south of Scotland, another country and division
of the United Kingdom. United as an independent monarchy in the 10th century,
England in time achieved political control over the rest of the island, all
the British Isles, and vast sections of the world, becoming the nucleus of one of
the largest empires in history.
The capital, largest city, and chief port of England is London, with a
population of 6,967,500 (1994 estimate). It is also the capital of the United
Kingdom, and the site of the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations.
England is very roughly triangular in shape, with its apex at the mouth of the
River Tweed on the north-eastern border with Scotland. The eastern side,
bounded by the North Sea, extends generally south-east, via East Anglia, to the
North Foreland in Kent, the northern extremity of the chalk uplands in south-
eastern England called the Downs.
The western side of the triangle extends generally south-west from the mouth
of the Tweed along the border with Scotland, via the Irish Sea coast, the border
with Wales, and the Atlantic Ocean coast to Lands End, the westernmost
extremity of England and of the island of Great Britain. The northern frontier
with Scotland extends from the Solway Firth in the west along the Cheviot
Hills to the mouth of the Tweed on the east. The base of the triangle fronts
the English Channel and the Strait of Dover along the south-western and
southern coast of England.
The total area of England is 130,423 sq km (50,356 sq mi), equivalent to 57
per cent of the area of Great Britain and 54 per cent of the area of the United
Kingdom. This total includes the region of the Scilly Isles, located south-west
of Lands End in the Atlantic Ocean; the Isle of Wight, located off the southern
coast; and the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea between England
and Northern Ireland.
Language
As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of

millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, here
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it remains the principal tongue spoken by 98% of the population. It is an Indo-

European language in the Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family.
[203]
After the Norman conquest, the Old English language was displaced and
confined to the lower social classes as Norman French and Latin were used by
the aristocracy.
Politics
As part of the United Kingdom, the basic political system in England is
a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system. There has not been
a government of England since 1707, when the Acts of Union 1707, putting into
effect the terms of the Treaty of Union, joined England and Scotland to form
the Kingdom of Great Britain. Before the union England was ruled by its
monarch and the Parliament of England. Today England is governed directly by
the Parliament of the United Kingdom, although other countries of the United
Kingdom have devolved governments.In the House of Commons which is
the lower house of the British Parliament based at the Palace of Westminster,
there are 532 Members of Parliament for constituecies in England.
The St George's Cross has been the national flag of England since the 13th
century. Originally the flag was used by the maritime Republic of Genoa. The
English monarch paid a tribute to the Doge of Genoa from 1190 onwards, so that
English ships could fly the flag as a means of protection when entering the
Mediterranean. A red cross was a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and
13th centuries. It became associated with Saint George, along with countries and
cities, which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner.
Since 1606 the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the Union
Flag, a Pan-British flag designed by King James I.
National symbols
There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and
unofficial, including the Tudor rose, the nation's floral emblem, and the Three
Lions featured on the Royal Arms of England. The Tudor rose was adopted as a
national emblem of England around the time of the Wars of the Roses as a
symbol of peace. It is a syncretic symbol in that it merged the white rose of
the Yorkists and the red rose of the Lancastrianscadet branches of
the Plantagenets who went to war over control of the nation. It is also known as
the Rose of England. The oak tree is a symbol of England, representing strength
and endurance. The Royal Oak symbol and Oak Apple Day commemorate the
escape of King Charles II from the grasp of the parliamentarians after his
father's execution: he hid in an oak tree to avoid detection before safely reaching
exile.
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Museums, libraries, and galleries

English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the
historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored
by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The charity National Trust for
Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty holds a contrasting role. 17 of the
25 United Kingdom UNESCO World Heritage Sites fall within England. Some
of the best-known of these are: Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, Avebury and
Associated Sites, Tower of London, Jurassic Coast, Saltaire, Ironbridge
Gorge, Studley Royal Park and various others.
There are many museums in England, but perhaps the most notable is
London's British Museum. Its collection of more than seven million objects is
one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world, sourced from every
continent, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its
beginning to the present. The British Library in London is the national
library and is one of the world's largest research libraries, holding over
150 million items in all known languages and formats; including around
25 million books. The most senior art gallery is the National Gallery in Trafalgar
Square, which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-
13th century to 1900. The Tate galleries house the national collections of British
and international modern art; they also host the famously controversial Turner
Prize.
Education
England's universities include some of the highest-ranked universities in the
world; Cambridge University, Imperial College London, Oxford
University, University College London and King's College London are all
ranked in the global top 20 in the 20142015 QS World University Rankings.
The London School of Economics has been described as the world's leading
social science institution for both teaching and research. The London Business
School is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its
MBA programme .

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MELISZEK MIHAI TIBERIU

As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of

it remains the principal tongue spoken by 98% of the population. It is an Indo-

Museums, libraries, and galleries

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