England

England is one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom. The country is located on the island of Great Britain, which covers roughly , and over 100 smaller adjacent islands. It is bordered by Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, and is bordered by the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south, the Celtic Sea to the southwest and the Irish Sea to the west. Continental Europe lies to the southeast, and Ireland to the west. Its capital and largest city is London.

The terrain of England consists mainly of low hills and plains, particularly in the centre and south. High and rugged terrain is mainly in the north and west, including Dartmoor, the Lake District, the Pennines and the Shropshire Hills. England's population of 56.3 million accounts for 84% of the UK population, and is largely concentrated in urban areas in London, the South East and the Midlands, North West, North East and Yorkshire, each of which developed as major industrial areas in the 19th century. The country's capital, London, is the largest metropolitan area in the UK, with a population of 14.2 million as of 2021.

The area now known as England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but it took its name from the Germanic Angles who settled in the region from the Angeln Peninsula in the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and began to have a broad cultural and legal influence around the world since the Age of Discovery began in the 15th century. The Kingdom of England, which included Wales after 1535, ceased to be a separate sovereign state on 1 May 1707 with the enactment of the Acts of Union 1707. As a result, the Kingdom of Great Britain, which included the Kingdom of Scotland, was established.

England is the origin of the English language, the English legal system that forms the basis of the common law systems of many other countries, and many world-famous exports, including football and the Church of England; its parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other countries. It was also the site of the Industrial Revolution, which transformed the country's society into the world's first industrialized nation.