Teacher: Petrisor AdinaSchool: C.N.E.T

Group formed of:Balan Andrei, Floroiu Denisa,

Iovita Cristinel, Zestroiu Adriana

England

1. IntroductionEngland (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.

2. GeographyEngland 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 Land’s 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 Land’s 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.

England's terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north (for example, the mountainous Lake District, Pennines, and Yorkshire Dales) and in the south west (for example,Dartmoor and the Cotswolds).

The former capital of England was Winchester until replaced by London in the 12th century. Today London is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures.

3. HistoryThe area now called England was first inhabited by

modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in 927 AD, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world.The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law – the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world – developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations.[5] The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation.[6]

The Kingdom of England– which after 1284 included Wales – was a sovereign state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union put into effect the terms agreed in the Treaty of Union the previous year, resulting in a political union with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

A prolonged agricultural depression in Britain at the end of the 19th century, together with the introduction in the 20th century of increasingly heavy levels of taxation on inherited wealth, put an end to agricultural land as the primary source of wealth for the upper classes.

Many estates were sold or broken up, and this trend was accelerated by the introduction of protection for agricultural tenancies, encouraging outright sales, from the mid-20th century.

Following a process of decolonisation in the 20th century the vast majority of the empire became independent; however, its cultural impact is widespread and deep in many countries of the present day.

England, as part of the UK, joined the European Economic Community in 1973, which became the European Union in 1993.

3. ScienceProminent English figures from the field of science and

mathematics include Sir Isaac Newton- who is one of the most influential figures in the history of science, Michael Faraday, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Priestley, J. J. Thomson,Charles Babbage, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Christopher Wren, Alan Turing,Francis Crick, Joseph Lister, Tim Berners-Lee, Paul Dirac, Andrew Wiles and Richard Dawkins.

Inventions and discoveries of the English include: the jet engine, the first industrial spinning machine, the first computer and the first modern computer, the World Wide Web along with HTML, the first successful human blood transfusion, the motorised vacuum cleaner,  the lawn mower, the seat belt,

 the hovercraft, the electric motor, steam engines, and theories such as the Darwinian theory of evolution and atomic theory. Newton developed the ideas of universal gravitation, Newtonian mechanics, and infinitesimal calculus, and Robert Hooke his eponymously named law of elasticity. Other inventions include the iron plate railway, the thermosiphon, tarmac, the rubber band, the mousetrap, "cat's eye" road marker, joint development of the light bulb, steam locomotives, the modern seed drill and many modern techniques and technologies used in precision engineering.

4. CuisineEngland is known for its bland cuisine. Traditional

middle-class notions of diet put meats at the heart of the main meal, which usually was eaten at midday. Along with this main course, there might be a dish such as a meat casserole, and fish also was consumed. Heavy sauces, gravies, soups and stews or puddings (savory and sweet), and pasties and pies also were eaten. Vegetables included potatoes and carrots, turnips and cabbage, and salad vegetables. Fruit was also part of the diet, though in small proportions. Lighter meals included variations of the sandwich. Breakfast foods ranged from hot cereals to tea, toast, and marmalade, to steak, eggs, and kidneys. These foods were not available to most people before World War II. The rural poor, for example, ate a diet based on cheese and bread, with bacon eaten a few times a week,, supplemented by fresh milk

if available, cabbage, and vegetables if a garden was kept. All the classes drank tea; beer was drunk by the working classes and other alcoholic beverages were drunk by the middle and upper classes.

5.LiteratureThe elaboration of an expressly English literature

began in the medieval period with Geoffrey Chaucer and continued into the Renaissance and then into the Restoration with William Shakespeare, John Milton, and John Dryden. During those periods, drama and poetry were the major literary forms, with popular literature shading into song, cartoons, and storytelling.

The eighteenth century is notable for the emergence of new literary forms such as the novel, the true crime tale, light opera, magazines, and new oral traditions associated with England's port districts. Regionalized music and storytelling from this era still provide the foundation for much currently performed folk music in England.

The nineteenth century is the age of the Romantics and the Victorians. Artists in both movements were social realists, with the Romantics known for recovering older forms and the Victorians known for highly elaborate language. Popular literature offered the penny dreadful and a profusion of magazines that published novels and other literary work serially. New oral traditions sprang up around labor protest movements such as those of the Luddites and Chartists.

In the twentieth century, writers born in England shared the stage with Commonwealth writers such as Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, and Nadine Gordimer and with other non-English writers such as James Joyce, Dylan Thomas, and Alice Walker. The twentieth century also saw the continuance of the phenomenon of Anglicized émigré writers such as T. S. Eliot. Edwardians such as E. M. Forster and moderns such as D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf dominated the period 1900–1950.

Since World War II, the efforts of writers to stretch the bounds of genres expanded. Poetry is now performed in the form of hip-hop music or at poetry slams, while written poetry may be rooted in jazz and has lost prominence. Drama has flourished, as have filmed versions of classic and contemporary works. Novels focus on the everyday and the autobiographical, a reflection in part of women's influence on literature.

Famous works of literature include: Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Othello (William Shakespeare), Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe), Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift), Great Expectations, Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens), Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen), Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), Wuthering Heights ( Emily Bronte), Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw), The Picture Of Dorian Grey (Oscar Wilde), Lady Chatterley's Lover,  Women in Love ( D.H. Lawrence),

Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando ( Virginia Woolf), Lord Of The Flies(William Golding), 1984( George Orwell), A Clockwork Orange( Anthony Burgess), The ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Series(J.R.R. Tolkien), The ‘Harry Potter’ Series(J.K.Rowling) and others.

6. MusicThe traditional folk music of England is centuries old

and has contributed to several genres prominently; mostly sea shanties, jigs, hornpipes and dance music.

In the field of popular music, many English bands and solo artists have been cited as the most influential and best-selling musicians of all time. Acts such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Queen, Rod Stewart and The Rolling Stones are among the highest selling recording artists in the world. Many musical genres have origins in (or strong associations with) England, such as British invasion, progressive rock, hard rock, Mod, glam rock, heavy metal, Britpop, indie rock, gothic rock, shoegazing, acid house, garage, trip hop, drum and bass and dubstep.

7.PersonalitiesA list of famous english people include: Queen

Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill, Princess Diana of Wales, Margaret Thatcher, William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Oliver Cromwell, John Lennon, Queen Victoria, Horatio Nelson, Captain James Cook, Alan Turing, Queen Elizabeth I, King Henry VIII, Stephen Hawking, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, King Arthur, Florence Nightingale, Freddie Mercury, Julie Andrews, Paul McCartney, Charlie Chaplin, J.K. Rowling, David Beckham, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, George Michael, Laurence Olivier, Lewis Hamilton, Anthony Hopkins, Mick Jagger, Elton John, Kate Winslet, Amy Winehouse, Stephen Fry, David Bowie, Colin Firth, Emma Watson, Michael Caine, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Kate Middleton, Keira Knightley, Alfred Hitchcock,Jamie Oliver amongst others.