England is a country that is part
of the UK (United Kingdom) and the Great Britain as well. They speak English,
which is the worlds “lingua franca” such as Latin used to be. The name England
comes from the Old English name Englaland, which means "land of the Angles”. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages.
The country of England has about 53 million habitants (2011) distributed on an area of 130 395km2. Their currency is GPB (Pound Sterling), and a little fun fact; they drive on the left side of the road, which equals them driving on the right side in the car-the opposite of what we do.
Generally speaking, the parts of England closest to the Atlantic Ocean experience the mildest temperatures, although these are also the wettest and experience the most wind. The areas in the east, on the other hand, are drier and less windy, but also display cooler temperatures.
England is warmer and sunnier than any of the other countries making up the United Kingdom. The month with the most sunshine is July, which is also England’s driest month.
On average, the sun shines for about 1340 hours every year in England. The south coast has the clearest skies (i.e. the least cloud cover) due to the prevailing winds in that area. This means that counties like Kent and Sussex benefit from significantly more sunshine, attracting local and international visitors to their shores. The cloudiest areas are in the northern and western parts of England as well as in the mountainous areas.
The whole United Kingdom is an island consisting
of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and of course England. England borders to
Scotland to the north and Wales to the west. Most people do not know the
difference between England, The UK and Great Britain. Actually most people,
included myself have to admit that they have mistaken the United Kingdom's flag
for being the flag of England.
Great Britain England
The capitol city of England is a
city that is world known, and among lots of people around the world it is a
popular shopping and sightseeing destination. The city is known for its many facilities
such as the Big Ben, Madam Tussaud and the London Eye. Yes, the city I am
talking about is of course London. When you think of London you might also
think of the Buckingham palace.
England is in fact a monarchy “ruled” by Queen
Elizabeth 2nd. In reality the
queen has no power at all, she just represents the country. The one in power is
the prime minister David Cameron which at the age of 43 became the youngest
prime minister in 198 years. (!)The Prime
Minister simply choses the ministers who run Government departments and chairs
the Cabinet – the collection of the most senior of those Ministers. In
practice, however, the Prime Minister is a very powerful figure and
increasingly has been behaving like a president in other political systems,
especially in the area of foreign policy.
In England there are only three
parties to vote for. They have the Conservative party, The labour party and The
liberal democrats party. In addition to these
three main parties, there are some much smaller UK parties like for example the
UK Independence Party and the Green Party.
Education in England is overseen by the Department for
Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Local
authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education
and state schools at a local level.
The education system is divided into nursery (ages 3–4),
primary education (ages 4–11), secondary education (ages 11–18) and tertiary
education (ages 18+).
Full-time
education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16, either at
school or otherwise, with a child beginning primary education during the school
year he or she turns 5
England is a highly industrialized economy with a well established trade infrastructure. Ever since colonization started, trade has been the most prominent factor of England’s economy. The legacy has been continued into the New World as well, with strong trading relations with the EU and other western countries.
England, as an industry, produces:
I have been to London once with my family when I
was about 7 years old. I enjoyed it a lot, and even though I wasn’t quite a happy shopper as I would be if I
would travel to London now, I still found a few shops that I remember very
well. One of them being a small store not far away from the Big Ben called “Valentina”.
I was so amazed and of course I had to buy something, and even take a few
pictures. We saw most of London in a few days and I can remember having a great
time. One thing in particular about London is that you see so many different
people who totally rock their own style. London is not like Milano or Paris
where people are “hipsters” but still in a very fashionable way. In London you
can dress however you want. I remember seeing a man looking like Sherlock
Holmes walking next to a girl with an enormous amount of hair in every color of
the rainbow. To resume London is city full of opportunities and fun things to
do. However, the weather could have been better…
Pictures: google.no
