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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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England
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(land area 129,720sq.km/50,085sq.m, population 47.1 million in 1991)
The largest of the three territories which together form the island of *Great Britain. The entire area of England was for the first time under single control during the *Roman occupation. In the next few centuries the *Angles (from whose name the word England derives) were one of the invading tribes from northern Europe. The process of reunification into one England, recognizing a single king, began under *Alfred the Great.
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Over the centuries England became the dominant force within the *British Isles. *Wales was merged with the English crown in 1536. *Ireland, occupied by the English for many centuries, was finally incorporated in a Union lasting 1801–1921. *Scotland was never dominated militarily in the same way; but the crowns of England and Scotland were joined in 1603 when the Scottish king, James VI, inherited the English throne as *James I; and the two countries were merged politically by the Act of *Union in 1707. There is a tendency (much resented by the other regions) for the English to use England as a synonym for the wider *United Kingdom, as for example in referring to Elizabeth II as the queen of England.
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