England
England is a country on the island of Great Britain in the north-west of Europe and is part of the United Kingdom. It is home of the English language currently spoken by perhaps a billion people, and was the seat of an empire that spanned the globe. It is the location of the parliament of the United Kingdom, and holds a majority of the population, making it politically and economically significant to the UK as a whole.
History
From AD 43, the Romans invaded Britain and took control over the southern half of the islands, where they founded the fort of "Londinium", which later became London. As the Roman Empire abandoned its frontier territories, Germanic tribes, specifically the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, began to settle over the majority of the island. Kingdoms formed, such as Northumbria (Anglian) in the north, Wessex (named after the West Saxons) in the south west and Kent (probably founded by Jutes, and now the name of a county) in the south east. Parts of the regions now known as Wales, Scotland, and the county of Cornwall continued to be independent Celtic nations for some time after this. The Germanic invaders were still pagans when they conquered part of Britain (e.g. Penda of Mercia was (allegedly) the last pagan King). The English peoples were converted to Christianity, however, in the 7th Century AD. This happened from two directions: the mission of St. Augustine, emissary of Gregory the Great came initially to Kent, while the (successful) mission to the Northumbrian Angles (and from there to peoples further south) was from the Celtic church based in northern British monasteries such as Iona and Lindisfarne. The entire British Isles later came under the sway of Roman Catholicism as the powerful Northumbrian King, Oswy, chose in favour of Roman practice in AD 664 ('Synod of Whitby').
Later, in 1066 AD, the Norman French Duke William the Conqueror defeated the last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold Godwinson, and amongst the privileged elite French language and customs became a part of English culture, however for the most part the common population continued to use their own language and customs.
Religion
England is a country of diverse religions. In 1533 AD King Henry VIII formed the Protestant Church of England after the pope refused to allow a divorce between the king and his wife. Since then, the country has remained primarily Anglican with the notable exception of the Catholic reign of Mary I. More recently, the number of Roman Catholics is poised to overtake the number of Anglicans in the country, a trend that is likely to continue with an influx of migrants from Catholic countries such as Ireland and recent EU accession countries such as Poland[1]. As with the UK as a whole, the significant minority religions include Hinduism, Judaism and Islam.
Influence
England is the home of the English language, which was later spread to all parts of the world by the British Empire, along with traditional English concepts such as universal suffrage, parliamentary government, the jury system, and freedom of speech.