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The English are an ethnic group or nation primarily associated with England and the English language. The largest single population of English people reside in England, the largest constituent country of the United Kingdom.Definition of England from thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 14 July 2006.England Country Guide - Overview from World Travel Guide. Retrieved 14 July 2006.
Origins The English as an ethnic group trace their heritage to the Romano-Britons, Archeological discoveries suggest that North Africans may have had a limited presence in those parts of Britain that were to become England at the time of the Roman Empire. Genetics The preponderance of the R1b haplotype on the Y chromosomes of English men (about 70%) indicates that they are descended primarily from the earliest paleolithic peoples thought to have recolonised western Europe after the end of the last major glaciation some 10-12 thousand years ago. There are thought to have been three separated pockets of human habitation in Europe during the last major glaciation (the end of the paleolithic and the Pleistocene), on the Iberian peninsula, in the Balkans and in the Caucuses. The Y chromosome haplotypes from these populations are thought to correspond to R1b (Iberian), I (Balkans) and R1a (Caucuses), these three haplotypes occur all over Europe, but their frequencies are not spread uniformly.Haplogroup R1b, R1b1 & R1a DNA Results Shirley Association website. Retrieved 12 August 2006.World Haplogroups Maps. Retrieved 12 August 2006. Y chromosome analysis of people from Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Friesland and the Basque Country of Northern Spain and South Western France has revealed that the Germanic (Danish/North German/Frisian) component in the male line of descent is higher in some areas of England than others. It is highest in York and Norfolk, where the Germanic Y chromosome occurs in about 60% of men, while indigenous Y chromosomes comprise about 40%. The research cannot distinguish between Danish (the presumed source of Danish-Viking settlers to East and Northern England), North German (Schleswig-Holstein, modern era) and Frisian (Anglo-Saxon) Y chromosomes. It concludes these data are consistent with the presence of some indigenous component in all British regions. Also, this research cannot make reference to the extent of settlement by Anglo-Saxon/Danish-Viking women. Therefore even in places like York, the total genetic contribution of these peoples would be less than 60% if fewer women than men migrated, and conversely it would be greater if more women than men settled. Computer simulations have shown that it is theoretically possible for a small Anglo-Saxon population that was politically and economically dominant to support larger families, which in turn could have resulted in a faster population growth for the dominant class. This model has been likened to apartheid in South Africa.Evidence for an Apartheid Like Social Structure in Early Anglo-Saxon England by Mark G. Thomas, Michael P. H. Stumpf and Heinrich Härke: Proceedings of the Royal Society, July 2006. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3627. Retrieved 06 August 2006. These data assume that there is a 50-100% Anglo-Saxon Y chromosome occurrence throughout England, but this assumption has previously been shown to be questionable. In some areas, notably Cornwall (and to a lesser extent Cumbria), some people claim a stronger ethnic connection to the ancient Britons, consequently some historians claim that Cornish people are distinct from English people.What makes Cornwall unique?: Cornwall24, independent Cornish news and comment. Retrieved 22 July 2006. Danish - Viking influence By the time of the first viking attacks the numerous petty kingdoms in south and east Britain had coalesced into what is commonly referred to as the Heptarchy. The most powerful of these at this time were Mercia and Wessex. The increasing pressure of viking attack led to more cooperation between Wessex and Mercia. Most notably, this period saw the rise of Alfred the Great, the only English born King of England to receive 'the great' appended to his name. Alfred defeated a Danish army at the Battle of Edington in 878, comming to terms with the Danish leader Guthrum. The Danelaw was a settlement of Danish-Vikings that occurred as a consequence of treaties between Alfred and Guthrum after Alfred's victory. Settlement was mainly in northern and eastern England. The influence on the English language by Danes, particularly in the former Danelaw, is most pronounced in places like York, formerly the settlement of Jorvik, although Jorvik is derived from the Old English Eoforwīcthe and in turn possibly from the Brythonic name Eborakon which was a settlement long before the Danes. These groups had a noticeable impact on the English language, for example the modern meaning of the word dream is of Old Norse origin. Additionally place names that include thwaite and by are Scandinavian in origin. Unifying into a people Following Alfred's victory his son Edward the Elder, daughter Æthelflæd lady of the Mercians and grandson Athelstan gained significant military success, incorporating much of the Danelaw into the nascent kingdom of England. The nation of England was initially formed in 937 by Athelstan of Wessex after the Battle of Brunanburh. Therefore Wessex had grown from a relatively small kingdom in the South West to become the founder of the Kingdom of the English, incorporating all Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the Danelaw. Over the following century and a half England was for the most part a politically unified entity, and remained permanently so after 959. There were both English and Danish kings during this period, including Aethelraed Unraed (sometimes refered to as Ethelred the Unready) and Canute the Great. The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought English and Danish rule to an end, and began a diminished period, both culturally and socially, for the native inhabitants. The new Norman elite almost universally replaced the English aristocracy and church leaders. The English existed as a subject class for about 300 years with the aristocracy speaking French until a full assimilation was made by the time of Chaucer, in the late 1300s. By this time a large number of French words had been added to the English language. The impact of the Normans on English government, law and culture was out of all proportion to the small number who settled there. Recent contributions Since Oliver Cromwell's resettlement of the Jews in 1656 there has been a small but continuous Jewish community in England, which has produced many notable people, including the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. There has also been a very small Black presence in England since at least the 16th century due to the slave trade and an Indian presence since the mid nineteenth because of the British Raj. Since 1945, this proportion has grown, as immigration from the British Empire and subsequent Commonwealth of Nations was encouraged due to labour shortages during post war rebuilding. Contribution to humanity The English have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Prominent individuals have included the scientists and inventors Isaac Newton, Francis Crick, Abraham Darby, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin and Frank Whittle; the poet and playwright William Shakespeare, the novelists Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and George Orwell, the composers Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst, and the explorer James Cook (for a complete list of famous English people see List of English people). English philosophers include Francis Bacon, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Paine, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell, Michael Oakeshott and Roger Scruton. English common law has also formed a foundation for legal systems throughout the world. Language English people traditionally speak the English language, a member of the West Germanic language family. The other language traditionally spoken is Cornish, a Celtic language originating in Cornwall spoken by about 3,500 people. In addition to these languages, Welsh is still spoken by a few people in the area adjacent to the border with Wales. Religion Ever since the break with the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, the English have predominantly been members of the Church of England, a branch of the Anglican Communion, a form of Christianity with elements of Protestantism and Catholicism. The Book of Common Prayer is the foundational prayer book of the Church of England and replaced the various Latin rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Perhaps the moment when the Protestant identity of England began to be questioned most radically was during the ritualist controversies of the nineteenth century. Today, most English people practising organized religion are affiliated to the Church of England or other Christian denominations such as Roman Catholicism and Methodism (itself originally a movement within the Anglican Church). In the 2001 Census, a little over 37 million people in England and Wales professed themselves to be Christian. Jewish immigration since the seventeenth century means that there is an integrated Jewish English population, mainly in urban areas. 252,000 Jews were recorded in England & Wales in the 2001 Census; however this represents a decline of about 50% over the previous 50 years, caused by emigration and intermarriage, and the long-term future of the community is a matter of some concern to community leaders. The gradual assimilation of migrants from India and Pakistan since the 1950s means that there are large populations of people in England who practise Islam (818,000), Hinduism (467,000), or Sikhism (301,000). Islam has also been important for Arabic speaking, North African migrants. The 2001 census also revealed that 7,171,332 (15%) of the population of England claim no religion. Sports There are many sports codified by the English, which then spread worldwide due to trading and the British Empire, such as: football, cricket, croquet, badminton, rugby, table tennis and lawn tennis. England, like the other nations of the United Kingdom, competes as a separate nation in some international sporting events. The English Football, Cricket (the England Cricket team represents England and Wales) and Rugby teams have contributed to an increasing sense of English identity. Supporters are more likely to carry the St George's Cross whereas twenty years ago the British Union Jack would have been the more prominent. Symbols The English flag is a red cross on a white background, commonly called the Saint George's Cross, it was adopted after the crusades. Saint George, famed as a dragon-slayer, is also the patron saint of England. The three golden lions or leopards on a red background was the banner of the kings of England derived from their status as Duke of Normandy and is now used to represent the English national football team and the English national cricket team. The Tudor rose and the English oak are also English symbols. England has no official anthem; the United Kingdom's "God Save The Queen" is widely regarded as England's unofficial national anthem. However, other songs are sometimes used, including "Land of Hope and Glory" (used as England's anthem in the Commonwealth Games), "Jerusalem", "Rule, Britannia", and "I Vow to Thee, My Country." Of these, only Jerusalem specifically mentions England . Identity Wales was annexed by England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, which incorporated Wales into the English state. In 1707 England formed a union with Scotland by the passage of the Acts of Union 1707 in both the Scottish and English parliaments, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. This was replaced again by the Act of Union 1800 which merged the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, although most of Ireland broke away from the union in 1922 to form the Irish Free State and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A new British identity began and was subsequently developed when James I expressed the desire to be known as the monarch of Britain (he was James I of England and James VI of Scotland). The English, along with the other peoples of the Britain found their old identities succeeded in favour of a new British identity. The late 1990s saw the beginning of a gradual renaissance of English national identity, spurred by devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Some English people now question what it is to be English and its relationship with being British, and are calling for the creation of a devolved English Parliament, claiming that there is now a discriminative democratic deficit, known as the West Lothian question, against people living in England. See also | ||||||||
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