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June 29

June 29

June 29 is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 185 days remaining.

Events


- 1613 - The Globe Theatre in London, England burns to the ground.
- 1749 - New Governor, Charles de la Ralière Des Herbiers, arrives at Isle Royale (Cape Breton Island).
- 1786 - Alexander Macdonnell and over five hundred Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.
- 1850 - Coal is discovered on Vancouver Island.
- 1863 - George Custer is appointed as a U.S. Union brigadier-general
- 1864 - Ninety-nine people killed in Canada's worst railway disaster near St-Hilaire, Quebec.
- 1880 - France annexes Tahiti
- 1891 - United States National Forest Service is organized.
- 1891 - Street railway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, commences operation.
- 1895 - Doukhobors burn their weapons as a protest against conscription by the Tsarist Russian government.
- 1905 - Moonlight Graham makes his only major league baseball appearance, in a game between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Superbas but gets no at-bat.
- 1914 - Jina Guseva attempts to assassinate Grigori Rasputin at his home town in Siberia.
- 1922 - France grants 1 km² at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes."
- 1925 - Canada House opens in London, England.
- 1927 - First test of Wallace Turnbull's variable-pitch propeller.
- 1933 - Italian boxer Primo Carnera knocked out American Jack Sharkey to become the heavyweight champion of the world.
- 1937 - Joseph-Armand Bombardier of Canada receives patent for sprocket and track traction system used in snow vehicles.
- 1945 - Carpathian Ruthenia was annexed by Soviet Union
- 1950 - In soccer, United States defeats England 1-0 in the Football World Cup.
- 1976 - The Seychelles becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1986 - Argentina wins the
- 1995 - The NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station for the first time.
- 1995 - The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937.

Births


- 1397 - King John II of Aragon (d. 1479)
- 1517 - Rembert Dodoens, Flemish physician and botanist (d. [1585]])
- 1596 - Emperor Go-Mizunoo of Japan (d. 1680)
- 1798 - Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet (d. 1837)
- 1858 - George Goethals, American army engineer (d. 1928)
- 1861 - William Mayo, American physician and founder of the Mayo Clinic (d. 1939)
- 1868 - George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (d. 1938)
- 1880 - Ludwig Beck, German general (d. 1944)
- 1900 - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot and writer (d. 1944)
- 1901 - Nelson Eddy, American singer and actor (d. 1967)
- 1903 - Alan Blumlein, English electronics engineer (d. 1942)
- 1908 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (d. 1975)
- 1910 - Frank Loesser, American composer (d. 1969)
- 1911 - Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (d. 2004)
- 1911 - Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (d. 1975)
- 1914 - Rafael Kubelik, Czech conductor (d. 1996)
- 1915 - Ruth Warrick, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1919 - Slim Pickens, American actor (d. 1983)
- 1920 - Ray Harryhausen, American filmmaker
- 1922 - Vasko Popa, Yugoslavian poet (d. 1991)
- 1924 - Flo Sandon's, Italian singer
- 1928 - Ian Bannen, Scottish Actor (d. 1999)
- 1933 - Bob Shaw, baseball player
- 1936 - Harmon Killebrew, baseball player
- 1941 - Kwame Ture, American civil rights activist
- 1943 - Little Eva, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1944 - Gary Busey, American actor
- 1945 - Chandrika Kumaratunga, President of Sri Lanka
- 1946 - Egon von Furstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (d. 2004)
- 1952 - Joe Johnson, English snooker player
- 1956 - Pedro Santana Lopes, Prime Minister of Portugal
- 1963 - Anne-Sophie Mutter, German violinist
- 1964 - Stedman Pearson, British singer
- 1968 - Theoren Fleury, Canadian hockey player
- 1969 - Ilan Mitchell-Smith, American actors
- 1971 - Kaitlyn Ashley, American actress
- 1971 - Matthew Good, Canadian musician and activist
- 1971 - Anthony Hamilton, English snooker player
- 1972 - Samantha Smith, American activist and actress (d. 1985)
- 1977 - Oleg Korenfeld, Poet
- 1979 - Marleen Veldhuis, Dutch swimmer
- 1980 - Katherine Jenkins, Welsh soprano
- 1980 - Martin Truex Jr, American race car driver

Deaths


- 1252 - King Abel of Denmark (b. 1218)
- 1315 - Ramon Llull, Spanish philosopher (b. 1235)
- 1509 - Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (b. 1443)
- 1725 - Arai Hakuseki, Japanese writer and politician (b. 1657)
- 1744 - André Campra, French composer (b. 1660)
- 1764 - Ralph Allen, English businessman and politician (b. 1693)
- 1852 - Henry Clay, U.S. Senator (b. 1777)
- 1861 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (b. 1806)
- 1873 - Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Bengali poet (b. 1824)
- 1875 - Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria (b. 1793)
- 1895 - Thomas Henry Huxley, English scientist (b. 1825)
- 1933 - Fatty Arbuckle, American actor (b. 1887)
- 1940 - Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b. 1879)
- 1941 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
- 1967 - Jayne Mansfield, American actress (b. 1933)
- 1967 Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (b. 1906)
- 1979 - Lowell George, American musician (b. 1945)
- 1992 - Mohammed Boudiaf, President of Algeria (assassinated) (b. 1919)
- 1993 - Héctor Lavoe, Puerto Rican singer (b. 1946)
- 1994 - Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (b. 1908)
- 1995 - Lana Turner, American actress (b. 1921)
- 1999 - Allan Carr, American film producer and writer (b. 1937)
- 2000 - Vittorio Gassman, Italian actor (b. 1922)
- 2002 - Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (b. 1928)
- 2002 Ole-Johan Dahl, Norwegian computer scientist (b. 1931)
- 2003 - Katharine Hepburn, American actress (b. 1907)

Holidays and observances


- Seychelles - Independence Day
- Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (also a local holiday in Rome, of which they are patron saints)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/29 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050629.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- June 28 - June 30 - May 29 - July 29 -- listing of all days ko:6월 29일 ms:29 Jun ja:6月29日 simple:June 29 th:29 มิถุนายน

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน



England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.
Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)
Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England. The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government. London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city. Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap. Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use. The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel. The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours) The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]

Major rivers

Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

Major Conurbations

:See main article: List of towns in England The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census) #Greater London (8,278,251) #West Midlands (2,284,093) #Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066) #Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #Bournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading (369,804) #Teesside (365,323)

Economy

Main article: Economy of England

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands. This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees). The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.

English identity

The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one. A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism. One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase. Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.

Culture

Union Flag Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
  - Sir Thomas Browne
  - Geoffrey Chaucer
  - John Milton
  - William Shakespeare
  - Jane Austen
  - Mary Shelley
  - Charles Dickens
  - Thomas Hardy
  - George Orwell
  - J. R. R. Tolkien
  - C. S. Lewis
  - Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
  - English school of painting
- Music of England

Languages

Music of England.]] As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived. Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words. The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales). The only non-Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish Border. Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters. Different languages from around the world, especially from the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances. Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany. Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.

Nomenclature

The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries. There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country. The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
- "England" (Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian)
- "Engeland" (Dutch)
- "Inglismaa" (Estonian)
- "Angleterre" (French)
- "Inghilterra" (Italian)
- "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
- "Anglia" (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
- "Anglija" (Russian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Ukrainian)
- "Engleska" (Croatian, Serbian)
- "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek)
- "Englanti" (Finnish) The Celtic names are quite different:
- "Bro-Saoz" (Breton)
- "Pow Sows" (Cornish)
- "Sasana" (Irish)
- "Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)
- "Lloegr" (Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
- "Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic) Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which arrived at about the same time as the Angles. See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England. "England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct and commonly also use "England" when "Britain" would be correct. Alternative names include:
- the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
- "Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white (Latin alba) cliffs of Dover, this term has also been interpreted as a relative of Alba, today the Scots Gaelic name for Scotland. Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole island of Great Britain and is still sometimes seen that way today — but is more often used for England.
- More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations respectively from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II) and William Blake (And did those feet in ancient time). The inhabitants of England are the English. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the Scots Gaelic), "Limeys" (in reference to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English and New Zealand English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative words for British.

Symbols and insignia

alternative words for British.]] The two traditional symbols of England are the St. George's cross (the English flag) and the Three Lions coat of arms (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou. The three lions were first definitely used by Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in the late 12th century (although it is also possible that Henry I may have bestowed it on his son Henry before then). Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin line. A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with St George and England, along with other countries and cities (such as Georgia, Milan and the Republic of Genoa), which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. It remained in national use until 1707, when the Union Flag (which English and Scottish ships had used at sea since 1606) was adopted for all purposes to unite the whole of Great Britain under a common flag. The flag of England no longer has much of an official role, but it is widely flown by Church of England properties and at sporting events. (Paradoxically, the latter is a fairly recent development; until the late 20th century, it was commonplace for fans of English teams to wave the Union Flag, rather than the St George's Cross). The rose is widely recognised as the national flower of England and is used in a variety of contexts. Predominantly, this is a red rose (which also symbolises Lancashire), such as the badge of the English Rugby Union team. However, a white rose (which also symbolises Yorkshire) or a "tudor rose" (symbolising the end of the War of the Roses) may also be used on different occasions. The Three Lions badge performs a similar role for the English national football team and English national cricket team.

National anthems

Although England does not have an official anthem of its own, the following are widely regarded as English national hymns:
- "Jerusalem:" Words by William Blake, Music by Hubert Parry
- "I Vow to Thee, My Country": Words by Cecil Spring-Rice, Music by Gustav Holst
- "Land of Hope and Glory": Words by A C Benson, Music by Edward Elgar (although this refers to all of Great Britain, not only England)
- "Nimrod": Music by Edward Elgar "God Save The Queen" (the national anthem for the UK as a whole) is usually played for English sporting events (e.g. football matches), although "Land of Hope and Glory" has also been used as the English anthem for the Commonwealth Games. "Rule Britannia" despite being a song about Britain as a whole was often used for the English national football team when they play against another of the home nations but more recently "God Save The Queen" has been used by both the rugby and football teams. Many believe that English teams should use their own anthems, most popular of which is the use of "Jerusalem".

References


- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]

See also


-
- English language
- English law
- English (people)
- List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree
- List of English people
- Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named)
- UK topics
- List of not fully sovereign nations
- Education in England

References

External links


- [http://www.enjoyengland.com/ The official website of the English Tourist Board — Enjoy England]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]: articles on England and her neighbours Category:Monarchies Category:European countries als:England zh-min-nan:England ko:잉글랜드 ms:England ja:イングランド simple:England th:แคว้นอังกฤษ

Cape Breton Island

Image:Map of Nova Scotia highlighting Cape Breton Island.png Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Mi'kmaq: U'namakika), almost always just Cape Breton, is a large island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, although physically separated from the peninsular Nova Scotian mainland by the Strait of Canso. The island is located east-northeast of the mainland with its northern and western coasts fronting on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its western coast also forming the eastern limits of the Northumberland Strait. The eastern and southern coasts front the Atlantic Ocean, its eastern coast also forming the western limits of the Cabot Strait.

History

Cape Breton Island's first residents were likely Maritime Archaic Indians, ancestors of the Mi'kmaq Nation, who later inhabited the island at the time of European discovery. Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) reportedly visited the island in 1497 to become the first Renaissance European explorer to visit present-day Canada, however, historians are unclear as to whether Caboto first visited Newfoundland or Cape Breton Island. The island saw active settlement by France with the island being included in the colony of Acadia. A French garrison was established in the central eastern part at Ste-Ann in the early 18th century before relocating to a much larger fortification at Louisbourg so as to improve defences at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and defend France's fishing fleet on the Grand Banks. The French named the island "Île Royale." It remained part of colonial France until it was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Britain merged the island with its adjacent colony of Nova Scotia (present day peninsular Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Some of the first British-sanctioned settlers to the island following the Seven Years' War were Irish, although upon settlement, they merged with local French communities to form a culture both rich in music and tradition. From 1763 to 1784 the island was administratively part of the colony of Nova Scotia and governed from Halifax. In 1784, Britain split the colony of Nova Scotia into three separate colonies: New Brunswick, Cape Breton Island, and present-day peninsular Nova Scotia, in addition to the adjacent colonies of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. The colony of Cape Breton Island had its capital at Sydney on its namesake harbour fronting on Spanish Bay and the Cabot Strait. In 1820, the colony of Cape Breton Island was merged for the second time with Nova Scotia; this being present-day peninsular Nova Scotia. During the first half of the 19th century, Cape Breton Island experienced an influx of Highland Scots numbering approximately 50,000; a result of the Highland Clearances. Today the descendants of the Highland Scots dominate Cape Breton Island's culture, particularly in rural communities. To this day Gaelic is still the first language of a number of elderly Cape Bretonners. A campaign by the provincial government during the 19th and early 20th centuries aimed to eradicate the use of Gaelic among school children. The growing influence of English-dominated media from outside the Scottish communities saw the use of this language erode quickly during the 20th century. Tourism promotions beginning in the 1950s recognized the importance of the Scottish culture to the province (although it wasn't dominant throughout Nova Scotia), and the provincial government started encouraging the use of Gaelic once again. The establishment of funding for the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts and formal Gaelic language instruction in public schools are intended to address the near-loss of this culture to English assimilation.

Industrial history

The southeastern part of Cape Breton Island fronting the Atlantic Ocean is home to the Sydney Coal Field, an extensive underground coal seam extending at an angle from the shore beneath the seafloor of the Cabot Strait. This large deposit of high-sulphur coal was first extracted by French soldiers from Fortress Louisbourg in 1720 at nearby Port Morien. An area of Inverness County fronting the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Port Hood and Inverness also hosts an undersea coal seam which is part of the Pictou Coal Field. In 1826 all mining rights in Nova Scotia were transferred from the Duke of York to a monopoly named the General Mining Association. The GMA developed some mines in the Sydney area but mostly concentrated on the mainland part of Nova Scotia. In 1858, the GMA's monopoly was broken and many American-financed mining companies were developed in the Sydney area. In the 1890s, two large conglomerates were formed; the Dominion Coal Company (DOMCO) merged all the mines on the south side of Sydney Harbour and built the Sydney & Louisburg Railway. The GMA was transformed into Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company (SCOTIA) and developed mines on the north side of Sydney Harbour. In 1899, DOMCO financed the construction of a large integrated steel mill in Sydney's Whitney Pier neighbourhood, which was named Dominion Iron and Steel Company (DISCO); the DISCO mill smelted iron ore mined in Bell Island, Newfoundland. SCOTIA also built a steel mill in Sydney Mines. The booming economy in the Sydney area experienced immigration from Newfoundland and Eastern Europe to fuel the labour demand. In 1914 the SCOTIA steel mill was closed and in 1920 both DOMCO/DISCO and SCOTIA were merged into a new company named British Empire Steel and Coal Company (BESCO). BESCO was reorganized in 1930 as Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO). At one point, DOSCO was the largest private employer (in terms of the number of employees) in the nation. While employment in coal and steel peaked in 1913 in the Sydney area, production increased until the early 1940s as a result of mechanization and increased consumption during the Second World War. Following the war, coal production went into a decline as newer and cheaper open-pit mines were opened in western North America, railways switched to diesel fuel for locomotives, and nuclear energy and hydroelectricity gained increased acceptance. In the mid-1960s, DOSCO fell into financial difficulty as coal and steel usage continued to decline. DOSCO announced that its mines had 15 years of production left and that its steel mill was uneconomic to operate without significant modernization. In 1965-1966, a federal Royal Commission of Inquiry called the "Donald Commission" recommended that the federal government create a Crown corporation to take over operation of DOSCO mines with the aim being to gradually wean the Sydney area economy off natural resources and into a more diversified service-oriented economy. On July 7, 1967 the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO) was created and on March 30, 1968 all DOSCO mines were expropriated for $12 million by DEVCO. At the same time, the provincial government formed the Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) and took over DOSCO's steel mill, with the aim being to gradually control the shut down of this industry. DEVCO brought in new tourism initiatives throughout Cape Breton Island and funded various community economic development programs, however politics and other factors such as the 1973 oil crisis brought about by the OPEC embargo following the Yom Kippur War saw demand for coal increase dramatically, particularly for electrical generation. The federal government reversed course and chose to expand, rather than retract, the production of coal and opened new mines and modernized its DOSCO-inherited properties to serve new electrical generating stations. During the 1980s the provincial government also modernized the steel mill, however both coal and steel encountered production and financial difficulties in the 1990s and DEVCO and SYSCO both decommissioned their operations by the turn of the century or shortly thereafter. The last underground coal mine on Cape Breton Island closed in November 2001. Sydney's economy faces signficant challenges with unemployment and out-migration, as well as ongoing efforts to clean up the Sydney Tar Ponds; a legacy of DOSCO, and later DEVCO, producing coke to fuel the blast furnaces at the steel mill. The Muggah Creek estuary opening onto Sydney Harbour near the coke ovens site is contaminated with a variety of coal-based wastes. After extensive public consultation and technical study, a CDN$400-million cleanup plan, jointly funded by the federal and provincial governments awaits further environmental assessment. While the urban area of eastern Cape Breton County influenced by the coal and steel industries came to be referred to as "Industrial Cape Breton", many rural communities in the rest of Cape Breton Island have been relatively stable economically, largely due to the mix of fishing, forestry, small-scale agriculture, and a growing tourism industry as a result of the spectacular scenery found throughout the island.

Geography

The island measures 10,311 km2 in area (3,981 square miles), making it the 75th largest island in the world, and is composed mainly of rocky shores, rolling farmland, glacial valleys, barren headlands, mountains, woods and plateaus. Geological evidence suggests that at least part of Cape Breton Island was originally joined with present-day Scotland and Norway, now separated by millions of years of continental drift. Cape Breton's landscape is dominated by the Bras d'Or Lake system which the island wraps around, Boularderie Island, the Strait of Canso, and the Cape Breton Highlands, which are considered a continuation of the Appalachian chain. Principal freshwater features are Lake Ainslie, the Margaree River system, and the Mira River. Innumerable smaller rivers and streams drain into the Bras d'Or Lake estuary and onto the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Atlantic coasts. Cape Breton Island is divided into four counties: Cape Breton, Inverness, Richmond, and Victoria. Cape Breton Island is now joined to the mainland by the Canso Causeway, completed in 1955, enabling direct road and rail traffic to and from the island, but constraining marine traffic to pass through the Canso Canal at the eastern end of the causeway.

Demographics

The five main cultures are Mi'kmaq, Acadian, Scottish, Irish, and English, with respective languages Mi'kmaq, French, Scottish Gaelic, and English. English is now the primary spoken language, though some Gaelic and Acadian French are still heard. Later migrations of black Loyalists, Italians, and Eastern Europeans enriched the eastern part of the island around Industrial Cape Breton. Cape Breton has been seeing a population exodus in recent years. According to the Census of Canada, the population of Cape Breton Island in 2001 was 147,500, down from 158,260 in 1996. Racial Composition
- 95.0% White
- 3.6% Indian
- 0.7% Black
- 0.1% Arab Religious Groups
- 95.8% Christian Jewish and a minimal Sikh population exists in the city.

Economy

Sydney on the east coast of the island has traditionally been the main port, with various facilities in a large sheltered natural harbour. The Marine Atlantic terminal at North Sydney is where some of Canada's largest ferries have daily departures year-round to Channel–Port aux Basques and seasonally to Argentia on the island of Newfoundland. Point Edward on the west side of Sydney Harbour is the location of Sydport, a former navy base now converted to commercial use, as well as the Canadian Coast Guard College. Petroleum, general cargo, bulk coal, and cruise ship facilities are also located in Sydney Harbour. Port Hawkesbury has risen to prominence since the completion of the Canso Causeway and Canso Canal created an artificial deep-water port, allowing extensive petrochemical, pulp and paper, and gypsum handling facilities to be established. The St. Peters Canal is no longer used by commercial shipping on Cape Breton Island but is an important waterway for recreational vessels. The Strait of Canso is completely navigable to seaway-max vessels, and Port Hawkesbury is open to the deepest-draught vessels on the world's oceans. Large marine vessels may also enter Bras d'Or Lake through the Great Bras d'Or channel whereas small craft have the additional use of the Little Bras d'Or channel or St. Peters Canal. The primary east-west road on the island is Nova Scotia Highway 105, the Trans-Canada Highway, although the Nova Scotia Highway 104 expressway is scheduled to be extended from Port Hawkesbury along the south side of Bras d'Or Lake to the Sydney area and will likely see the Trans-Canada designation switched to this route when completed. Nova Scotia Highway 125 is an important arterial route around Sydney Harbour in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Nova Scotia Highway 4, as well as the Cabot Trail, are important secondary roads. Railway connections between the port of Sydney to Canadian National Railway in Truro are maintained by the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway. The Sydney area faces several challenges with the closure of the Cape Breton Development Corporation's (DEVCO) coal mines by 2001 and the Sydney Steel Corporation's (SYSCO) steel mill. In recent years a federal agency Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation has been attempting to diversify the area economy by investing in tourism developments, call centres, and small businesses. While the Cape Breton Regional Municipality is in transition from an industrial to a service-based economy, the rest of Cape Breton Island outside of the industrial area surrounding Sydney has been more stable, with a mixture of fishing, forestry, small-scale agriculture, and tourism. Tourism in particular has grown throughout the post-Second World War era, especially the growth in vehicle-based touring, which was furthered by the creation of the Cabot Trail scenic drive. The scenery of the island is rivalled in northeastern North America only by Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island tourism marketing places a heavy emphasis on its Scottish Gaelic heritage through events such as the Celtic Colours Festival, held each October, as well as promotions through the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts.

Cape Breton Island is famous for:


- Coal mining and steelmaking, although both industries are now dormant. The Industrial Cape Breton region sits atop some of the most extensive subsurface coal deposits in the world, and, through the Second World War, industrial concerns in the area were among the largest employers in all of Canada;
- The Men of the Deeps male choral group composed of miners and former miners;
- District 26 of the United Mine Workers of America, the only district of the UMWA to attempt to join the Red International of Trade Unions;
- The Cabot Trail, a scenic road circuit around and over the Cape Breton Highlands with spectacular coastal vistas. The Conde Naste travel guide rated this the best island destination in the world. The local economy is primarily sustained by the summer tourism season, when approximately 400,000 visitors drive the scenic loop;
- Cape Breton fiddle music, a two-century-old Scottish fiddle style of music, containing remnants of Irish and Acadian music as well, and dance form preserved by Irish and Scottish descendants and readily accessible along the Ceilidh Trail;
- Fortress Louisbourg, a restored 18th-century fortified French harbour town;
- Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born inventor who eventually settled permanently at his summer residence near Baddeck and who invented the telephone, hydrofoil, hearing aid, and iron lung, among other creations, as well as doing extensive work with hearing- and visually-impaired persons, notably Helen Keller; Bell contributed to the design of the Silver Dart, an aircraft that made the first powered flight in the British Empire on Cape Breton Island;
- The Marconi Museum, a museum celebrating the first trans-Atlantic radio signals sent by Marconi;
- Alistair MacLeod, the noted fiction writer and winner of the Dublin Prize;
- Angus MacAskill, giant and strongman with P.T. Barnum's museum;
- Glen Breton, the only single malt whisky distilled in North America.
- The setting for the play and film Johnny Belinda by Elmer Blaney Harris.
- The 1995 Movie Margaret's Museum starring Helena Bonham Carter.
- Singer Songwriter Rita MacNeil
- Fiddle player Natalie MacMaster
- Setting for the 1984 movie The Bay Boy starring Keifer Sutherland
- Setting for the 1999 movie New Waterford Girl
- Home of fiddler Ashley MacIsaac
- Home of Actor Rick Ravanello
- The movie The Hanging Garden
- The movie Marion Bridge
- Former NHL hockey player Mike McPhee
- Former NHL star hockey player Al MacInnis

See also


- Canadian Gaelic
- Cape Breton accent
- Provinces and territories of Canada
- Cape Breton Labour Party
- Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia
- Category:Islands of Nova Scotia Category:Former British colonies zh-min-nan:Breton Hái-phīⁿ Tó

Highlanders

Highlander may refer to the following:
- a person from the Scottish Highlands
- Toyota Highlander, a SUV
-