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University Of Evansville

University of Evansville

The University of Evansville (UE) is a small (approximately 2400 students), private University located in Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College, it is located on the East side of the City of Evansville, just south of the Lloyd Expressway. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and enjoys a unique student base, over half of which are female. The University features liberal arts and sciences degrees, most with strong cooperative learning opportunities off and on campus. UE operates a satellite campus, Harlaxton College, in Grantham, England. UE students commonly seek a smaller professor to class ratio, campus participation opportunities, and enjoy the University's learning and social environments. UE athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I athletics as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The teams are known as the Purple Aces. The University is known throughout the region as a leader in archaeology, mechanical engineering and computer engineering, theatre, fine arts, and education.

History

The University of Evansville began in 1854 after Moores Hill Male and Female Collegiate Institute was founded in the little town of Moores Hill in southeastern Indiana. The first college building at Moores Hill was completed on December 1, 1856, although the opening day of classes for the new college was held in the building on September 9 of that year. On March 21, 1917, George S. Clifford made a presentation at a special session of the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Church proposing to move the college to Evansville, Indiana. Clifford had prepared a map showing that if a circle with a 50-mile radius was drawn around each of the colleges within the state, none touched Evansville. After deliberation, the school was relocated to Evansville in 1919 and renamed Evansville College. In 1967, after continued growth and organizational changes, the name was changed to the University of Evansville with the approval of the Indiana State Legislature.

Purple Aces & Ace Purple

1967The University of Evansville's nickname, the Aces, was acquired after an opposing coached cracked a joke after losing to the Evansville College Pioneers in the 1920s. Dan Scism, the sportswriter credited with first using the name 'Aces' in headlines, said he did so at the suggestion of basketball coach John Harmon in 1926. "Prior to that the Aces had been called Pioneers," Scism said, "but Coach Harmon suggested I call them the Aces because he was told by Louisville's coach that he didn't have four aces up his sleeve, he had five!" Forty years after Aces came into being, mascot 'Ace Purple' was created by Evansville Press artist Larry Hill. Ace Purple is a turn-of-the century riverboat gambler, appropriate since Evansville is located on the banks of the Ohio River. However, the first Ace Purple was a rough, mean-looking character who did not go over well with Aces' fans. Artist Keith Butz softened 'Ace' in 1977 into a smiling, friendly figure who remains popular with young and old alike. At about the same time, the official nickname for University of Evansville teams became 'Purple Aces' to include the longtime school color. In 2000, the University adopted a new athletics logo that did away with the old Ace Purple logo (pictured). However, the University made sure that Ace Purple remained as a big part of home athletic events. To this day, a University of Evansville student is chosen during try-outs in August to don the Ace Purple mascot costume at all major home athletic events.

Athletics

UE athletics now include 15 NCAA Division I varsity sports, eight for women and seven for men. They include men's and women's tennis, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's and women's soccer, baseball, softball, and women's volleyball. The University of Evansville athletics department was built upon a foundation of success in men's basketball, including NCAA College Division (now Division II) national championships in 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1971. In 1977 UE began playing in NCAA Division I athletics. Tragically, that same year on December 13, a chartered DC-3 carrying the entire UE basketball team crashed in a field near the Evansville Regional Airport. In all 29 people were killed. To remember that team, Memorial Plaza stands in the middle of campus between Olmstead Administration Hall and the Harper Dining Center, crowned by a weeping basketball fountain.

Notable Alumni


- Andy Benes, MLB player
- Don Buse, NBA All-Star
- Lieutenant General John B. Conaway, former Chief of National Guard Bureau
- Wayne Davidson, former CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Ron Glass, actor
- J. Allen McCutchan, research physician
- Jerry Sloan, NBA player and head coach
- Matt Williams, writer and producer of "Home Improvement," "Thunder Alley," and "Roseanne"

External links


- [http://www.evansville.edu/ University of Evansville]
- [http://www.ueharlax.ac.uk/ Harlaxton College - the University of Evansville's British campus] Category:Evansville, Indiana Evansville Evansville Category:Universities and colleges affiliated with the United Methodist Church

University

A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. A university provides both tertiary and quaternary education. University is derived from the Latin universitas, meaning corporation (since the first medieval European universities were simply groups of scholars). medieval European universities]

History

Because of the above definition, the oldest universities in the world were all European, as the awarding of academic degrees was not a custom of older institutions of learning in Asia and Africa. However, institutions of higher learning considerably older than the most ancient European universities existed in countries such as China, Egypt and India. The Academy, founded in 387 BC by the Greek philosopher Plato in the grove of Academos near Athens, taught its students philosophy, mathematics, and gymnastics, and is sometimes considered a forerunner of modern European universities. Other Greek cities with notable educational institutions include Kos (the home of Hippocrates), which had a medical school, and Rhodes, which had philosophical schools. Another famous classical university was the Museum and Library of Alexandria. About a thousand years after Plato, institutions bearing a resemblance to the modern university existed in Persia and the Islamic world, notably the Academy of Gundishapur and later also al-Azhar University in Cairo. In Asia, there were a number of institutions of higher learning that vaguely resembled universities in the Western sense of the word. In general, these are of considerable antiquity, predating western institutions of higher learning by centuries. In China, it's recorded that the education system had been established during the Yu period (2257 BC - 2208 BC) and the imperial central academy was named Shangyang (Shang means higher and Yang means school) at the time. The higher learning institution - imperial central academy, was called Piyong in Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC - 249 BC), Taixue in Han Dynasty (202 - 220) and Guozijian in Sui dynasty. For example, Nanjing University traces its source back to the imperial central academy at Nanking founded in 258 by the Kingdom of Wu. The early Chinese state depended upon literate, educated officials for operation of the empire, and an imperial examination was established in the Sui Dynasty (581 -618) for evaluating and selecting officials from the general populace. The ancient cities of Nalanda, Vikramasila, Kanchipura and Takshasila were greatly reputed centres of learning in the east, with students from all over Asia. In particular, Nalanda was a famous center of Buddhist scholarship, and as such it attracted a vast number of Buddhist scholars from China, central Asia and Southeast Asia. In the Carolingian period, a famous academy was created by Charlemagne for the purpose of educating the children of aristocrats to help train the professionals needed to run an empire. It was a foreshadow of the rise of the University in the 11th century. The first European medieval university was the University of Magnaura in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey), founded in 849 by the emperor Bardas, followed by the University of Salerno (9th century)University of Bologna (1088) in Bologna, Italy, and the University of Paris (c. 1100) in Paris, France. Many of the medieval universities in Western Europe were born under the aegis of the Catholic Church, usually as cathedral schools or by papal bull as Studia Generali. In the early medieval period, most new universities were founded from pre-existing schools, usually when these schools were deemed to have become primarly sites of higher education. Many historians state that universities and cathedral schools were a continuation of the interest in learning promoted by monasteries. In Europe, young men proceeded to the university when they had completed the study of the trivium–the preparatory arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic–and the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. (See degrees of Oxford University for the history of how the trivium and quadrivium developed in relation to degrees, especially in anglophone universities). Universities are generally established by statute or charter. In the United Kingdom, for instance, a university is instituted by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter; in either case generally with the approval of Privy Council, and only such recognized bodies can award degrees of any kind.

Universities around the world

The funding and organisation of Universities is very different in different countries around the world. In some countries Universities are predominantly funded by the state, while in others funding may come from donors or from fees which students attending the University must pay. In some countries the vast majority of students attend University in their local town, while in other countries Universities attract students from all over the world, and may provide University accommodation for their students.

Universities and student life in different countries


- British universities
- Dutch universities
- French universities
- Irish universities
- Italian universities
- Spanish universities
- US universities
- Egyptian universities

Selective admissions

Unlike community colleges, enrollment at a university is generally not available to all. However, admission systems vary widely around the world, as discussed in the article college admissions.

Colloquial usage

Colloquially, the term university is used around the world for a phase in one's life: "when I was at university…"; in the United States, college is often used: "when I was in college…". See college, §3, for further discussion. In the United Kingdom and Australia "University" is often contracted to simply "Uni". The usual practice in the United States today is to call an institution made up of several faculties and granting a range of higher degrees a "university" while a smaller institution only granting bachelor's or associate's degrees is called a "college". (See liberal arts colleges, community college). Nevertheless, a few of America's oldest and most prestigious universities, such as Boston College, Dartmouth College and the College of William and Mary, have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons though they offer a wide range of higher degrees.

See also


- Corporate universities
- List of colleges and universities
- List of oldest universities in continuous operation
- List of academic disciplines
- Medieval universities, including list of
- Muslim educational institutions
- Private university
- Public university
- School and university in literature
- University ranking
- College applications
- Wikiportal/University
- [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikiversity Wikiversity]

Related terms

: academia - academic rank - academy - admission - alumnus - aula - [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brain_farm Brain farm ]-Bologna process - business schools - Grandes écoles - campus - college - college and university rankings - dean - degree - diploma - discipline - [http://wiktionary.org/wiki/Dissertation dissertation] - faculty - fraternities and sororities - graduate student - graduation - lecturer - medieval university - medieval university (Asia) - mega university - perpetual student - professor - provost - rector - research - scholar - senioritis - student - tenure - tuition - undergraduate - universal access - university administration

References


- Walter Ruegg (ed), A History of the University in Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (3 vols) ISBN 0521361079 (vol 3 reviewed by Laurence Brockliss in the Times Literary Supplement, no 5332, 10 June 2005, pages 3-4). Category:Educational stages ko:대학교 ms:Universiti ja:大学 simple:University th:มหาวิทยาลัย

1854

1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 13 - The accordion is patented by Anthony Faas.
- January 21 - Loss of the Tayleur - 380 drowned, later dubbed "the first Titanic"
- February 11 - Major streets lit by coal gas for first time.
- February 13 - Mexican troops force William Walker and his troops to retreat to Sonora
- February 14 - Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas is completed.
- February 17 - The British recognize the independence of the Orange Free State.
- February 27 – Britain sends Russia an ultimatum to withdraw from two Ottoman provinces it had conquered, Moldavia and Wallachia
- February 28 - The United States Republican Party is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.
- March 1 - German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears, two years later his remains are found in the canal near Charlottenburg
- March 11- Royal Navy fleet sails from Britain under Vice Admiral Sir Charles Napier
- March 20 - The Boston Public Library opens to the public.
- March 27 – United Kingdom declares war on Russia – Crimean War begins
- March 28 – France declares war on Russia
- March 31 - Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy, signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, to be precise, Tokugawa Shogunate, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade. (See History of Japan)
- May 30 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
- June - The Grand Excursion takes prominent Eastern U.S. inhabitants from Chicago, Illinois to Rock Island, Illinois by railroad, then up the Mississippi River to St. Paul, Minnesota by steamboat.
- June 10 - The first class of the United States Naval Academy graduate at Annapolis, Maryland
- June 21 - In the battle at Bomarsund in Åland, Royal Navy mate Charles D. Lucas throws a live Russian artillery shell overboard by hand before it explodes - the incident is the first that will be retroactively awarded the Victoria Cross in 1857
- July 6 - In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the U.S. Republican Party is held.
- July 13 - In the battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General Jose Maria Yanez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset Boulbon.
- July 13 - Assassination of Khedive Abbas I of Egypt
- August 16 - Russian troops in the island of Bomarsund in Åland surrender to French-British troops
- September 20 - Crimean War: At the Alma, the French-British alliance wins the first battle of the war.
- October 1 - The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Mass. to become the Waltham Watch Company pioneer in the American System of Watch Manufacturing.
- October 17 - Newspaper The Age is founded in Melbourne, Australia.
- October 21 - Florence Nightingale leaves for Crimea with 38 other nurses
- October 25 - Crimean War: The Battle of Balaclava occurs, overall a victory for the allies, but it included the disastrous cavalry Charge of the Light Brigade, from which only 200 of 700 men survive.
- November 5 - Crimean War: Russians lose again at the Battle of Inkerman.
- November 17 - In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony.
- December 8 - Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin. original sin cases in the London epidemic of 1854]]
- The Polyglotta Africana, an early classification of African languages based on field work under freed slaves in Freetown, Sierra Leone, is published by Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle
- Frederick Augustus Albert succeeds to the throne of Saxony.
- Stockholm, Wisconsin is founded by immigrants from Karlskoga, Sweden (cf 1252).
- Chemistry Professor Benjamin Silliman, of Yale University is the first to fractionate petroleum by distillation.
- Abraham Pineo Gesner invents a process for extracting kerosene from coal.
- Said Pasha succeeds his nephew Abbas as pasha of Egypt.
- A Russian fort is established at the present site of Almaty.
- Aurora, Ontario is first settled.
- Spiegelthal excavates the tomb of Alyattes II.
- The Ambrotype is introduced for photography.
- Election of New York City mayor Fernando Wood begins the ascendancy of Tammany Hall.
- An epidemic of cholera in London kills 10,000. Dr John Snow traces the source of one outbreak (that killed 500) to a single water pump, validating his theory that cholera is water-borne, and forming the starting point for epidemiology.
- The Iceland trade is opened to foreigners.
- The future site of Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire is purchased by Captain Asa Brewer.

Births


- January 18 - Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
- February 17 - Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1902)
- March 14 - Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1915)
- March 14 - Thomas R. Marshall, Vice President of the United States (d. 1925)
- March 15 - Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1917)
- April 22 - Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1943)
- April 29 - Henri Poincaré, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1912)
- May 11 - Albion Woodbury Small, American sociologist (d. 1926)
- May 24 - John Riley Banister, law officer, cowboy, and Texas Ranger (d. 1918)
- July 3 - Leos Janacek, Czech composer (d. 1928)
- July 12 - George Eastman, American inventor (d. 1932)
- July 27 - Takahashi Korekiyo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1936)
- August 2 - Milan I, King of Serbia (d. 1901)
- September 1 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (d. 1921)
- September 6 - Georges Picquart, French general and Minister of War (d. 1914)
- October 16 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900)
- October 20 - Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (d. 1891)
- November 5 - Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
- November 6 - John Philip Sousa, American composer and conductor (d. 1932)
- November 21 - Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922)
- December 23 - Victoriano Huerta, President of Mexico (d. 1916)
- December 24 - Thomas Stevens, English cyclist (d. 1935)
- Edward Harkness, American philanthropist (d. 1940)
- C. W. Post, American cereal manufacturer (d. 1914)

Deaths


- January 8 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (b. 1768)
- February 17 - John Martin, English painter (b. 1789)
- March 6 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (b. 1778)
- March 11 - Willard Richards, American religious leader (b. 1804)
- March 13 - Thomas Noon Talfourd, English jurist (b. 1795)
- April 15 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (b. 1773)
- April 29 - Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, British general (b. 1768)
- July 6 - Georg Ohm, German physicist
- September 8 - Angelo Mai, Italian cardinal and philologist (b. 1782)
- December 15 - Kamehameha III, King of Hawaii (b. 1814?)
- Abbas I, Pasha of Egypt (b. 1813) Category:1854 ko:1854년 ms:1854 simple:1854 th:พ.ศ. 2397

United Methodist Church

The United Methodist Church is the largest Methodist, the largest mainline, and, after the Southern Baptist Convention, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. In 2004 worldwide membership was about 11 million members: 8.6 million in the United States, 2.4 million in Africa, Asia and Europe. The United Methodist Church (UMC) was formed in 1968 as a result of a merger between the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church which were themselves the results of mergers. The Methodist Church was formed in 1939 as the result of a merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Methodist Protestant Church.

Organization

Image:umclogo.png®
Used with permission
- .
The UMC is organized into conferences. The highest level is called the General Conference and is the only organization which may speak officially for the UMC. The General Conference meets every four years (quadrennium). Legislative changes are recorded in The Book of Discipline which is revised after each General Conference. Non-legislative resolutions are recorded in The Book of Resolutions, which is published after each General Conference, and expire after eight years unless passed again by a subsequent session of General Conference. The last General Conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2004. The next General Conference is scheduled to be held in Fort Worth, Texas in 2008. Beneath the General Conference are Jurisdictional and Central Conferences which also meet every four years. Their chief purpose is to elect and appoint bishops to serve the UMC. The United States is divided into five Jurisdictions: Northeast, Southeast, North Central, South Central and Western. Outside the United States the UMC is divided into seven Central Conferences: Africa, Congo, West Africa, Central & Southern Europe, Germany, Northern Europe and Philippines. Jurisdictions and Central Conferences are composed of Annual Conferences. The Annual Conference, roughly the equivalent of a diocese in the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church or a synod in some Lutheran denominations such as the ELCA, is the basic unit of organization within the UMC. The term Annual Conference refers to the geographical area it covers as well as the frequency of meeting. Clergy are members of their Annual Conference, and are appointed to a local church or other charge annually by their Bishop at the meeting of the Annual Conference. In many ways, the UMC operates as a confederation of the Annual Conferences, and interpretations of the Book of Discipline by one conference are not binding upon another. Annual Conferences are further divided into Districts, each served by a District Superintendent. The District Superintendents are also appointed annually from the ordained elder members of the Annual Conference by the Bishop. District Superintendents are not superior in ordination to other elders and upon completion of their service as superintendent they routinely return to serving local congregations. While the General Conference is the only organization that can officially speak for the UMC, there are several councils, boards, commissions, and agencies that the UMC operates on the denomination level. These include the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (GBOPHB), the General Boards of Church and Society (GBCS), Discipleship (GBOD), Global Ministries (GBGM), and Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM), The General Commissions on Archives and History (GCAH), Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (GCUIC), Religion and Race (GCORR), the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW), and United Methodist Men (GCUMM), the United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH), and United Methodist Communications (UMCom). The chief administrators of the UMC are the bishops, who serve Episcopal areas consisting of one or more Annual Conferences. The Annual Conference cabinet consists of the bishop and the district superintendents.

Clergy

The clergy includes men and women who are ordained by Bishops as Elders and Deacons and are appointed to various ministries. Elders in the UMC are part of what is called the itinerating ministry and are subject to the authority and appointment of their bishops. They generally serve as pastors at local congregations. Deacons make up a serving ministry and may serve as musicians, educators, business administrators, and a number of other ministries. Elders and deacons are required to obtain master's degrees before ordination. There is also another clerical order called local pastors. Elders may serve in and perform sacraments in any church while local pastors may only serve in and perform sacraments in the specific church that they were appointed to by their bishop. Local pastors are not required to have advanced degrees but are required to take yearly classes. All clergy appointments are made annually. Until the Bishop has read the appointments at the session of the Annual Conference, no appointments are fixed. Only under special circumstances will an appointment be changed between sessions of Annual Conference. While an appointment is made one year at a time, it is most common for an appointment to be continued for multiple years. One recent survey concluded that small church appointments currently average 3-4 years, while large church appointments average 7-9.

Laity

There are two classes of lay membership in the UMC: Baptized Members and Professing Members. The UMC practices infant baptism. Baptized Members are those who have been baptized as an infant or child, but who have not subsequently professed their own faith. Baptized Members become Professing Members through confirmation and profession of faith. New members who were not previously baptized are baptized as part of their profession of faith, becoming Professing Members. Baptism is a sacrament in the UMC, but confirmation and profession of faith are not. The lay members of the church are extremely important in the UMC. The Professing Members are part of all major decisions in the church. General, Jurisdictional, Central, and Annual Conferences are all required to have an equal number of laity and clergy. In a local church, all decisions are made by an administrative board or council. This council is made up of laity representing various other organizations within the local church. The elder or local pastor sits on the council but only as a non-voting member.

Beliefs

United Methodist beliefs are similar to many mainline Protestant denominations. Although United Methodist beliefs have evolved over time, these beliefs can be traced to the writings of the church's founders, John Wesley and Charles Wesley (Methodist), Philip William Otterbein and Martin Boehm (United Brethren), and Jacob Albright (Evangelical). With the formation of the United Methodist Church in 1968, theologian Albert C. Outler led the team which systematized denominational doctrine. Outler's work proved pivotal in the work of union, and he is largely considered the first United Methodist theologian. The official doctrinal statements of United Methodism are:
- the Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church;
- the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church;
- the General Rules of the Methodist Societies;
- the Standard Sermons of John Wesley;
- and John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the New Testament. The basic beliefs of the United Methodist Church include:
- Triune God. God is one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- Scripture. The writings in the Old Testament and New Testament are the inspired word of God.
- Sacraments. The UMC recognizes two sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion. The Church generally practices infant baptism and recognizes baptisms from other denominations, and also practices open communion.
- Inclusivity. The UMC includes and welcomes people of all races, cultures, and ages.
- Free will. The UMC believes that people, while corrupted by sin, are free to make their own choices because of God's divine grace.
- Grace. The UMC believes that God gives his love freely to all people.

Distinctive Wesleyan Emphases

The key emphases of Wesley's theology relates to how Divine grace operates within the individual. Wesley defined the Way of Salvation as the operation of grace in three parts: Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, and Sanctifying Grace. Prevenient Grace is that grace that convicts an individual of his or her own sinfulness and of the need to be reconciled to God. This grace is available everywhere and to everyone, and 'pre-vents', that is "comes before", inviting the person into repentance. Once repentant, the individual is pardoned of all sin and justified by God's Justifying Grace, defined as "the work of God for us in Jesus Christ". The repentant believer thus receives an assurance of salvation and begins the process of Sanctification, a growth not only in personal holiness (acts of piety and worship), but also in Social Holiness through acts of charity, mercy, and social justice. This growth in the individual is made possible by God's Sanctifying Grace, defined as "the work of God in us through the Holy Spirit". Wesleyan theology maintains that salvation is the act of God's grace entirely, from invitation, to pardon, to growth in holiness. For Wesley, good works were the fruit of one's salvation, not the way in which that salvation was earned. Faith and good works go hand in hand in Methodist theology. A key outgrowth of this theology is the United Methodist dedication not only to the Evangelical Gospel of repentance and a personal relationship with God, but also to the Social Gospel and a commitment to social justice issues that have included abolition, women's suffrage, labor rights, civil rights, and others. Thus, Wesleyan theology is sometimes characterized as "progressive evangelical".

Characterization of Wesleyan Theology

The UMC is considered one of the more liberal and tolerant denominations with respect to race, gender, and ideology.

Diversity Within Methodist Beliefs

In making an appeal to a toleration of diversity of theological opinion, John Wesley said, "Though we may not think alike, may we not all love alike?" The phrase "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity" has also become a maxim among Methodists, who have always maintained a great diversity of opinion on many matters within the Church. The United Methodist Church allows for a wide range of theological and political beliefs. For example, Republican President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are practicing United Methodists as are Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton and former Senator John Edwards. One source of considerable controversy within the church (as in much of mainline Protestantism) is its official positions on homosexuality. As it stands, the Book of Discipline declares homosexuality to be "incompatible with Christian teaching," prohibits the ordination of "practicing, self-avowed homosexuals," forbids clergy from blessing or presiding over same-sex unions, and forbids the use of UMC facilities for same-sex union ceremonies. Failed efforts have been made to liberalize the church's position at every general conference since the union, beginning in 1972; delegates from annual conferences on the East and West Coasts typically vote to do so, but are outnumbered by those from the South, Midwest, and overseas.

Ecumenical relations

According to the United Methodist Book of Discipline, the United Methodist Church is just one branch of the universal Christian church. Therefore, the United Methodist Church is active in ecumenical relations with other denominations. It is a member of both the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches as well as Churches Uniting in Christ. In April 2005, the United Methodist Council of Bishops approved "A Proposal for Interim Eucharistic Sharing." This document is the first step toward full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which the UMC bishops hope will happen by 2008. The ELCA approved this same document in August 2005. [http://www.elca.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/unitedmethodist/index.html] The church is also in dialogue with the Episcopal Church for full communion by 2012. [http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=7664] The two denominations are working on a document called "Confessing Our Faith Together." The United Methodist Church is in full communion with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

See also


- :Category:Universities and colleges affiliated with the United Methodist Church
- Connectionalism
- List of Methodist Bishops
- List of Methodist theologians
- Lay speaker
- Order of St. Luke
- Social Creed (Methodist)
- UMCOR
- The Upper Room
- Wesley Foundation

External links


- [http://www.umc.org/ Official website]
- [http://www.gcfa.org/ General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA)]
- [http://www.umc-gbcs.org/ The General Board of Church and Society (GBCS)]
- [http://www.gbod.org/ General Board of Discipleship (GBOD)]
- [http://www.gbod.org/youngpeople Division on Ministries with Young People (DMYP]
- [http://www.upperroom.org/ The Upper Room]
- [http://www.gbgm-umc.org/ The General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM)]
- [http://www.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)]
- [http://www.gbgm-umc.org/umw/ Women's Division]
- [http://www.gbgm-umc.org/vim/ United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (VIM)]
- [http://www.gbhem.org/ General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM)]
- [http://www.gcumm.org/ General Commission on United Methodist Men (GCUMM)]
- [http://www.naums.org/ National Association of United Methodist Scouters]
- [http://www.gcorr.org/ General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR)]
- [http://www.gccuic-umc.org/ General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (GCCUIC)]
- [http://www.gcsrw.org/ General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW)]
- [http://www.umcom.org/ United Methodist Communications (UMCom)]
- "The Cross and Flame [insignia] is used with permission. The Cross and Flame is a registered trademark and the use is supervised by the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church. Permission to use the Cross and Flame must be obtained from the GCFA, Legal Department, 1200 Davis Street, Evanston, Illinois 60201." (See the original e-mail.) Category:Methodism Protestantism Category:Churches of North America Category:Christian denominations

Campus

)]] Campus (plural: campi) is Latin for "field" or "open space". English gets the words "camp" and "campus" from this origin. In English, the plural form campuses is commonly used. The campus is the area in which a college or university and surrounding buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, student residential areas and park-like settings. The word first was adopted to describe a particular urban space at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) during the early decades of the eighteenth century. Other colleges later adopted the word to describe individual fields at their own institutions, but campus did not yet describe the whole university property. A school might have one space called a campus, one called a field, and another called a yard. The meaning expanded to include the whole property during the twentieth century, with the old meaning persisting into the 1950s in some places. Sometimes the land on which company office buildings, with the buildings, are called campuses as well, e.g. the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington, as are also hospitals with similar usage.

Sources

[http://www.dartmo.com/index.php?p=213 Dartmo: The Buildings of Dartmouth College]

See also


- Campus university
- Campus novel Category:Colleges and universities ja:キャンパス

Harlaxton Manor

Harlaxton Manor, in Harlaxton, Lincolnshire, was built from 1837 onwards by Gregory Gregory. It is currently the home of the University of Evansville's British campus. The house combines "Jacobethan" details with symmetrical Baroque massing to create a house more exuberant than any surviving Elizabethan or Jacobean mansion. The original architect was Anthony Salvin, who was replaced by architect William Burn, who is responsible for Harlaxton's interior detailing. University students from schools throughout the United States reside at Harlaxton while spending a semester studying abroad. The manor was also used in all the exterior shots for the 1999 remake of [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171363/ The Haunting], as well as interior and exterior shots in the films The Ruling Class, The Lady and the Highwayman, and The Last Days of Patton.

History

The current manor house is the second Harlaxton Manor. The first was built on a different site during the fourteenth century and was used as a hunting lodge by John of Gaunt. By 1475, the de Ligne family purchased the manor. The original manor house was deserted after 1780 and, after Gregory inherited it, was torn down in 1857. The current house was built by Gregory from 1837 to 1845 and helped usher in a renaissance of Elizabethan architecture. Upon Gregory's death, the manor passed to his cousin George Gregory and then in 1860 to a distant relative, John Sherwin. Upon the death of Sherwin's wife in 1892, it passed to his godson Thomas Sherwin Pearson, who owned the house but allowed it to fall into disrepair. Abandoned by 1935, the manor was purchased in 1937 by Violet van der Elst, the widow of a painter and a businesswoman, who developed the first brushless shaving cream. She restored the manor and arranged for it to be wired for electricity. In 1943, the British Air Force used the manor to house a company of the 1st Battalion of the British Airborne Division. Five years later, Lady van der Elst was forced to sell the manor and it was purchased by The Society of Jesus. They sold the manor, while retaining rights to some of the lands, to Stanford University in 1965. The University of Evansville acquired the manor in 1971.

External links


- [http://www.ueharlax.ac.uk/harlaxton/briefj.htm Harlaxton College website]
- [http://www.harlaxton1.freeserve.co.uk/ More Information About Harlaxton] Category:Education in Lincolnshire Category:Historic houses in Lincolnshire Category:Visitor attractions in Lincolnshire Category:Gardens in England

Grantham

Grantham is a small market town in Lincolnshire, England with about 40,000 inhabitants. Situated on the River Witham, it has the East Coast Main Line (between the stops for Peterborough and Newark Northgate) and the A1 main road from London to Edinburgh running past it (the town was bypassed in 1962). The main shopping High Street, until recently, was part of the busy A52, which runs to nearby Nottingham. There is a motorway-style [http://www.moto-way.com/page.cfm?Section=2&location=16&Category=Home service station] at the north end of the bypass, on the roundabout. The main local landmark is the [http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images/pics/1800StWulframsChurch_pic4.jpg impressive parish church] of St Wulframs, which has the third highest spire among English churches, and is also home to the country's first public library. Two world-famous people are associated with the town are Sir Isaac Newton, who was educated at the still existing King's School, Grantham, and Margaret Thatcher, who attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls Grammar School (K.G.G.S). Thatcher, born in Grantham, is still remembered personally by many inhabitants of the town. Politically the town is part of the Grantham and Stamford constituency (recently altered), is represented in Parliament by Conservative Party MP Quentin Davies and has a long history of electing Conservative members of Parliament. The local town council is staunchly Labour, but many affluent villages of South Kesteven keep the Conservative proportion of the vote beyond reach. Grantham is home to the world's only 'living' pub sign: A bee hive perched in a tree. The town is also notable for the first female police officer: on November 27th 1914, during the First World War, Miss Mary Allen and Miss E F Harburn reported for duty on the beat. During the 1980s the town was twice voted 'The Most Boring Town In Britain' in a national poll. This was partially a backlash to Thatcherism although some locals took a perverse pride in the award and it proved to be a spur for development in the town (for instance a cinema opened soon after) In 1905, Richard Hornsby (1790-1864) & Sons of Grantham (founded 1815) invented the revolutionary caterpillar track, for use with Hornsby's [http://engines.rustyiron.com/hornsby oil engines], invented by Herbert Akroyd Stuart, from which principle the diesel engine evolved. In 1909, they showed the British Army their invention, who were bemused, but took it no further than that. A short time later, Hornsby sold the patent for the caterpillar track to Holt Tractors of California, USA. Thanks to the ownership of the patent, this company would become the world-dominating Caterpillar Inc. Tractor Company. Benjamin Holt even claimed to be the real inventor. In 1914, the British Army's Colonel [http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/swinton.htm Ernest Swinton] saw one of Holt's caterpillar tractors towing a piece of artillery, and realised its literally ground-breaking role as an attack vehicle. One year later the tank was born, being made in nearby Lincoln by William Foster. It first saw action at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on September 15th 1916. During the famous Dambusters RAF mission in May 1943, the RAF Bomber Command's No. 5 Group and the operation HQ, as Barnes Wallis nervously learnt the grim news, was in a building which later housed a county council education department, and was built by Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1865, and is now a private house. In 1944 (including D-Day), this was the headquarters for the USA's 9th (IX) Troop Carrier Command, being known as Grantham Lodge. Aveling & Porter of Rochester, Kent, would join with Barford & Perkins of Peterborough to become Aveling-Barford Ltd in 1934, largely due to financial help from Ruston & Hornsby. The new company took a former site of Hornsbys, naming it the 'Invicta' works, which is from the motto on the coat of arms of Kent, and translates as 'unconquered'. It did not fare well with the sinking market for large dumper trucks and road rollers, and now as Barford Construction Equipment, it makes dumpers for construction sites, being owned by Wordsworth Holdings PLC(USA). A trailer company, Crane-Fruehauf, has moved into part of the factory, from its former home of Dereham, when it went into receivership in early 2005. British Manufacturing and Research Company (or BMARC), on Springfield Road, made munitions for many years. It was owned by the Swiss company, Oerlikon, until 1988 then became part of Astra Holdings PLC, and was bought by British Aerospace in 1992. The food processing industry now employs the largest contingent of [http://www.knowhere.co.uk/287.html Grantham]'s citizens, including [http://www.northern-foods.co.uk/index.asp?id=1001532 Fenland Foods] (part of Northern Foods) on the Earlesfield Industrial Estate, [http://www.padley.co.uk GW Padley], and a large frozen vegetable factory ([http://www.applegate.co.uk/company/12/04/701.htm PAS]) near Easton.

External Links


- [http://www.grantham-online.co.uk Grantham Online]
- [http://www.prioryfm.co.uk Priory FM - Grantham's local radio station]
- [http://www.aboutbritain.com/towns/Grantham.asp About Britain.]
- [http://www.granthamuk.com Description of the town & street photographs.]
- [http://www.granthamdramaticsociety.co.uk Grantham Dramatic Society]
- [http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/holttractor.htm The genesis of the caterpillar tractor.]
- [http://www.oldengine.org/members/ruston/front.htm History of Ruston & Hornsby.]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtankdevelop.htm Development of the first 'tanks' in the First World War.]
- [http://www.northern-foods.co.uk Northern Foods.]
- [http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=222281&page=1&pp=20 Photographic walk through the town.]
- [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-06-13/Debate-1.html BMARC and Michael Heseltine.]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/ram/document_20040913.ram Listen to a BBC documentary about BMARC/Astra.] Category:Towns in Lincolnshire

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