Norfolk

East Anglian England's ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Norfolk is known for its eponymous king. To the north-west is Lincolnshire, to the west and south-west is Cambridgeshire, and to the south is Suffolk. The North Sea forms its northern and eastern border, and The Wash is its northernmost landmass. Indeed, Norwich serves as the county seat. Norfolk has a population of 859,400 and an area of 2,074 square miles (5,370 square kilometers) despite its mostly rural character, as seen by the county's low population density of 401 people per square kilometer (155 per km2). Four large cities account for 40% of the county's population: Norwich (213,000), Great Yarmouth (63,000), King's Lynn (46,000), and Thetford (25,000)

The Broads, located in the eastern part of the county, are a system of rivers and lakes that flow south into Suffolk. Broads Authority safeguards the region, giving it the status of a national park.

History

Prior to Roman rule, the area that would become Norfolk was inhabited by Palaeolithic people who set up camps in the western uplands where flints could be mined. These people arrived in the area some 950,000 years ago. In the first century B.C., the Iceni evolved as a distinct Brittonic people. In 47 AD, commanded by Boudica, the Iceni rose up against the Roman invasion. The territory was accessible to the Romans when the second uprising was put down. During the Roman period, roads and ports were built, and farming became commonplace in the region.

Being on the shore made the Iceni homelands easy targets for invaders from the mainland and other regions of Britain, thus forts were constructed to ward off the Saxons and the Picts. These dangers may have contributed to a period of population decline when the Romans left. Soon later, Germanic peoples from the North Sea area moved in the region. Though they were known as Angles, they were likely not tied to any tribe in particular at the time of their migration. It is believed that a sizable population settled in this area at an early date (perhaps the turn of the fifth century, before the supposed arrival of Hengist and Horsa in Kent) and that this population growth was widespread.

The Angles dominated the area by the fifth century, and their descendants, the "north folk" and the "south folk," gave rise to the names "Norfolk" and "Suffolk," respectively. The kingdom of East Anglia (one of the heptarchy) was formed out of Norfolk, Suffolk, and other neighboring territories. This kingdom amalgamated with Mercia and eventually with Wessex. The influence of the early English settlers can be observed in the various place names ending in "-ham", "-ingham" and "-ton". Also common are endings like "-by" and "-thorpe," which are indicative of Danish toponyms; the region was once again attacked in the 9th century, this time by Danes who assassinated the king, Edmund the Martyr. Some academics have speculated that the presence of Celtic elements in certain Fenland area place names indicates the presence of a sizable population of Britons in the region.

In the years before to the Norman Conquest, the wetland areas in the county's eastern part were transformed into agriculture, and new communities sprang up there. By the time of the Domesday Book survey, East Anglia was one of the most densely populated regions of the British Isles, suggesting that immigration into the region was high. During the high and late Middle Ages the county developed arable farmland and textile industry. Out of an estimated 1,000 medieval churches in Norfolk, 659 remain, more than in any other British county and the highest concentration in the world, attesting to the country's affluence as the period. Before the Black Death wiped off so many people in 1349, the economy was already in trouble.

The enclosure of land by landlords under the reign of Edward VI left peasants with nowhere to graze their animals, leading to the outbreak of Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk. Robert Kett, a yeoman farmer, commanded the group, which consisted of volunteers from Norwich and the rural areas nearby. By the time the rebels took over Norwich on July 29th, 1549, his army numbered over 16,000. Kett's revolt was put to a stop on August 27 when a force led by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, decisively beat the rebels in the Battle of Dussindale. Three thousand insurgents were wiped down. Captured, Kett spent time in the Tower of London before being convicted for treason and ultimately executed in Norwich Castle.

Norwich had become England's second largest city by the end of the 16th century, but the city lost more than a third of its people to the plague in 1579 and another third to the Great Plague in 1665. It's safe to say that the majority of Norfolk's population sided with the Parliament during the English Civil War. The region's economy and agricultural output decreased. Except for Norwich, which just got its first railroad late in the game, Norfolk saw very little industrial growth during the era of the Industrial Revolution.

The Norfolk Militia was an early military organization. A significant aviation industry developed in the country in the 20th century. There was a significant increase in the number of airfields in Norfolk during World War II, thanks in large part to the expansion of the Royal Air Force and the presence of the American USAAF 8th Air Force, which used bases in the county.

Economy

In 1998, Norfolk's GDP was £9,319,000,000, making up 1.5% of the English economy and 1.25 % of the British economy. When compared to East Anglia at £13,635, England at £12,845 and the United Kingdom as a whole at £12,438, the GDP per capita in East Anglia was £11,825. There was a 5.6% unemployment rate in the county in 1999-2000, which was lower than the national and English rates of 5.8% and 6.0%, respectively.

Fortunately, 2017 statistics gave a detailed and informative update on the county's financial situation. Hourly wages averaged £12.17, with weekly wages averaging £496.80 and annual salaries averaging £25,458. Of those between the ages of 16 and 64, 74.2% were employed, with only 4.6% unemployed. According to data from April 2018, the Norfolk economy was "treading water," with manufacturing sales and recruitment remaining unchanged. "At a time when Norfolk firms face steep up-front costs, the apprenticeship system is in crisis, roads are being allowed to crumble, mobile phone and broadband 'not-spots' are multiplying, it's obvious that the key to improved productivity and competitiveness lies in getting the basics right," said a spokesperson for the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. The solution was attributed to the need for "a considerably stronger domestic economic agenda... to repair the fundamentals needed for business to prosper here," which the UK government was urged to implement.

Tourism contributed $3.25 billion to the economy in 2017 and directly supported 65,000 jobs, making it the fifth most important industry in Norfolk. Since 2012, the tourism industry had seen a growth in value of over £500 million.

Other crucial industries are those dealing with energy (oil, gas, and renewables), cutting-edge engineering and manufacturing, agriculture, and food.

Much of the generally flat and fertile ground in Norfolk has been drained for agricultural purposes. Sugar beets, wheat, malting barley, and oil seed rape are the most important cultivars. One of the county's many assets is a saffron grower. The agricultural and food industries account for about 20% of the county's workforce.

Aviva (formerly Norwich Union), Colman's (now owned by Unilever), Lotus Cars, and Bernard Matthews Farms are just a few of the well-known businesses based in Norfolk. Construction Industry Training Board now occupies the site of the decommissioned RAF Bircham Newton airport. Although the BBC East region extends as far west as Milton Keynes from its headquarters in Norwich, the BBC nevertheless dedicates a separate station, BBC Radio Norfolk, to the county of Norfolk. In 2016 and 2017, Greene King, Cranswick, and ForFarmers all grew, as did the brewing company.

The leaders of Norfolk and Suffolk's businesses have formed a Local Enterprise Partnership to promote economic development and job creation in the two counties. The two counties are now recognized as a hub for developing green economy services and goods thanks to their efforts to create an enterprise zone for the energy industry.

Norwich's city council had provided a wireless internet service to support local business, however the service was discontinued as funding dried up.

In 2018, fisherman such as John Lee, a fifth-generation crabman who supplies M Restaurants and the Blueprint Café with Cromer Crabs, kept the industry afloat.

England, UK Description

England is the UK's largest constituent unit, occupying more than half of the island. Despite its political, economic, and cultural legacy, England is no longer a governmental or political unit. 

With its rich soil and crisscrossing network of rivers and streams, England has been and remains a thriving agricultural economy. England became the epicenter of the global Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, quickly rising to the top of the global industrialization rankings. Manufacturing industries in Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool turned raw materials into finished goods for export. London, the country's capital, became one of the world's most important cities, a hub for a global political economy. The London metropolitan area continues to be Europe's financial center and a hotbed of innovation, particularly in the fields of popular culture.

At the same time, the UK is a place with a very developed tourism industry. The culture and scenery of the UK attract a lot of tourists to come for vacation all year round. If you also want to travel to the UK or have been there and want to leave some traces of your visit, you can try to customize Custom Keyrings with a UK theme, such as the British flag, Buckingham Palace, etc.  Customized keychains can be carried with you and retain beautiful travel memories.

One of the most fundamental features of the English language is its diversity within a limited compass. Even England's most remote regions are accessible by car or train within a day's drive or train ride of London. Many English people identify with the regions or shires from which they are descended—for example, Yorkshire, the West Country, or the Midlands—and maintain strong ties to those regions even if they live in other parts of the country. Some differences exist, but many more, especially as England transitioned from a rural to an urban society, began to fade after 1945. The country's island location has shaped the English character, which values social harmony, social harmony, and good manners that ensure orderly relations in a densely populated landscape, among other characteristics.

During the dismantling of Britain's vast overseas empire in the mid-20th century, England suffered an identity crisis, and much attention has been paid to discussions of "Englishness"—that is, what it means to be English in a country that now has large immigrant populations from many former colonies and is far more cosmopolitan than insular. Although influenced by other cultures, English culture is distinct and difficult to define. The Lion and the Unicorn by George Orwell, a self-described "revolutionary patriot" who chronicled politics and society in the 1930s and 1940s, makes this observation. 

Geographical Description of England

Except for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire in the east, England's topography is low-lying but rarely flat. The area has many rolling hillsides, with the highest elevations in the north, north-west, and southwest. Intricate underlying structures have resulted in intricate patterns in the landscape. The oldest sedimentary rocks and some igneous rocks (found in isolated granite hills) are found in Cornwall and Devon, while the most recent alluvial soils are found in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk. Both the sandstone and limestone bands that separate these two regions date from prehistoric times when large sections of central and southern England were submerged under warm seas. Geological forces lifted and folded some of these rocks, forming northern England's spine. Scafell Pike, England's highest point, stands at 3,210 feet (978 metres) and is part of the world's highest mountain range. The northern mountains are mostly slate, while the southern mountains are mostly lava flows. Mountain ranges have developed from the North Downs at 965 feet (294 meters) to the Cotswolds at 1,083 feet (330 meters).

The Chiltern Hills, North Yorkshire Moors, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wolds, and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wolds were rounded into distinctive plateaus with west-facing escarpments during the Pleistocene Epoch (about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago). A land bridge connecting Britain to the rest of Europe was engulfed as the last glacial sheet melted. The retreating glaciers left behind gravel, sand, and glacial mud, further altering the land surface. Rain, rivers, and tides, as well as subsidence, have shaped the hills and coastline of eastern England. Limestone, gritstone, and carboniferous strata plateaus are associated with major coalfields, some visible as surface outcrops.

A great example of England's geologic complexity is its cliff structure. The chalk cliffs of Dover are made up of a series of sedimentary rocks of varying ages that start at Land's End in the far southwest and end at the Isle of Wight. The English coastline is dotted with cliffs, bays, and river estuaries that add to the overall beauty of the landscape. 

England's weather is as varied as its topography. The average temperature in England, like other temperate maritime zones, is moderate, ranging from around 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) in January to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) in July in the Thames river valley (32 degrees Celsius). Tacitus, the Roman historian, described it as "unpleasant" with "frequent rains and mists but no extreme cold." However, the higher elevations of England receive snow for roughly 50 days out of the year. In fact, the northwest and southwest of England are particularly "wet". These areas receive less than 30 inches (750 mm) of rain per year and are frequently subject to severe drought. Rainfall averages only 20 inches in parts of the southeast (500 mm). The weather has influenced English art and literature not only seasonally but also day-to-day and even hour-to-hour. The bumbershoot's moniker as the stereotypical English gentleman's walking stick is not accidental.

The Economy of England

In the 18th and 19th centuries, England's economy was primarily agricultural until the Industrial Revolution transformed it into a highly urbanized and industrialized region as a result of the Industrial Revolution. A result of the close proximity of coal and iron ore deposits, heavy industries (iron and steel, textiles, and shipbuilding) sprang up in the north-eastern counties, and they continue to thrive today. During the 1930s, the Great Depression and foreign competition both contributed to a decline in manufactured goods production and an increase in unemployment in the industrial north, which contributed to the Great Depression. Residents of these northern counties who were out of work were forced to relocate south to London and its environs. Because of urbanization and industrialization, the southeast has become dominated by industries such as automotive, chemical, electrical, and machine tool manufacturing. Despite the fact that population growth and urbanization significantly reduced farmland in England during the twentieth century, the geographical counties of Cornwall, Devon, Kent, Lincolnshire, Somerset, and North Yorkshire have retained a significant proportion of their agricultural land.

Another period of industrial decline occurred in the late twentieth century, during which coal mining was virtually phased out and job losses in industries such as iron and steel production, shipbuilding, and textile manufacturing were particularly severe. The decline of these industries had a disproportionately negative impact on the economies of the north and the Midlands, while the economies of the south remained relatively prosperous. By the turn of the twenty-first century, the service sector had taken over as the dominant sector of the English economy, with banking and other financial services, retail, distribution, media and entertainment, education, health care, and hotels and restaurants among the leading sectors.