English people

The English people are an ethnic group and a nation that are indigenous to England. They speak English, which is a West Germanic language, and they share a shared history and culture. English is a West Germanic language. In Old English, the English were referred to as the Angelcynn, which translates to "race or tribe of the Angles." This name has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon culture from which the English have descended. Their ethnonym comes from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples that settled in Great Britain about the year 500 A.D. Their name comes from the Angles.

Both the West Germanic tribes (including the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians), who arrived in southern Britain when the Romans withdrew, and the somewhat Romanized Celtic Britons who were already residing there are the ancestors of the majority of modern-day English people. They established what was to become the Kingdom of England by the early 10th century in reaction to the invasion and significant settlement of Danes that started in the late 9th century. Collectively, these people are known as the Anglo-Saxons. After this occurred, the Normans invaded England and established a small number of settlements there at the end of the 11th century. People who are descended from later migration into England are not included in all definitions of the English people, while others include them.

Within the Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, England is the nation with the most population and the biggest land area. The Acts of Union of 1707 brought about the union that resulted in the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which included both the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. Through the course of history, English culture and identity have progressed toward being more congruent with British culture and identity in general. The majority of individuals who call England home are citizens of the United Kingdom.

England as a whole does not have a devolved government. A greater sense of self-awareness among English speakers emerged in the 1990s. This is linked to the expressions of national self-awareness of the other British nations of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

A significant number of recent immigrants to England have adopted an identity that is wholly British, while others have established dual or mixed identities. The majority of non-white individuals in England identify as British rather than English, which makes it more difficult to use the term "English" to describe Britons who are members of ethnic minorities in England. The Office for National Statistics conducted a study in 2004 called the Annual Population Survey, in which they contrasted the ethnic identities of British individuals with their felt national identity. They discovered that whereas non-white persons in England were more likely to identify as "British," white people in England classified their nationality as "English" 58% of the time.