Southern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct identity from that of the rest of England. The special cultural, political and economic characteristics of "the South" are, however, not universally agreed upon, nor are its geographical limits and stereotypes of the South mask the cultural, physical and historical differences within this region. For government purposes Southern England is divided in South West England, South East England, Greater London, and the East of England. Combined, these have a total area of 62,042 square kilometres (23,955 sq mi), and a population of 26 million.
Famous quotes containing the words southern and/or england:
“No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Always in England if you had the type of brain that was capable of understanding T.S. Eliot’s poetry or Kant’s logic, you could be sure of finding large numbers of people who would hate you violently.”
—D.J. Taylor (b. 1960)