The name England comes from the words "Angle land".The Angles were people who came from northern Germany in the 5th and 6th centuries,after the Romans had left.The French name for England is Angleterre,which also means "Angle land".There were also invasions   of southern England by Saxons and Jutes (people from another part of northern Germany).English people are sometimes called AngloSaxons.The Celts who used to live in this area were forced to move back into Scotland,Ireland,Cornwall and into Western France (the area known as Brittany). England at first became a series of kingdoms,the strongest of which was Wessex (the name comes from WestSaxon).The names of many of the areas in England come from this period--for example,the name Sussex comes from SouthSaxon,Essex from EastSaxon,and East Anglia from EastAngle.The Vikings then came from Denmark,and later the Normans invaded from France. Eventually England,Wales,Scotland and Northern Ireland were united,forming the United Kingdom. The English language is the main language spoken throughout England,although there are many different accents.It can be difficult to know how to spell or to pronounce some English words,because the language has been influenced by Latin and Greek (languages used at the time of the Romans,and used in religion and education until recent times),German (the language of the Angles,Saxons and Jutes),French(the language of the Normans),Gaelic/Scots (Celtic languages) and Danish (the language of the Vikings). There are now many people throughout the United Kingdom who speak a foreign language either as their first or second language;mainly due to immigration   from Europe or the Commonwealth (countries which used to be part of the British Empire). In the history of England,  _  once was the strongest kingdom.
Sussex Wessex Essex East Anglia