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.

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 harbours for a list of other potential second largest harbours).

Major rivers

Thames
Severn
Trent
Humber
Yorkshire Ouse
Tyne
Mersey
Dee
Avon

The Severn is the longest English River, with the Thames and Trent second and third respectively. These are the three longest rivers in the United Kingdom.

Major towns and cities

The largest cities in England are as follows (in alphabetical order):

Birmingham
Bradford
Bristol
Coventry
Derby
(Kingston upon) Hull
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Newcastle upon Tyne
Norwich
Nottingham
Plymouth
Sheffield
Stoke-on-Trent
Wolverhampton