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Southern England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Southern England is an imprecise term used to refer to the southern counties of England. Differing usages apply the term with varying geographic extents.
In most definitions Southern England includes all the counties on the English Channel; from west to east these are:
- Cornwall
- Devon
- Dorset
- Hampshire
- Isle of Wight
- West Sussex
- East Sussex
- Kent
- Somerset
- Wiltshire
- Berkshire
- Surrey
- Greater London
Several of these counties are, however, commonly reckoned as part of the West Country, which in some usages may be treated as mutually exclusive with Southern England.
The exact northern extent likewise varies. In the west it can include Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Oxfordshire, though these are sometimes considered part of the Midlands. The counties between the Midlands and London (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire) may sometimes be considered part of Southern England, as may the counties of East Anglia (Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk). The county of Monmouthshire in South Wales is also considered to be or have been in Southern England by some, due to its former status as a buffer state between England and Wales.
On a maximal definition, the northern boundary thus approximately corresponds to an imaginary line drawn from the Severn Estuary to the Wash (or, expressed in terms of towns, from Gloucester to King's Lynn). If government office regions were to be used as a basis, this area would comprise South East England and South West England, Greater London, and the East of England.
The term "Southerners" is often rejected by many in that it asserts a common identity across certain geographical areas that "southern England" defines. The term "southern" is often loosely used without any deeper consideration of the geographical identities of southern England, leading to confusion over the depth of affiliation between its areas.