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Northamptonshire ( or ; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2011, it had a population of 629,000. The county is administered by Northamptonshire County Council and seven non-metropolitan district councils. Covering an area of 2,364 square kilometres (913 sq mi), Northamptonshire is landlocked between eight other counties: Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east, Buckinghamshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the south-west and Lincolnshire to the north-east – England's shortest county boundary at . Northamptonshire is the southern most county in the East Midlands region. Apart from the county town of Northampton, other large population centres include Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Rushden and Daventry. Northamptonshire's county flower is the cowslip. ==History== (詳細はPalaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.〔Greenall (1979) p.19〕 In about 500 BC the Iron Age was introduced into the area by a continental people in the form of the Hallstatt culture,〔Greenall (1979) p.20〕 and over the next century a series of hill-forts were constructed at Arbury Camp, Rainsborough camp, Borough Hill, Castle Dykes, Guilsborough, Irthlingborough, and most notably of all, Hunsbury Hill. There are two more possible hill-forts at Arbury Hill (Badby) and Thenford.〔 In the 1st century BC, most of what later became Northamptonshire became part of the territory of the Catuvellauni, a Belgic tribe, the Northamptonshire area forming their most northerly possession.〔 The Catuvellauni were in turn conquered by the Romans in 43 AD.〔(BBC - History - Tribes of Britain ). Retrieved 16 August 2009. 〕 The Roman road of Watling Street passed through the county, and an important Roman settlement, ''Lactodorum'', stood on the site of modern-day Towcester. There were other Roman settlements at Northampton, Kettering and along the Nene Valley near Raunds. A large fort was built at Longthorpe.〔 After the Romans left, the area eventually became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The Mercians converted to Christianity in 654 AD with the death of the pagan king Penda.〔Greenall (1979) p.29〕 From about 889 the area was conquered by the Danes (as at one point almost all of England was, except for Athelney marsh in Somerset) and became part of the Danelaw - with Watling Street serving as the boundary - until being recaptured by the English under the Wessex king Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great, in 917. Northamptonshire was conquered again in 940, this time by the Vikings of York, who devastated the area, only for the county to be retaken by the English in 942.〔Wood, Michael (1986) ''The Domesday Quest'' p. 90, BBC Books, 1986 ISBN 0-563-52274-7.〕 Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements. The county was first recorded in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (1011), as ''Hamtunscire'': the ''scire'' (shire) of ''Hamtun'' (the homestead). The "North" was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important ''Hamtun'' further south: Southampton - though the origins of the two names are in fact different.〔Mills, A.D. (1998). A Dictionary of English Place-names. Second Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. p256. ISBN 0-19-280074-4〕 Rockingham Castle was built for William the Conqueror〔(Rockingham Castle ). Retrieved 16 August 2009.〕 and was used as a Royal fortress until Elizabethan times. In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Northampton took place and King Henry VI was captured.〔Stearns, Peter N., Langer. William L. (The Encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval, and modern ). Retrieved 16 August 2009.〕 The now-ruined Fotheringhay Castle was used to imprison Mary, Queen of Scots, before her execution.〔Mott, Allan. (BBC - Cambridgeshire - History: Mary Queen of Scots' last days ). Retrieved 16 August 2009.〕 George Washington, the first President of the United States of America, was born into the Washington family who had migrated to America from Northamptonshire in 1656. George Washington's great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Lawrence Washington, was Mayor of Northampton on several occasions and it was he who bought Sulgrave Manor from Henry VIII in 1539. It was George Washington's great-grandfather, John Washington, who emigrated in 1656 from Northants to Virginia. Before Washington's ancestors moved to Sulgrave, they lived in Warton, Lancashire.〔(The Writings of George Washington: Life of Washington ). Retrieved 16 August 2009.〕 During the English Civil War, Northamptonshire strongly supported the Parliamentarian cause, and the Royalist forces suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Naseby in 1645 in the north of the county. King Charles I was imprisoned at Holdenby House in 1647.〔Edmonds. 1848. (Notes on English history for the use of juvenile pupils ). Retrieved 16 August 2009.〕 In 1823 Northamptonshire was said to "() a very pure and wholesome air" because of its dryness and distance from the sea. Its livestock were celebrated: "Horned cattle, and other animals, are fed to extraordinary sizes: and many horses of the large black breed are reared."〔Brookes, R., Whittaker, W.B. (''The General Gazetteer, or, Compendious geographical dictionary, in miniature'' ). 1823. Retrieved 5 September 2009.〕 Nine years later, the county was described as "a county enjoying the reputation of being one of the healthiest and pleasantest parts of England" although the towns were "of small importance" with the exceptions of Peterborough and Northampton. In summer, the county hosted "a great number of wealthy families... country seats and villas are to be seen at every step."〔Malte-Brun, C. (Universal geography: or, A description of all parts of the world ). 1832. Retrieved 5 September 2009.〕 Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of "spires and squires" because of the numbers of stately homes and ancient churches.〔Andrews, R., Teller, M. (The Rough Guide to Britain ) 2004. Rough Guides. Retrieved 5 September 2009.〕 In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire and the surrounding area became industrialised. The local specialisation was shoemaking and the leather industry and by the end of the 19th century it was almost definitively the boot and shoe making capital of the world. In the north of the county a large ironstone quarrying industry developed from 1850.〔(GENUKI: Northamptonshire Genealogy: Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887 ). 11 August 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2009.〕 During the 1930s, the town of Corby was established as a major centre of the steel industry. Much of Northamptonshire nevertheless remains largely rural. Corby was designated a new town in 1950〔(Corby - English Partnerships ). Retrieved 16 August 2009.〕 and Northampton followed in 1968.〔(Northampton - English Partnerships ). Retrieved 16 August 2009.〕 the government is encouraging development in the South Midlands area, including Northamptonshire.〔(Northamptonshire Chamber :: Milton Keynes & South Midlands Growth Plan ). Retrieved 16 August 2009. 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Northamptonshire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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