East Anglia is a region in eastern England. It includes most of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. East Anglia is mainly a farming region, with some fishing from towns on the coast. Sugar beet is an important crop. Other farming includes the raising of cattle, hogs, and sheep. Lowestoft has a herring fishery.
The largest towns in East Anglia are Ipswich and Norwich. Both of these towns have important manufacturing industries. Popular holiday resorts on the coast of East Anglia include Cromer, Great Yarmouth, and Lowestoft. The region of lakes and rivers inland and to the north of Great Yarmouth is known as the Broads. The region of marshy, low-lying ground in Cambridgeshire is called the Fens.
East Anglia was one of seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that ruled England from the A.D. 500’s to the 900’s. During World War II (1939-1945), the United States Army Air Forces built so many airfields in the area that it was sometimes called “Little America.” The American Air Museum, in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, houses the largest collection of American warplanes outside the United States.
See also Anglo-Saxons ; World War II (The air war) .
