Hampshire
(
,
; abbreviated to
Hants.
) is a
ceremonial county
in
South East England
. It is bordered by
Berkshire
to the north,
Surrey
and
West Sussex
to the east, the
Isle of Wight
across
the Solent
to the south,
Dorset
to the west, and
Wiltshire
to the north-west. The cities of Portsmouth and
Southampton
are the largest settlements and the
county town
is the city of
Winchester
.
The county has an area of 3,769 km
2
(1,455 sq mi) and a population of 1,844,245, making it the
5th-most populous
in England. The
South Hampshire
built-up area in the south-east of the county has a population of 855,569 and contains the cities of Southampton (269,781) and
Portsmouth
(208,100). In the north-east, the
Farnborough
/
Aldershot
conurbation
extends into Berkshire and Surrey and has a population of 252,937. The next-largest settlements are
Basingstoke
(113,776),
Andover
(50,887), and Winchester (45,184). The centre and south-west of the county are rural. For
local government
purposes Hampshire comprises a
non-metropolitan county
, with eleven districts, and two
unitary authority
areas: Portsmouth and Southampton. The county historically contained the towns of
Bournemouth
and
Christchurch
, which are now part of Dorset, and the Isle of Wight.
Undulating hills characterise much of the county. A belt of chalk crosses the county from north-west, where it forms the
Hampshire Downs
, to south-east, where it is part of the
South Downs
. The county's major rivers rise in these hills; the
Loddon
and
Wey
drain north, into the
Thames
, and the
Itchen
and
Test
flow south into
Southampton Water
, a large estuary. In the south-east are
Portsmouth Harbour
,
Langstone Harbour
, and the western edge of
Chichester Harbour
, three large
rias
. The south-west contains the
New Forest
, which includes pasture,
heath
, and forest and is of the largest expanses of
ancient woodland
remaining in England.
Settled about 14,000 years ago, Hampshire's recorded history dates to
Roman Britain
, when its chief town was
Venta Belgarum
(now Winchester). The county was recorded in
Domesday Book
as divided into 44
hundreds
. From the 12th century, the ports settlements grew due to increasing trade with the
European mainland
resulting from the wool and cloth, fishing, and shipbuilding industries. This meant by the 16th century,
Southampton
had become more populous than Winchester. In 20th century conflicts, including
World War One
and
Two
, Hampshire played a crucial military role due to its ports. (
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