THE MIDLANDS,

The English Midlands, or the Midlands is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. The greater part of the area is now administered as the Government Office Regions of the West Midlands and East Midlands, though parts of the traditional Midlands are also in surrounding regions, namely Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (East of England), Oxfordshire (South East), Gloucestershire (South West) and Northern Lincolnshire (Yorkshire and the Humber). This makes up the East Midlands and the West Midlands of England. The significant cities and towns in the East Midlands are: Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Chesterfield, Northampton and Sheffield. With the West Midlands, they are as follows: Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Shrewsbury and Hereford.