Cumbria, county, 2,635 sq mi (6,826
sq km), extreme NW England. The county stretches from the Morecambe Bay to
Soloway Firth along the Irish Sea coast. It includes the Lake District, comprised of a series of
volcanic rock and slate mountain peaks and lake-filled valleys. It also
includes the Carlisle plain and the Eden and Kent river valleys. The county
is divided into six administrative districts: Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness,
Carlisle, Copeland, Eden, and South Lakeland. Tourism, sheep farming, salmon
fishing, and mineral extraction are the primary industries. The area has
been occupied by humans since the Neolithic Period. Northern Cumbria
vacillated between Scottish and English rule until the mid-10th cent., when
it was wrested from the Scots in 1157. The Lake District was home to poets
such as William Wordsworth,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and
Robert Southey. The Lake
District National Park is located in Cumbria.
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