East Anglia is a geographical area in the East of England. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a tribe that originated in Angeln, northern Germany. The area included varies but the legally defined NUTS 2 statistical unit, comprises the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, including the City of Peterborough unitary authority area.
Definitions of what constitutes East Anglia vary. The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of the East Angles, established in the 6th century, began in the modern counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and expanded west into at least part of Cambridgeshire. The modern NUTS 2 statistical unit of East Anglia comprises Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire (including the City of Peterborough unitary authority). Those three counties have formed the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia since 1976, and were the subject of a possible government devolution package in 2016.
Essex has sometimes been included in definitions of East Anglia, including by the London Society of East Anglians. However, the Kingdom of Essex to the south, was a separate element of the Heptarchy of Anglo-Saxon England and did not identify as Angles but Saxons. The county of Essex by itself forms a NUTS 2 statistical unit in the East of England region.