Map - Hampshire

Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is the 9th-most populous county in England. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester. The county is bordered by Dorset to the south-west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, and West Sussex to the south east. The county is geographically diverse, with upland rising to 286 m and mostly south-flowing rivers. There are areas of downland and marsh, and two national parks: the New Forest and part of the South Downs, which together cover 45 per cent of Hampshire.

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.

At present, the county is divided into 13 non-metropolitan districts. Southampton and Portsmouth are unitary authorities and 7 hold borough status. This means that with the exceptions of Southampton and Portsmouth, the county is locally governed by a combination of the County Council and non-metropolitan district councils. In 1974, the Isle of Wight was made a separate ceremonial county from Hampshire and the towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch were transferred to Dorset.

Hampshire is the home of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Florence Nightingale, and the birthplace of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The Saxon settlement at Southampton was known as Hamtun, while the surrounding area or scīr was called Hamtunscīr. The old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation "Hants" derives. From 1889 until 1959, the administrative county was named the County of Southampton. It has also been called Southamptonshire.

Hampshire was a departure point for several groups of colonists who left England to settle on the east coast of North America during the 17th century, and many inhabitants of Hampshire settled there, naming the land New Hampshire in honour of their original homeland.