Hampshire

Hampshire (ˈhæmpʃər or ˈhæmpʃɪər), sometimes historically Southamptonshire, Hamptonshire, (abbr. Hants), "Old Hampshire" or the County of Southampton, is a county on the south coast of England. The county borders (clockwise from West), Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey and West Sussex. The county has an area of 3700km2 and at its widest points is about 86km east–west and 76km north–south. The county town is Winchester situated at . The 2001 census gave the population of the administrative county as 1.24 million; the ceremonial county also includes the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton, which are administratively independent, and has a total population of 1.6 million. Christchurch and Bournemouth, within the historic borders of the county, were made part of the non-metropolitan county of Dorset in 1974.