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Cumbria, county (1991 pop. 486,900), 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 districts: Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Coplenad, 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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