[6] The northern part of the region, namely consisting of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, is popularly known as East Anglia.

[3] Bedford, Luton, Basildon, Peterborough, Southend-on-Sea, Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Cambridge are the region's most populous settlements.

Twenty percent of the region is below mean sea level, most of this in North Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and on the Essex Coast.

[12] The Fens include the lowest point in the country in the village of Holme: 2.75 metres (9.0 ft) below mean sea level.

[13][14][15] Communities known as New Towns, responses to urban congestion and World War II destruction, appeared in Basildon and Harlow (Essex), as well as in Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire), in the 1950s and 1960s.

[16] In the late 1960s, the Roskill Commission considered Cublington in Buckinghamshire, Thurleigh in Bedfordshire, Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire and Foulness in Essex as locations for a possible third airport for London.

A new airport was not built, but a former Royal Air Force base at Stansted, which had previously been converted to civilian use redeveloped and expanded in the following decades.

[18] Essex, despite meaning East-Saxons, previously formed part of South East England, along with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, a mixture of definite and debatable Home counties.

Charles Davenant, in An essay upon ways and means of supplying the war, wrote, "The Eleven Home Counties, which are thought in Land Taxes to pay more than their proportion..." then cited a list including these four.

[19] East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom, with average rainfall ranging from 450 to 750 mm (18 to 30 in).

[21] Winter (mid-November – mid-March) is mostly cool, but non-prevailing cold easterly winds can affect the area from the continent.

Southerly winds usually bring mild air (if from the Atlantic or North Africa) but chill if coming from further east than Spain.

[23] Dust devils were reported in Essex and Cambridgeshire on 17 August 2024, causing minor injuries and some disruption.

In Essex, they caused tents and gazebos to be lifted during a local event, resulting in minor injuries.

They also gained North Norfolk from the Liberal Democrats but lost St Albans to Daisy Cooper.

[35] Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex played host to the American VIII Bomber Command and Ninth Air Force.

The Imperial War Museum at Duxford has an exhibition, commemorating their participation and sacrifice, near to the M11 south of Cambridge.

The Greater Watford area is home to British Waterways, Vinci (which bought Taylor Woodrow in 2008), the UK of the international firm Total Oil, retailers TK Maxx, Bathstore, Majestic Wine, Mothercare, Costco and Smiths Detection, Iveco, BrightHouse (at Abbots Langley), Leavesden Film Studios, Sanyo, Europcar, Olympus, Kenwood and Beko electronic goods manufacturers, Wetherspoons pub chains, the European HQ of the Hilton hotel group and Nestlé Waters; in Garston is the UK headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, on the A412 and the Building Research Establishment.

At the 85-acre Capability Green off the A1081 and junction 10a of the M1, is the Stonegate Pub Company (owner of Scream Pubs, Yates's, Slug and Lettuce and Hogshead), InBev UK (which bought most of Whitbread's beer brands), Chargemaster (electric vehicle network under the POLAR brand), AstraZeneca's UK Marketing Company division and Alexon Group (ladies clothing).

Campbell Soup was made in Kings Lynn until 2008, and on the Hardwick Industrial Estate at the A47/A149 junction is PinguinLutosa the UK, which packs frozen vegetables, and Caithness Crystal.

[44] Foster Refrigerator is the UK's leading manufacturer of commercial refrigerators and blast chillers, owned by Illinois Tool Works, based on the industrial estate; with Multitone Electronics, which has a manufacturing plant there, and which invented the pager in 1956, for St Thomas' Hospital; and Snap-on Diagnostics makes diagnostic tools for garages.

Aunt Bessie vegetable products (roast potatoes) are made by Heinz at Westwick, in a factory built by Ross Group.

The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus has the European Bioinformatics Institute at Hinxton east of Duxford near the M11 spur for the A11.

South of the airport, Carl Zeiss NTS makes scanning electron microscopes in Cherry Hinton.

Premier Foods has a large plant in Histon making Robertson's and Hartley's jam, Gale's honey, Smash instant potato, and Rose's marmalade.

[49] During the nineteenth century, several formulations of the laws of football, known as the Cambridge rules, were created by students at the University.

Northwestern parts of Norfolk including Kings Lynn receive a better TV signal from the Belmont transmitter that broadcast BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Calendar.