Cumbria is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle and the only other major urban area is Barrow-in-Furness on the south-western tip of the county which has a population just slightly smaller than Carlisle.

The county of Cumbria consists of six districts (Allerdale, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakeland), and in 2008 had a population of just under half a million. Cumbria is one of the most sparsely populated counties in the United Kingdom, with 73.4 people per km² (190/sq mi).

Cumbria, the third largest ceremonial county in England by area, is bounded to the north by the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders, to the west by the Irish Sea, to the south by Lancashire, to the southeast by North Yorkshire, and to the east by County Durham and Northumberland.

Cumbria is predominantly rural and contains the Lake District and Lake District National Park, considered one of England's most outstanding areas of natural beauty, serving as inspiration for artists, writers, and musicians. Much of Cumbria is mountainous, and it contains every peak in England over 3,000 feet (910 m) above sea level, with Scafell Pike at 3,209 feet (978 m) being the highest point of England. An upland, coastal, and rural area, Cumbria's history is characterised by invasions, migration, and settlement, as well as battles and skirmishes between the English and Scottish. Historic sites in Cumbria include Carlisle Castle, Furness Abbey, and Hadrian's Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the early Middle Ages, the entire county was called Westmoringland (West-mara-ingas-land - the people who lived by the western sea) by the Scandinavians on the east side of England. Gradually, however, as the Industrial Revolution grew in strength, the county became partitioned along the lines of connections. The area north of Whitehaven, round through Carlisle, had its strongest connection to the North East, across the Pennines, which is still reflected in the dialect of the locals there. This became known as Cumberland. The southern coastal strip had its connections with the south and remained part of Lancashire until the amalgamation because the only safe way to reach this "North Lonsdale" atrip was via the sands of Morecambe Bay. This left the central lakes area across as far as Appleby still being called Westmorland.

The amalgamation into a unified Cumbria was not accepted everywhere. Towns in the east, along the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park were upset at being part of Cumbria because all their traditional ties were with Yorkshire.

Now that heavy industry is all but non-existent in the county, the historic ties have been broken and the main industry has become tourism.