Although Devon is now the formal and generally accepted name, for many centuries the county had been called "Devon" or "Devonshire", and the latter remains in common usage and features in some names, titles and signposts.

Devon is the fourth largest of the English counties, with a population of over 1.3 million.. The county town is the cathedral city of Exeter, and the county contains two independent unitary authorities, the port city of Plymouth and the Torbay (Torquay, Paignton and Brixham) conurbation of seaside resorts. Much of the county is rural, and it has a low population density.

Devon was one of the first areas of England settled following the end of the last ice age. Altough the Ice Age did not make great effect on the scenery it did provide a place to live. Dartmoor is thought to have been settled by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The name 'Devon' derives from the name of the Celtic people who inhabited the south western peninsula of Britain at the time of the Roman invasion c. 50AD , known as the Dumnonii, thought to mean 'Deep Valley Dwellers'.

By the ninth century, the major threat to Saxon control of Devon came from Viking raiders, and these attacks continued until the Norman Conquest. In 722 AD the Britons of both Cornwall and Devon allied with Danish Vikings to destroy an Anglo Saxon army at "Hehil", giving both Devon and Cornwall 100 years of peace from Saxon attacks. A few Norse place names remain as a result, for example Lundy Island, though the Vikings' most lasting legacy is probably the move of the cathedral from Crediton to Exeter.[citation needed]

Devon has also featured in most of the civil conflicts in England since the Norman Conquest, including the Wars of the Roses, Perkin Warbeck's rising in 1497, the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, and the English Civil War. Perhaps most notably, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688, took place at Brixham.[citation needed]

Devon is these days renowned as a place to sample life's more leisurely pace and has attracted a lot of early retirement individuals and those wihsing to change their lifestyle. In addition Devon is a favourite holiday venue for millions of people each year.