THE
UNITED KINGDOM
The British Isles is a geographical area that consists of a large group
of islands lying off the north-west
of Europe.
The British Isles is separated from mainland Europe by English Channel to
the south and the North Sea to the North.
The UK
is formed by two very big islands and others that are smaller:
- the biggest
one is called Great
Britain;
- and the other one, that is smaller than G.B., is the
Northern Ireland.
1. The Great Britain
is made up of England, Scotland and Wales;
2. Ireland is divided
into Northern Ireland or Ulster and EIRE, that is the southern part of Ireland
and it is an independent republic.
The UK covers an area
of about 242 000 square km and its neighbours in the mainland are Belgium and France. UK
and France
are united by the Chunnel that start in and arrived in .
In Uk
there are two types of terrain: lowland and highland.
The lowland areas are mainly to the south of the country while highlands
are concentrated in the northern areas as northern Scotland
and northern parts of Wales
and England.
So in Britain
there is an extraordinary mix of highlands and lowlands as hills, valleys,
lakes, rivers and mountains.
àMOUNTAINS: the
Highlands is a mountainous region in the north of Scotland
and it covers about a half of the country. In that region there are also the North Western
Highlands and further south the Grampian Mountains and these two ranges are separted by a
deep valley called Glen Mor(great valley). In the
Grampians there is the highest peak of
UK, Ben Nevis.
The Cheviot Hills form the border between England
and Scotland.
The Cumbrian Mountains are situated near the west coast and in this area
includes Lake District which is famous for its
lakes and peaks as Scaffel Pike. The Pennines stretch along the north of England from Carlisle to Birmingham. They are also known as 'the
backbone of England'.
The Cambrian Mountains cover most of Wales
and there is also the Wales'
highest peak, Mount
Snowdon.
àRIVERS: there are
a lot of rivers but they are not very long because UK is not very . . . The longest is
the Severn (354 km). In Britain
rivers are very important as it is an island and they
also connect major cities. The most famous river is the Thames which runs
through London and connects London
to Oxford and Windsor. Others important rivers are Humber
that joins the North Sea at Hull (is an
important port);the Mersey which runs near Liverpool,
the Wye in Wales and the
Clyde in Scotland.
In Scotland there also is
the Forth that is fundamental for the supply
of hydroelectric power in the region.
àLAKES: B is also
famous for its lakes as for ex Loch Ness with the legend of the she monster. In
Scotland
there are other lakes;another well-known is Loch
Lemond. In the Cumbrian Hills there is an important area, the Lake
District where are 16 little lakes. Today a lot of people go in this area on
holiday. However the largest lake is Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland.
àSEAS: the North
Sea separates the UK from Norway and
under this area was found oil in 1962. the English
Channel separates UK from
mainland Europe. In 1994 the Chunnel was built
so now Britain
is connected through rail system to the major Eu cities. The Irish Sea
separates Britain from Ireland. On the
west coast there is the Atlantic Ocean.
àCLIMATE: the UK has not a
cold climate but it has a milder climate. And this is due to the warm influence
of the Gulf Stream coming from Mexico.
British temperature rarely falls below less then 10°C or go above
32°C.
Rainfall is well distributed throughout the year. The wettest part of UK
are the mountainous areas of the west and the north.
THE
ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK
People have certain basic needs to survive as food, drink, clothing. When these needs are satisfied they want other
thighs as TVs, car, computers ecc . and there are an unlimited number of wants.
Needs and wants create the opportunity for business. To keep the economy
turning businessmen invent always new wants, so new products and they try to
add it new features to make people buy want them. As for ex phones: there was only
traditional phones, then cordless phones are arrived and then mobile phones and
now mobile phones with Internet access or WAP. With each new features
the previous models becomes obsolete so people are encouraged to buy the last
model. In our society the consumptions are encouraged through mass media
communication. Now we consume more and more than the all previous generations.
To produce four resources are required: land, labour, enterprise and
capital. These are the factors of production.
àland, is refers to
the natural resources available in a country so agricultural land, sea and
rivers, mines, forests and gas fields.
àlabour, is refers to
the people available to assist in the production of goods and services. It also
refers to the qualifications and skills available within the labour force.
àenterprise, this is the act
of combine together elements of land, labour, capital and provide a product or
a service to make a profit. The person who develops an enterprise is an
entrepreneur.
