MEET THE UK
THE BRITISH ISLES are a group
of islands lying off the north-west coast of Europe.
The main islands are Great Britain
and Ireland; Great Britain is the largest island in Europe.
Ireland lies to the west
of Britain; only a small
portion of Ireland, called Northern Ireland or Ulster,
is part of the United Kingdom;
the rest of the island is an independent republic called Eire.
The most important of the smaller islands are:
The Isle of Man, between Britain and Ireland
(situated in the Irish Sea);
The Isle of Wight, situated in the English Channel;
The Isle of
Anglesey, connected by a bridge to North Wales;
The Channel Islands, near the French coast (situated
between Britain and France);
The Hebrides, an archipelago lying off the
west coast of Scotland,
formed by over 500 islands;
The Orkneys and the Shetland, two groups of
islands lying off the north coast of Scotland, (which have a severe
climate).
The United Kingdom is a
political name referring to the Great Britain, including the regions of England,
Scotland (that lies to the north of England) and Wales (that lies to the west
of England), and to the region of Northern Ireland. Each region is divided in
counties and has a capital: London of England, Cardiff of Wales, Edinburgh of
Scotland, Belfast of Northern Ireland.
SEAS AND COASTS
The British Isles are completely
surrounded by the sea:
to the west and north-west by the North Atlantic
Ocean (it is named the North
Channel, the Irish Sea and the St George's Channel between
Great Britain and Ireland, and there it is crossed by the mild currents of the
Gulf Stream which improves the climate of the whole country)
to the east by the North Sea, which separates Great Britain from Norway;
to the south by the English
Channel, which separates the main island from the Continent.
LANDSCAPE
The landscape of Britain
is quite varied: it has chains of mountains and high tablelands, but also hilly
and flat areas.
Starting from the north, there
are:
the North West Highlands, covering most of
northern Scotland;
the Grampian
Mountains, lying in central Scotland
with the highest peak in Britain,
Ben Nevis;
the Southern Uds, separated from the
Grampians by the agricultural area of the Central
Lowlands, where are situated Edinburgh and Glasgow;
the Cheviot Hills, the border between the Scotland and the England,
where was built the Hadrian's
Wall from the ancient Romans;
the Cumbrians
Mountains, a scenic region of
mountains and lakes, famous for the area named Lake District;
the Pennine Chain in northern England, called
the backbone of the country;
the Cambrian Mountains, covering much of Wales;
the England's fertile plains including undulating plain named the Cotswold
Hills, the Chiltern Hills, the North and South Downs.
RIVERS
British rivers are relatively
short and for a long time they provided an efficient means of transportation as
they are usually navigable, deep and connected to each other by a network of
canals. In Scotland and Wales the
rivers are fast-flowing and they are used for producing electricity.
The chief rivers are:
the Thames, flowing for about 350 km and crossing London;
the Severn, the longest river in Britain, flowing into the Bristol
Channel;
the Humber;
the Tyne near Newcastle;
the Mersey, that reaches the Irish Sea at Liverpool;
the Clyde, forming a deep fjord, the Firth of
Clyde, where the town of Glasgow
lies;
the Forth, flowing through Edinburgh and forming the Firth of Forth.
LAKES
British lakes are relatively
small, but they are grouped toghether and situated in very picturesque locations:
Lake District is a scenic region in the Cumbrian Mountains.
In Scotland lakes are named lochs and are famous Loch Ness, Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine.
CLIMATE
The climate of the British
Isles is determined by the latitude and by the sea, and it is
improved by the Gulf Stream that reaches the western coasts of the British Isles. On the whole, it is a marine and temperate
climate, characterized by frequent winds and remarkable variability.
Rainfall is much higher in the mountainous areas of the North and West than in
the South and East lowlands.
POPULATION
The Great Britain is a large and
crowded island, with a population of over 60 millions. The distribution
of the population is not uniform: people is concentrated in the Midlands,
southern Scotland and the London area: over half of the population lives in
these regions, including the chief conurbations of Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds,
Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and London. Conversely, the mountainous areas
are very sparsely populated.
ENGLAND
England is the largest,
most populated and industrialized of the British regions; it is largely flat,
but also has the Pennine Chain and the Cumbrian Mountains.
At south-west there is a peninsula, called Cornwall, that is a most popular
holiday region thanks to its warm
climate and magnificent coastline.
At south-east there is Kent,
called the Garden of England, famous since Roman times for its fruit growing,
that supplies top-quality fruit marketed all over Britain (it is ensured by
fertile soil, mild climate and regular rainfall).
At north-west there is Cumbria,
a region protected by its mountains: it has always been a favourite holiday
centre, in particular the Lake
District, where there are 16 major lakes crowned by quite tall
mountains.
London is the capital of
the United Kingdom,
the heart of its history, art, business and trade; it is one of the largest
cities and ports in the world. It was founded by the Romans and called Londinium,
reaching in the course of time great prosperity and a high degree of
civilization.
The Midlands is the most
intensely industrialized area of Britain,
but also a peaceful countryside with unspoilt century-old villages immersed in
rich farmland.
There are many big
industrial cities in Central and Northern England:
Manchester, 20 centuries old,
has its leading activity in the textile industry, together with electronics and
the manufacturing of machinery, vehicles and engines;
Leeds, forming with Manchester
and Sheffield a huge industrial triangle;
Sheffield, one of the main
steel centres and is famous all over the world for for its cutlery's
manufactures;
Birmingham, the second
largest city in Britain,
an industrial centre manufacturing a great variety of products;
Liverpool, situated on the estuary of Mersey,
is the second largest British port: the local manufactures are sent abroad from
it and the raw materials are brought in.
Newcastle, situated on the
estuary of Tyne, is the centre of a business
area and from its port the coal (of which the district is very rich) extracted
from nearby mines is exported abroad.
WALES
Wales has its individual
character though it is united with England for 700 years.
Most of central and northern Wales is a wild mountainous country: the
Cambrians mountains have protected Wales
from the many invaders that colonized England
and from the English themselves until the union with England, declared in the 14th
century (1536).
Most of South
Wales is covered by gentle hills where only few people live
rearing cattle and sheep, while the valleys are rich in coal mines which are one
of the major resources of the area. This business created densely-populated
urban centres like Cardiff, the capital
city, Swansea and Newport.
Along the coast flourishing
seaside resorts welcome a continuous flow of tourist.
The main languages in Wales are English and Welsh, a language
of Celtic origin: in Welsh, Wales
is "Cymbru", which means "land of
brotherhood"
SCOTLAND
Scotland was populated by
Celtic tribes with their fierce warriors, and only in 1707 the Act of Union
formalized the union of the parliaments of England
and Scotland; but in many
ways Scotland
is still a separate nation, with its own law, stamps, banknotes, music (played
with the traditional bagpipes),
games, food and drink.
Scotland has few natural
resources: most of the land is used for rearing cattle and sheep and only a
smart part is suitable for farming.
The main industrial
activities are whisky-making, tourism and wool manufacturing; Scotland's
tartan fabrics are famous worldwide. The discovery of oil and gas
off the Scottish coasts created new jobs and local petrochemical ts.
Most Scots live in the
Lowlands, in Edinburgh, the capital city, and in
Glasgow.
Edinburgh is the leading
cultural and tourist centre, with industrial activities linked with paper,
brewing and whisky-making.
Glasgow, the Scotland's
biggest port and city, is situated on the Clyde estuary; its economy was based
on the coal, as elsewhere in Britain, now is based on steel, iron and cotton
industries, shipbuilding, and the processing of raw materials, such as rubber
and grain.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Ireland, occupied many
time ago by the Celts, was eventually occupied by the British, despite the
fierce rebellions of the Irish who wanted to maintain their independence. Then
there are bitter confrontations between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant
English: in 19th century was created the Republic of Ireland,
with self-government, and the north-eastern part of the island, named Ulster, remained an integral part of the United Kingdom.
The central part of Ulster
is a plain surrounding a lake, Lough
Neagh, which is the largest lake of the U. K.
The climate is rainy but
warmer by the influence of the Gulf Stream.
Belfast, the capital city,
grew as an industrial centre thanks to the textile industries and its harbour;
now its leading activities are ship building and repairing, tobacco and
foodstuff processing, and aircraft construction.
