Great Britain

     Great Britain

     The Geographical Outline of Great Britain

     Great Britain is situated on the British Isles, the group of over 5,000 islands located on the North-West coast of the European continent. The largest of them are Great Britain and Ireland. The British Isles today are shared by two independent states. The smaller, the Irish Republic (or the Republic of Ireland, also called “Eire”) with its capital Dublin, occupies the southern part of Ireland. The official name of the largest state is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, often abbreviated to the United Kingdom (or the U.K.) used a the administrative title. The United Kingdom consists of four parts : England, Scotland and Wales located on the island of Great Britain, and Northern Ireland (also know as Ulster), which occupies the area of the northern part of Ireland. Several smaller islands of the British Archipelago, such as the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Shetlands, the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight, are also part of the U.K. the capital of the U.K. is London.

     The British Isles They are washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Irish Sea, which is between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, the North Sea and the English Channel separating the British Isles from Europe. The English Channel in its narrowest part, called the Strait of Dover, is only 32 km wide. In 1994, the Eurotunnel was built here to connect the two coasts.

     The total territory of the United Kingdom is 244,035 sg.km. It is the country of lowlands, uplands and highlands, valleys and plains. The most important mountain ranges are in England: the Pennines, regarded as the backbone of England, the Cheviot Hills, which serve as a natural borderland between England and Scotland and the Cumbrian mountains, in the north-west of England; in Wales: the Cambrian Mountains; in Scotland: the Grampian mountains with Ben Nevis (1.342 m. high), the highest peak in the British Isles and in Northern Ireland: the Sperrin mountains.

     The largest rivers of the British Isles are: the Shannon (length -386 km) – in Ireland and the Severn (354 km) – in Great Britain. The most famous British river known all over the world is the Thames (346 km), with London located on it.

     The largest fresh water lake of the British Isles Lough Neagh (391 sg. km) is in Ireland.

     The climate of the British Isles is moderate, due to the miluence of the Gulf Stream, which brings warm water and air across the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Mexico. Britons say that England has three variants of weather: when it showers in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon or when it pours all day long. Sometimes it rains so heavily that the British say “it’s raining cats and dogs”. The most remarkable feature of English weather is fog, which in combination which the smoke from millions of coal fires is known as “smog” (smoke+fog). The Englishmen like to talk a lot about their climate and weather.

     The UK with the population of nearly 60 million people is a densely populated country.  The people from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all British. The British include four main nationalities: Englishmen (the English), Scotchmen (the Scots), Welshmen (the Welsh) and Irishmen (the Irish). However, foreigners often say “English” or “England” when they mean “British” or “Britain” oven “the UK”.

     The official language of the United Kingdom is English.