The United Kingdom: General Information
Today we are starting on a course of lectures, during which we will learn about one of the most wonderful countries in the world, that is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
This name, however, is usually abbreviated to “the United Kingdom”, and this one is often further abbreviated to “the UK”. This is the political name of the country, which is made of England, with London as its capital, Scotland with Edinburgh, Wales with Cardiff as the capital, and Northern Ireland with Belfast as its capital city. Several islands off the British coast are also part of the UK: the Orkneys [ˈɔ:knɪz], the Hebrides [ˈhebrɪdɪz] and the Shetlands; and the Isles of Scilly [ˈsɪlɪ] with the Isle of Whight [waɪt].
Many foreigners say “England” and “English” when they mean “Britain” (or the UK) and “British”. It’s annoying for the 5 million people who live in Scotland (the Scots), the 2,8 million in Wales (the Welsh) and 1,5 million in Northern Ireland (the Irish), who are certainly not English, though 46 million people live in England. However, the English, the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish are all British. Altogether, there are more than 57, 205 million people in Britain.
Everyone in Britain speaks English, but in some parts of Scotland and Wales people speak an older language as well.
Great Britain is the name of the island, which is made up of England, Scotland and Wales, so it doesn’t include Northern Ireland. The origin of the word “Great” refers to size, because in many European languages the words for Britain and Brittany in France are the same. In fact, it was the French who first talked about “Great Britain.” In everyday speech “Britain” is used to mean the United Kingdom.
The British Isles is the geographical name that refers to all the islands off the northwest coast of the European continent: Great Britain, the whole of Ireland (Northern and Southern), the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. But it is important to remember that Southern Ireland – that is the Republic of Ireland – is completely independent.
Climate & Landscape
Britain is one of the world’s smaller countries with an area of some 244, 100 square km.
The climate is generally humid and mild, with lots of rainfall throughout the year. The average range of temperature between winter and summer is greatest inland, in the eastern part of the country.
During a normal summer the temperature rises above 30°C (86°F) in the south; winter temperatures below -10°C (14°F) are rare. January and February are the coldest months, July and August are the warmest.
The landscape is rich and varied, sometimes showing marked contrasts within short distances, particularly on the coasts. Over one third of the land is arable; woodlands cover about 8% of the country.
The nature of Britain is greatly affected by the sea: there is no place situated more than 100-120 km from the seashore, in the northern parts only 40-60 km.
The territory of Great Britain can be divided into three natural regions:
1) Scotland with highland and upland relief and coniferous and mixed forests;
2) Wales and mountainous England with upland considerably cut by ravines and valleys, and covered with meadows, moorland and cultivated farmland, with patches of forest;
3) South-east England with plain landscape, fertile soil (the predominance of cultivated farmland), with patches of forest.
The rivers of Britain are short and their direction is determined by the position of the mountains. Thus most of the rivers flow in the eastward direction, since the west coast is mountainous.
Due to the humid climate and abundant rainfall, the water level in the rivers is always high. The rivers seldom freeze in winter. Many rivers are joined together by canals. This system of rivers and canals provides a good means of cheap inland water transport.
The most important rivers are:
* the Severn, flowing from the Cumbrian Mountains in Wales into the Bristol Channel;
* the Thames, flowing across the plains of south-eastern England and emptying into the North Sea;
* the Tyne and the Trent, flowing from the eastern slopes of the Pennines to the North Sea;
* the Mersey, flowing down western slopes of the Pennines and emptying into the Irish Sea at Liverpool;
* the Clyde in Scotland, which flows west across the Southern Uplands.
British lakes are rather small, but most of them, especially those situated in the counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and north Lancashire, are famous for their unique beauty and picturesque surroundings. The most famous is Lake District, which is a place of steep ridges and deep valleys, smooth slopes and deep lakes, ravines, waterfalls and green meadows. It is one of the most popular holiday districts in Great Britain.
