United Kingdom

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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 Uplands, 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 plants.
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.