Inglismaa (2)

khTallinn English College
The United Kingdom
Topic
Mari-Liis Pakats
Tallinn 2008
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Geographical Position 3
History 3
Government 4
Queen Victoria 4
Relief 5
Climate 6
Plants 6
Animal life 6
Natural Resources 7
Economy 7
Population and Ethnicity 8

Introduction

The official name of the country is the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is an island country. It consists of the island of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . Great Britain can be divided into three parts – England , Wales and Scotland . Each of them has their own capital city. Glasgow in Scotland, Cardiff in Wales and London in England.
The country is situated in the north - western Europe . The territory of the United Kingdom is about 244,000 square kilometres and about 60 million people live there .
The UK contains a number of small islands . The largest islands that belong to the United Kingdom are the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Isle of Wight which lies off of England’s southern coast. The largest groups of islands are the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands and the Hebrides.

Geographical Position

The UK is situated in the Northern Hemisphere. The United Kingdom is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west , the North Sea in the east , the Norwegian Sea in the north, and the English Channel, also known as La Manche , in the south and it also separates the country from the continent of Europe.
The neighbours of the United Kingdom are Iceland in the north-west, Norway in the east and France in the south.
Britain also has many dependant territories which are scattered throughout the world and are the remains of the huge former British Empire . Today Britain assists them, but they may become independent whenever they wish . There have been some difficulties with some of the territories. Argentina has made claims to the Falkland Islands and Spain to Gibraltar.

History

When the glaciers retreated from Britain about 10,000 years ago, Stone -Age men started to inhabit the isles . The early Britons came across the land bridge which joined Britain
to the continent. They were cave-dwellers at first . This way of life was replaced by the invaders from the Mediterranean lands. These men were the first farmers.
In about 500 BC came the people whose homeland was near the Rhine River . These
were the Celts .
The Roman invasion began in 43AD. The Romans were highly organized conquerors.
They built good roads, baths and bridges. The Romans stayed in the British Isles up to
the 5th century . The remarkable thing about the Romans is that, despite their long
occupation of Britain, they left very little behind. Most of the villas and temples
the impressive network of roads and the cities they founded , including Londinium,
were soon destroyed.
The next invaders were the Anglo- Saxons . They came from nowadays Germany ,
Holland and Denmark .
In 1066 the last successful invasion was made by French -speaking Normans. French
became the language of the ruling class, Latin was the written language. By the 14th century, however , English began to replace both French and Latin, but the English language still contains numerous French and Latin borrowings.
The Hundred Years War between England and France and the Black Death had a great negative influence on Britain. Over 1/3 of the population died.
During the fifteenth century the throne of England was claimed by two rival groups - the House of York and the House of Lancaster. As the symbol of the House of York was a white rose and the symbol of the House of Lancaster was a red rose, the war between the groups was called the War of the Roses . It lasted from 1455 to 1485 and ended with the establishment of the powerful Tudor monarchy.
Civil War broke out in 1642 and it lasted until1649. It ended with complete victory for the parliamentary forces. The king was captured and executed after a trial for crimes against his people. The leader of the parliamentary army, Oliver Cromwell, became " Lord Protector" of the republic . The monarchy was restored in 1660, after the death of Cromwell.
In the 18th .century Britain expanded its empire in America, in Africa and India. Technological inventions led to the Industrial Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of people moved from rural areas into new towns and cities. London became an important business and trading centre .
By the 19th century Britain was a powerful empire with its colonies in Canada , France,
Australia , New Zealand , India and Africa. Tens of thousands people left Great Britain
to settle in these colonies.

Government

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as the head of state. The monarch of the UK also serves as head of state of fifteen other Commonwealth countries. The UK has a parliamentary government based on strong democratic traditions.
The Parliament is the legislature of the United Kingdom; housed in the Palace of Westminster . The parliament is made up of the Queen and two houses : House of Commons, which is elected and House of Lords , which is appointed.

Queen Victoria

Victoria became the queen in 1837 when she was only 18 years old. She was queen for 64 years, the longest reign of any monarch. We know a lot about her because she kept a diary from the age of thirteen until her death. She reigned through a time of great change in Britain.
While she was the queen, Britain changed completely. Near the beginning of her reign the population was about 18 million people but by 1901 it was 30 million. By the end of her reign Britain had huge industrial cities, linked by railways. Telephone and telegraph communications improved .
There was street and house lightning for the first time. Education for all 5-10 year olds started. More people could read and write. Victoria was the first monarch on a photograph .
The royal family of Europe had a terrible disease – hemophilia . The disease stops the blood from clotting. Victoria was a carrier and her son died of it at the age of 31.
Victoria married Prince Albert – her German cousin. The marriage was very happy until Albert’s death. He was a good father to his large family. Although he was very British he introduced on of German custom that the British now love – the Christmas tree. When Albert died Victoria was heartbroken. She wore black for the rest of her life.

Relief

Great Britain is about 1000 km long an in its widest part about 500 km across.
The mountainous part of the country is Scotland. There are many highlands with high mountains and deep valleys. The highest peak is Ben Nevis 1343m high.
In Scotland there is also a wide lowland area just between the two uplands. This is the part where many big towns are situated, including Edinburgh and Glasgow. More than three quarters of Scotland’s population live in that area.
A big part of Wales is also mountainous and in England the Pennine Range which is also called as the backbone of England because of its location .
The rest of the country is rather undulating and not even the large agricultural plains in East Anglia are perfectly flat .
In Ireland all the highland areas are situated on the coastal areas but there are no peaks over 1100 m.
Great Britain is rich in rivers but they are rather short. The longest rivers are the Severn, which flows into the Bristol Channel and the Thames which flows just through the city of London. Both of them are an important part of the inland transport network for transporting such products as coal , iron ore and steel .
The largest lake in Great Britain, Loch Lomond, lies in Scotland. There are many
lakes in Scotland. They are narrow and long in shape because of the mountains. Loch
Ness is well-known for its mysterious monster.

Climate

Britain has a maritime temperate climate which means that it's quite mild , with temperatures not much lower than 0ºC in winter and not much higher than 30ºC in summer . There are no extremes of temperature, abundant rainfall all the year round and
frequent changes of the weather . English people often complain about their weather.
The mild climate is due to the warm Gulf Stream .
Occasional winds from the east in winter bring cold and dry weather. The mountainous areas of the north and west have mare rain than the lowlands of the south and east. The best time to visit England is from May to September.
July and August are the hottest months, but unfortunately the wettest too. In September and October the temperatures drop slightly .
January and February are the coldest months and there's often snow on highland areas, especially in Scotland.

Plants

The mild climate, plenty of rain and a long growing season in Britain support a great variety of plants, which grow exceptionally well.
Most of Britain was once covered with thick deciduous forests in which oak trees predominated. The impact of centuries of dense human population has massively altered the flora of Britain and only small parts of those forests remain today.
Although about 10 percent of Britain is still forested, most of this area consists of commercially planted coniferous forests in Wales.
Before they were affected by the people, the oak forests spread over the best soils of Britain. Forests were unable to establish themselves in the poorer soils of the mountains, wetlands and heath . The plants common to these wilder areas are heather, peat moss , rowan and bilberry .
Some wetland areas have drained and are now covered by towns and farmland.

Animal life

An estimated 30,000 animal species live in Britain, although many of them are on the endangered list. Britain has many small mammals and the large ones tend to be gentle. The only surviving large mammals are red deer and roe deer. Semi wild ponies also inhabit the Shetland Islands. Once wild boars and wolves roamed Britain but they were hunted to extinction.
Small mammals like badger, foxes, otters, red squirrels and wildcats inhabit Britain. Wildcats are found only in parts of Scotland.
Britain has five species of frogs and toads and three species of snakes . There are no snakes in Northern Ireland.
Bird watching is a popular national pastime. Britain is home to a large variety of birds . About 200 species are regularly seen . The most common ones are those which remain all year round. Other well known birds are crows, robins, wrens, woodpeckers. One of the worst dangers for the birds is the popularity of ordinary housecats.
Saltwater fist are important to Britain’s economy. Cod, haddock, herring, plaice are caught off the coasts of Britain, although there are concerns about the decrease of stocks. Lobster, crab and other shellfish are caught along inshore waters .

Natural Resources

Britain has a variety of mineral and agricultural resources, but must rely on imports of both. Mining in Britain has an ancient history. Salt mining, for example, dates back to pre- historic times . Today limestone , sandstone, salt, clay and gravel are found in Britain. Zinc , lead and gold are also mined. Gold is mined in Wales. The biggest coal fields are in Wales, Northern England and Scotland.
Britain has the largest energy resources than any country in the EU, mostly in the form of oil and natural gas. Oil and gas are found in the North Sea. Other energy sources include coal and nuclear power .
Some alternative energy sources, notably wind farms, are being developed n various parts of Britain.

Economy

The development of industry in Britain was a long process. Industrialization took place earlier and more rapidly than anywhere else because the existing conditions were favorable in England. In Britain there is a good system of internal waterways and canals, there are no physical barriers to trade and that made the transport of goods less difficult than in other nations.
The south- eastern part of England is the most densely populated region . It is the main
centre of printing , clothes and food industry. In that region lie the two biggest airports -
Heathrow and Gatwick. The largest town is London, which is an important financial and cultural centre.
East Anglia is extremely flat and is dominated by agriculture . They grow mainly fruit, vegetables and soft berries. East Anglia is famous for its large wheat fields. They grow wheat, potatoes and other sorts of vegetables there. There is not very much heavy industry in that region. The main branches of industry are connected with agriculture – food industry. Agricultural machinery is produced there.

Population and Ethnicity

With 60 million people, the UK ranks about fifteenth in the world in terms of population, with England the most populous part.
Britain has a diverse population that includes people with connections to every continent of the world. People have been coming to settle in Britain for centuries from many parts of the world. Some came because of political or religious reasons , others to find a better way of life or an escape from poverty.
Britain’s predominant historical stock is called Anglo Saxons. They arrived in Britain in massive numbers between the 5th and the 7th century. These people tended to be tall , bland and blue eyed. Native Britons fought the great flood of Germanic people and many Britons who survived fled west to the hill country. The refugees were called Celts. Celts tended to be shorter than Anglo Saxons and they had rounder heads. Most had dark hair , but high percentage of Celts had red hair.
A big number of Scandinavians raided and settled in Great Britain and Ireland during the 9th century. In 1066 the Normans, French speaking invaders conquered England, adding another ethnic component. The Normans were the last major group to add their stock to the British population.
8