Suurbritannia üldkokkuvõte (0)

1) General facts
The UK:
* the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1801
* it covers 243,610 sq km
* everybody from the UK is called British
* the capital city is London
* is made up of four constituent countries: England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland which in turn are divided into counties
* the flag is called the Union Jack which is a combination of the flags of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
* the population is about 60,000,000 people, the population density is 242 people/sq km
* its coasts are washed by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel , the Celtic Sea, Saint George's Channel, and the Irish Sea. It is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel
* the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who is also the Queen and Head of State of fifteen other Commonwealth Realms, such as Canada, Australia , New Zealand and Jamaica .
England:
* it has 50 cities, the capital city is London
* despite of the density of population and the high degree of urbanisation, England has many unspoilt rural and coastal areas which have been placed under protection
* the flag is called the Saint George’s Cross
Scotland:
* the biggest cities are Glasgow and Edinburgh (the capital)
* Stirling has been an important settlement in Scotland for over 800 years
* the flag is called the Saint Andrew ’s Cross
Wales:
* the biggest cities are Cardiff , Swansea and Newport
* these cities depended for their growths on surrounding mines and metal production, which started during the days of the Industrial Revolution
* the flag is of Wales bears a Red Dragon (it is not represented on the Union Jack)
Northern Ireland:
* the capital city is Belfast
* 54% of people regard themselves as Protestants and 42% as Roman Catholics
* the flag is called the Saint Patrick’s Cross
2) History
Prehistoric Britain, Roman Britain, Anglo- Saxon , Danish, Norman invasions (…-1066):
Britain was part of the European land mass until the end of the last Ice Age. It became an island by about 6000 BC. From about 3000 to 2000 BC the British Isles were inhabited by a group of people called the Iberians. These Stone Age people lived in limestone caves, they used stone axes and fashioned antlers and bones into leather -working tools . Later groups of people from what are now Germany , the Netherlands and Brittany also settled in Briton.
During the Bronze Age, they mined tin, gold and copper and made bronze tools. They also probably built the spectacular prehistoric megaliths, such as Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain .
The Celts invaded the British Isles in the 5th century BC in two waves. The Britons grew wheat and corn , caught fish , and tamed and bred animals. They made coarse cloth for their clothes, learned the art of pottery, made things of wool, metal and copper, and were good warriors. They traded with the Gauls and built many temples and altars. The Celts brought with them a knowledge of smelting iron , which produced stronger weapons than the bronze ones. They had a strange and cruel religion, sometimes human beings were sacrificed.
In 43 AD the Roman Invasion in Britain started. The millions of people who lived under the Romans , were bound together under a common system of law and government . Ancient Rome had an enormous influence on the development of Western civilization. Julius Caesar reached the shores of Gaul in 55 BC. The Romans, having better arms, armour, organization, and training, defeated the Celtic tribes . The next invasion took place under the Emperor Claudius, this time the Romans occupied Britain for almost 4 centuries. During that time, Britain was ruled as a province. The Romans taught the Britons to build bridges, houses and paved roads. They also built public baths. Many of Britain’s main towns and cities were established by the Romans. Latin influenced the early development of the English language . The capital city, London, was also built during that time. The Romans built the Hadrian ’s Wall in AD 122 to keep out the raiding Picts from what is now Scotland. Roman soldiers brought Christianity to Britain. In AD 410, Roman forces were withdrawn from Britain.
With the Romans gone, the Britons could not protect themselves from invading tribes. The greatest danger came from Germanic seafaring tribes called Angles, Saxons and the Jutes. They established kingdoms in southern and eastern England. The gradual intermarriage of these new waves of invaders and the people already living in Briton created what was called Anglo-Saxon England – ‘Angle-land’. The Angles and the Saxons became the most powerful tribes in England with the Saxons in southern England and the Angles in the north. The language the Anglo-Saxons spoke (Anglo-Saxon German ) gradually developed into Old English. Old English was not a written language.
In 787 the Vikings began their invasion from Denmark. They mercilessly raided and pillaged coastal towns in Britain. The king of Wessex, Alfred the Great, resisted and defeated the Vikings in 886. A treaty – the Danelaw – was signed between King Alfred the Great of Wessex and Guthrum, Danish king of East Anglia. England was divided. Later, the Anglo-Saxon dynasty was restored and lasted until 1066. The last famous Saxon king of England was Edward the Confessor .
In 1066 at the battle of Hastings the Norman Duke William defeated the Saxon King Harold and was crowned the king of England. In Norman times three languages were spoken: Latin (by the clergy and the university scholars), Norman- French (by the aristocracy and the king), Anglo-Saxon German (by common people). By the 14th century Norman-French and Anglo-Saxon German formed one language called Middle English.
Medieval Britain (1066-1485):
1066 – the Battle of Hastings between the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans. The Anglo-Saxons were defeated, Harold II was killed , William of Normandy became William I of England (William the Conqueror).
1215 – the Magna Carta: king John was forced to sign a document which limited his power .
1337 – the Hundred Years’ War with France. The English kings tried to maintain control of the land they owned in France. The French won the war.
1348 – the Black Death was a terrible illness (probably plague) which killed a large number of people.
1455-1485 – the Wars of the Roses were fought between the House of York and the House of Lancaster. Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor of the House of York. The latter was crowned King Henry VII of England.
The House of Tudors (1485- 1603 ):
This period was lively characterised by new learning , trade and expansion, sea exploration and naval victories. It culminated with the sinking of the Spanish Armada. The most powerful Tudor monarchs were Henry VII (he had 6 wives and great ambitions, he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church ), Elizabeth I (her reign was a long and golden one, characterised by intellectual brilliance, flourishing literature and commercial prosperity). The famous explorers were Sir Francis Drake (one of the leaders of the English navy) and Walter Raleigh (he made several journeys to America, wrote books about them, brought potatoes and tobacco to Britain).
The House of Stuarts (1603-1714):
Guy Fawkes Night dates back to 5 November 1605, when the English Catholics attempted to blow up the King and the Parliament . They failed. The conflict between the Parliament and the kings over power increased and led the country into the Civil War (1642-1651). In the end, Charles I was defeated and executed and Cromwell took up rule of the country, which became a republic. After Cromwell’s death, the Stuarts returned to the throne.
The House of Hanoverians (1714-1901):
George I was a controversial king who left the country in care of the Cabinet. This was eventually headed by Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first Prime Minister. The single greatest threat to George I came with the Scottish Jacobite Rebellions. However James Stuart was easily defeated and fled to Rome. During the reign of George III, Britain lost its American colonies and the United States was born. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, ended Napoleon Bonaparte’s dream of world dominance in the Battle of Waterloo, Belgium , in 1783. Captain James Cook , a navigator and explorer , changed the map of the world and established footholds for British expansion and empire building during the 18th and 19th centuries. Britain exported coal , cloth, guns and other manufactured products . Imports included cotton, sugar , tobacco and tea.
The Victorian Age ( 1837 -1901):
This period was dominated by three men – her Prince Consort, Albert of Saxe-Coburg, and two outstanding prime ministers, William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. By the end of her reign the nation was the most powerful in the world. Victoria gave birth to nine children during her 20- year marriage to Albert. Prince Albert’s death in 1861 left Victoria inconsolable and she withdrew from most public appearances for years.
1853- 1856 – the Crimean War, which took place in Russia . The war was won by the British.
1899- 1902 – the Boer War saw the British army fight successfully against two Boer republics and make them part of the British Empire.
The Potato Famine hit Ireland between 1845 and 1850 and was one of the greatest natural disasters the Western world has seen . Ireland lost about half of its population, people relied on the potato as their staple diet.
Charles Dickens is considered one of the greatest English novelists of all time. He became a very rich man and used his wealth for the causes closest to his heart , such as the antislavery movement, social housing projects and international copyrighting laws .
The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, later Windsor (1901-…):
The first king of this period was Edward VII, the eldest son of Victoria and Albert. He enjoyed active social life and had several mistresses ( hence the name ‘the Playboy King’).
George V was confronted with many crises, including World War I, Ireland’s fight for independence, women ’s battle to secure the vote , the General Strike, the Great Depression and the rise of Hitler ’s Nazis. The family name was changed into ‘Windsor’ in 1917.
World War I (1914-1918) was a war in Europe fought between France, the UK and the British Empire, Russia and the US (‘the Allies ’) on one side and Germany, Austria- Hungary and Turkey on the other side. As for voting, the Reform Act of 1832 gave the vote to all men who owned a house. Later, in 1928, all men and women over 21 had the right to vote. The General Strike on 04.05.1926 was started by the people who worked in the mines. Many people stopped work in support of the men who worked in the mines. Edward VIII wanted to marry a divorced American woman, Mrs Wallis Simpson. He married her and later his brother , George VI, became the new king. During World War II, they continued to live in London ( while it was being bombed) and accepted the same food restrictions as ordinary people. The British Commonwealth of Nations was created during his reign. World War II (1939-1945) was started by Adolf Hitler. 55 million people were killed during this war until Japan surrounded in 1945. German planes dropped bombs on British cities and London. Sir Winston Churchill led Britain through the war, and he was named the architect of the victory.
Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953 was the first to be televised. She has three children: Charles (the Prince of Wales), Anne (the Princess Royal) and Andrew (the Duke of York).
3) Nature , weather
The climate in the British Isles is generally mild and temperate. It is greatly influenced by the surrounding seas. The rainfall and precipitation are huge. You can experience four seasons in the course of a single day. The average temperature is +15…+20 degrees in summer and -5…-7 degrees in winter. The unstable weather has a definite effect upon the national character. They say that it has made the British both cautious and easily adaptable.
Great Britain, consisting of England, Scotland and Wales, is 350 miles across at its widest point and 600 miles long at its longest . It has got beautiful beaches , bays , inlets, cliffs and rocky headlands.
England features mostly low hills and plains. Its coastline is 3200 km long. The Pennine Chain splits northern England into western and eastern parts. There are many rivers and lakes (Lake District for example). The whole of England resembles a park in the hands of a skilful landscape gardener.
Scotland covers about one-third of Great Britain. It has large areas of untouched and wild landscapes. Britain’s highest peak , Ben Nevis (1343 m) lies there. Scotland may be divided into the Lowlands and the Northern Highlands. The Great Glen, cutting across the Highlands, is a string of lochs and canals, including Loch Ness and the deepest lake in the UK – Loch Morar (310 m).
Wales is also a mountainous country. Its border to the east with England still roughly runs along Offa’s Dyke, the giant earthwork constructed in the 8th century. Wales has two major mountain systems: the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons in the south and the mountains of Snowdonia in the north- west . The longest river in the UK, the Severn (322 km), rises in central Wales and flows through England into the Bristol Channel. Wales also has many caves, the deepest of which is Ogof Flynnon Powys (308 m).
Ireland is the second largest of the British Isles. The island has a spectacular landscape of high mountains, fine lakes and different kinds of beaches. Its two great rivers are the Liffey in the east and the Shannon in the west. Lough Neagh is the largest stretch of inland water in the British Isles. Ireland is noted for its pastures and the world’s best dairy products.
4) British Institutions
The British Constitution is an unwritten constitution. It is based on statutes and important law, case law, customs and conventions. It contains two main principles – the rule of law and the supremacy of Parliament. Parliament is the supreme legislative authority and consists of three separate element: the Sovereign, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. There are 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) – each member representing one of the 650 geographical areas (constituencies). The House is presided over by the Speaker. The main function of the House of Commons is to legislate. The House of Lords is presided over by the Lord Chancellor. It is made up of Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal, the latter comprise all hereditary and life peers. The leader of the party which obtains a majority of seats in a general election is named Prime Minister. A number of ministers are invited by the Prime Minister to attend regular meetings to discuss policy and this group of ministers is known as the Cabinet. The main opposition party forms a Shadow Cabinet.
People vote for any one of the candidates in the constituency in which they are registered. The Conservative Party was formed by Robert Peel from what was left of the old Tory party in the 1930s . The Labour Party was formed by James Keir Hardie in 1892 to represent the workers . The recently-formed Green Party has begun to threaten the left-of-centre Liberal Democratic Party as the nation’s “third” party.
There is a large body of laws that have never been codified known as common law.
5) Economy , industry, agriculture , tourism
The UK economy has performed remarkably well for the past 15 years, especially in the service sector. The value of all goods and services produced within the UK economy for final consumption is measured by GDP. The biggest companies are BP energy, Vodafone, GlaxoSmithKlein, HSBC Holdings, Royal Bank of Scotland, etc. The main revenue sources were taxes on income, taxes on expenditure, National Insurance Contributions, taxes on capital.
The profile of British industry has changed greatly since WW II. About 70% today work in service industries. Agriculture takes up almost 80% of the land but employs only 1-2% of the total workforce. Mainly wheat, barney, oilseed rape , sugar beet, peas and beans are cultivated.
Britain is one of the world’s leading tourist destinations. Britain is well- know for its big airports, safe roads and extensive rail network .
6) Famous people of Britain
Famous writers:
William Shakespeare, Brontë sisters ( Charlotte , Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen , Agatha Christie , J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens and J. K. Rowling .
Famous Poets :
Lord Byron , Robert Burns , and Thomas Hardy.
Famous Composers:
William Byrd , Thomas Tallis , John Taverner , Henry Purcell , Edward Elgar, Arthur Sullivan , Ralph Vaughan Williams , and Benjamin Britten.
Famous musicians and bands:
Arctic Monkeys, the Beatles , James Blunt, (born 1977), Eric Clapton (born 1945), Coldplay, Deep Purple, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Iron Maiden, Sir Elton John, (born 1947), Led Zeppelin , John Lennon , (1940-1980), Andrew Lloyd Webber, (born 1948), Sir Paul McCartney, (born 1942), Muse , Oasis, Mike Oldfield, Ozzy Osbourne (born 1948), Pink Floyd, Queen, Simply Red, the Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols , the Spice Girls, Robbie Williams (born 1974).
Famous actors/actresses:
Julie Andrews, Rowan Atkinson , Kate Beckinsale, Orlando Bloom , Hugh Grant , Audrey Hepburn , Keira Knightley, Hugh Laurie , Jude Law, Wentworth Miller, Daniel Radcliffe.
8