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WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GREAT BRITAIN
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
lies at the northwestern edge of Europe, separated from the European
mainland by the English Channel, the North Sea, and the narrow Strait of
Dover. It consists of the formerly separate kingdoms of England and
Scotland and the principality of WalesÑwhich are collectively referred
to as Great BritainÑand the six counties of Northern Ireland, which
elected to remain within the United Kingdom in 1921 when southern
Ireland withdrew to form the Irish Free State (after 1949, the Republic
of Ireland, or Eire). The loss of Ireland and its withdrawal from the
Commonwealth of Nations in 1949 rendered politically obsolete the use of
the collective term British Isles. Other integral parts of the United
Kingdom are the outlying Hebrides, Orkney Islands, and Shetland Islands,
off the coast of Scotland; Anglesey (see Gwynedd), off the coast of
Wales; and the Isle of Wight and the Scilly Isles, off the southwest
coast of England. Separate from the kingdom but administered by the
crown, each with its own laws and systems of taxation, are the Isle of
Man, located in the Irish Sea; and the Channel Islands, located off the
northwest coast of France.
England is the largest and most populous unit in the
kingdom, with an area of 130,439 Ü (50,363 æ) and a population (1994
est.) of 48,707,500. Wales, located to the west and separated from
England by a boundary dating back to the Middle Ages, has an area of
20,768 Ü (8,018 æ) and 2,913,000 inhabitants; it became part of the
English kingdom in 1282 but continues to maintain a separate language
and national identity. ScotlandÑwith an area of 78,772 Ü (30,414 æ)
and 5,132,400 inhabitantsÑlies to the north, separated from England by
a boundary that extends from Solway Firth (estuary) on the west, across
the sparsely populated Cheviot Hills, to the north of Berwick upon
Tweed. Scotland and England were ruled by the same monarchs after 1603
and were united in 1707 to form the kingdom of Great Britain. Ireland
was made an integral part of the kingdom in 1801, changing the official
name to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The present
name was adopted after the partition of Ireland in 1921. Northern
Ireland has an area of 14,121 Ü (5,452 æ) and a population of
1,641,700.
Commonly described as "in Europe but not of it," Great
Britain and Ireland remained relatively isolated from world events until
the 15th century when the Age of Discovery placed them on the world s
newly charted sea-lanes and trading routes. Increasingly, the island
nation looked away from Europe in later centuries and across the seas to
the Americas, India, the Far East, southern and interior Africa,
Australia, and New Zealand. Overseas colonies were established, forming
the enormous British Empire. Many of these colonies chose to retain
trade and other ties to Britain when granted independence and are today
part of the Commonwealth; because of these ties, however, the United
Kingdom s entry into the European Union (EU) in 1973 was preceded by
lengthy negotiations and dispute.
The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom, which in the 19th
century became the world s preeminent industrial and trading nation. In
the 20th century, however, competition from more recently industrialized
countries as well as the loss of its colonies (which had provided raw
materials for Britain s industries and markets for their finished
products) brought an economic decline. In the 1960s and 1970s severe
labor disputes, unprecedented inflation, and declining exports
contributed to a series of economic crises.
During the Industrial Revolution the country became rapidly urbanized,
and today more than 70% of the total population is concentrated in
cities occupying 10% of the total land area.
To protect the remaining countryside, national planning
legislation has established ten national parks in the most scenic areas,
including Dartmoor, the Lake District, the Pennines, the Snowdonia, the
Pembrokeshire coast, North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, Northumbria,
Exmoor, and the Brecon Beacons. Other areas are also protected as Areas
of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
LAND AND RESOURCES
Despite its small size, variety of scene is the main characteristic of
the United Kingdom.
Lowland England
The largest area of flat plain occurs in The Fens, located
on the east coast around The Wash. Before they were drained to produce a
rich agricultural landscape similar to the polders in the Netherlands,
The Fens were an area of marshland. Smaller flat areas are found along
the River Humber estuary farther north on the east coast; along the
Thames below London; and in Romney Marsh, in the southeastern county of
Kent. Elsewhere, lowland England in the south and east is rolling
country with a variety of landforms reflecting differences in underlying
rock types. Especially prominent are the low hills and scarps developed
on chalk rocks of Cretaceous age (135 million to 65 million years ago).
They occur in the North and South Downs to the south of London, where
the scarps face south and north, respectively, into The Weald; in
Salisbury Plain, where the downs converge at their western end; and in
the low hills that continue westward through the southern counties of
Wiltshire and Dorset and swing eastward through the Isle of Wight.
Northwestward from Salisbury Plain, the chalk hills form the prominent
Chiltern Hills to the northwest of London; fall to lower elevations in
the hills of East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk counties); and farther
north form the Lincoln and York Wolds on either side of the Humber
estuary.
To the west, separated from the chalk hills by an
intervening lowland developed mainly on clays, rise a northeast-trending
series of uplands developed on limestones of Jurassic age (190 million
to 135 million years ago). They extend from the southern county of
Dorset to the North York moors on England s northeast coast, and include
the Cotswolds, which form a scarped edge overlooking the River Severn
valley and rise to a high point of 314 m (1,031 ft) in Cleeve Cloud,
near Cheltenham.
Also prominent in lowland England are the Mendip Hills, which rise to
326 m (1,068 ft) in Black Down, in the southwest near Bristol; Exmoor,
which rises to 520 m (1,707 ft) in Dunkery Beacon farther west;
Dartmoor, a granite-formed upland that rises to 621 m (2,039 ft) in High
Willhays in the southwestern peninsula; and the Malvern Hills, which
exceed 300 m (1,000 ft) between Gloucester and Worcester. Glacial
deposits greatly modify topography and landforms north of an irregular
line joining the River Thames and the Bristol Channel; often burying the
underlying rock to considerable depths, the mantle of glacial deposits
creates differing soil conditions as well as different drainage
conditions from field to field.
Upland England
Uplands predominate in northern and western England. The
most extensive uplands are the Pennines, which rise to 893 m (2,930 ft)
in Cross Fell. Underlain mainly by limestones and grits of Carboniferous
age (345 million to 280 million years ago), the Pennines are bordered on
both sides by discontinuous coalfields, and the open moorlands of the
Pennines contrast starkly with the sprawling industrial cities near the
coal deposits. Numerous broad river valleys, known locally as dales,
drain eastward across the mountains into the Vale of York, a north-south
extension of lowland England that serves as the main route northward
into Scotland. West of the Pennines are the Lancashire and Cheshire
Plains and farther north England s scenic Lake District, which rises to
978 m (3,210 ft) in Scafell Pike, England s highest peak.
Wales and Scotland
Unlike England, the topography of Wales and Scotland is
dominated more by mountains and uplands than by lowlands. The highest
mountain in Wales is Snowdon, which rises to 1,085 m (3,560 ft) in the
northwest. In South Wales the Brecon Beacons rise to 886 m (2,907 ft)
and, as in the Pennines, the barren, windswept uplands contrast with the
deep and generally narrow coal-mining valleys farther south. The
principal lowlands in Wales are on the island of Anglesey and along the
western coasts of Caernarvon and Cardigan bays. Southern Scotland is
dominated by low ranges of the Southern Uplands, which rise to
elevations exceeding 610 m (2,000 ft) in parts of the Tweedsmuir Hills.
To the north of the Southern Uplands are the geologically complex,
down-faulted Scottish Central Lowlands that extend northeastward across
the country from the Firth of Clyde on the west coast to the firths
(estuaries) of Tay and Forth on the east coast. The lowlands are
interpenetrated by uplands, including the Pentlands, Campsies, Ochils,
and Sidlaws; all rise over 300 m (1,000 ft), with peaks reaching over
610 m (2,000 ft) in the Ochils. North and west of the Central Lowlands
are the Highlands, a large upland region divided by the Glen More (Great
Glen), a deep depression that extends from Fort William to Inverness and
is occupied in part by Loch Ness. Narrow lowlands border the Highlands
in the east. The western Highlands are rugged and mountainous and
include Ben Nevis, the highest point in the United Kingdom. Numerous
other peaks reach over 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in the Cairngorm Mountains,
the most extensive area of mountainous terrain in the Highlands. On the
western island of Skye, the scenic Cuillin Hills rise to more than 900 m
(3,000 ft) in places, with lower, moorland-covered peaks common on the
other islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides.
Northern Ireland
The structural depression forming the Scottish Central
Lowlands extends southwestward across the Irish Sea to form the area of
lowlands surrounding Lough Neagh, which is situated to the west of
Belfast in Northern Ireland. Scenic mountains of low elevation border
the lowlands area on all sides. To the northeast rise the Antrim
Mountains, which reach a high point of 554 m (1,817 ft); formed on
basaltic rocks of Eocene age (54 million to 38 million years ago), the
mountains reach the sea on the north coast in the famous steps of the
Giant s Causeway. The Sperrin Mountains form the northwestern edge of
the depression and reach a high point of 683 m (2,240 ft) in Mount
Sawel. Forming parts of the southern edge of the depression in part are
the Mourne Mountains, which are located south of Belfast and which rise
to 852 m (2,796 ft) in Slieve Donard, the highest point in Northern
Ireland.
Climate
The United Kingdom has a highly variable temperate marine
west-coast type of climate. Relatively few periods of continuously dry
weather occur; they are usually caused by anticyclonic systems and are
associated with unusually warm days in summer and cold periods in
winter. Much more common is the variable weather that occurs as cyclonic
depressions sweep in from the Atlantic Ocean, bringing high winds and
abundant rainfall to the west in winter and lower amounts of rainfall in
summer. Mountainous west coast areas generally receive more than 2,540
mm (100 in) of rain a year, but rainfall amounts diminish rapidly
eastward; the Cairngorm Mountains receive only about 1,000ÃÂ1,270 mm
(40ÃÂ50 in) a year, and most lowlands in the west, between approximately
500 and 750 mm (20 and 30 in). The driest areas surround the Thames
estuary in southeastern England, where less than 500 mm (20 in) of rain
falls each year. In the wetter western areas, 2 out of 3 days are
usually rainy; in the drier east, rain falls on almost one out of every
two days. No permanent snows exist, but snow may lie on the ground for 2
months or more in the Cairngorm Mountains and other parts of the
Highlands. In winter, temperatures are colder in the east than in the
west; snow covers the ground for about 18 days in Aberdeen, an average
of 6 days in London, and hardly at all along the entire southern coast
or the west coast as far north as Glasgow. In summer, a more normal
decrease in temperature from south to north occurs; average July
temperatures range from about 17¡ C (63¡ F) on the southern coast and
in London, to 12¡ C (54¡ F) in the north of Scotland.
Resources
The United Kingdom has long been rich in energy resources
but deficient in food and industrial raw materials. Extensive coal
deposits occur around the eastern and western edges of the Pennines, in
South Wales, in the western Midlands (Birmingham area), and in the
Scottish Central Lowland. Easily accessible coal seams are, however,
largely exhausted. Fortunately for the energy-hungry British economy,
large deposits of petroleum and natural gas under the North Sea came
into commercial production in 1975; by the end of the 1980s the United
Kingdom is expected to be self-sufficient in petroleum.
Other mineral deposits are of small importance. They include tin, mined
in small amounts in Cornwall; low-grade iron ores in the Jurassic rocks
of Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire in the eastern Midlands, used in
steel mills at Scunthorpe and Corby; kaolinite (china clay), mined in
parts of Cornwall; and sands and gravels, quarried for road-building
materials. Of the total land area about 25% is used for crops and more
than 65% for grassland and grazing; agricultural productivity has been
greatly improved since World War II, and only one-third of all food
needs are now imported, compared with two-thirds before the war.
Languages
The official language is English. Other languages include
the Celtic languages Welsh, the national language of Wales, and Scottish
Gaelic, so named to distinguish it from Irish Gaelic, the national
language of Ireland. In 1991, Welsh was spoken by 508,098 people, or
about 18% of the total Welsh population, down from 715,000 in 1951. Most
Welsh speakers are concentrated in the rural northern and western
counties of Wales, where they constitute most of the total population;
all but a few are also recorded as English speaking. Welsh nationalism
has been strongly linked with encouraging the wider use of Welsh, and
since the Welsh Language Act of 1967, the language has enjoyed parity
with English in governmental and legal matters throughout Wales.
Scottish Gaelic was spoken by 65,978 in 1991, down from 95,500 in 1951;
it is used primarily in the western Highlands and on the islands. The
Scottish nationalist movement is less concerned with promoting Gaelic as
a national language for Scotland than with improving economic and social
conditions by diverting a greater share of North Sea oil profits to
Scotland in the future. Cornish, once used in the southwestern
peninsula, and Manx, used on the Isle of Man, are virtually extinct.
the total population is concentrated in the Greater London area and
seven other conurbations (continuously built-up urban areas)ÑGlasgow
City district, Tyne and Wear (based on the central cities of Newcastle
upon Tyne and Sunderland), Merseyside (Liverpool and environs), Greater
Manchester, West Yorkshire (based on Leeds and Bradford), South
Yorkshire (based on Sheffield), and the West Midlands (Birmingham and
the Black Country). Another substantial portion of the population is
urbanized in smaller towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants, including
the environs of Belfast and Cardiff. The most sparsely populated areas
are the Highlands of Scotland, upland areas of Wales, and the Pennines.
According to the 1991 census, the most rapid recent population growth
has occurred in the regions of East Anglia, particularly the county of
Cambridgeshire; the South West; and the East Midlands. The county of
Buckinghamshire, outside the Greater London area, also has experienced
increases. The fastest-growing districts are generally the remoter,
mainly rural districtsÑsuch as South Hams, North Dorset, and Suffolk
Coastal; the districts that include the post-1945 new towns (designed to
relieve urban congestion)Ñsuch as Milton Keynes, Redditch, and
Bracknell Forest; and resort, port, and retirement districtsÑsuch as
East Dorset and Colwyn. By contrast the most significant decreases were
generally in the principal cities in metropolitan districts, such as
Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, and in Inner London boroughs. Also
in decline were old textile and other industrial towns of the
PenninesÑsuch as Bolton, Oldham, Burnley, and Blackburn for cotton and
Bradford, Halifax, and Huddersfield for woolens. Stagnation has occurred
in the industrialized northeast of England and in much of Scotland.
GOVERNMENT
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary form of government. The ruling sovereign (since 1952) is
Queen Elizabeth II; the heir apparent is Prince Charles, who by
tradition as the eldest son of the monarch is Prince of Wales. As head
of state the sovereign ceremonially opens each new session of Parliament
and entrusts executive authority to the prime minister (Tony Blair, from
1997) and the cabinet. Legislative authority rests with a bicameral
Parliament, but effective power lies more with the directly elected
House of Commons (lower house) than with the House of Lords (upper
house), which traditionally consisted of hereditary and life peers. (The
right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords was abolished in
1999.) The prime minister is appointed by the sovereign as the leader of
the majority party or coalition of parties in the House of Commons. The
maximum term of Parliament is five years, but elections may be called
earlier if the government loses the support of the Commons or if it
chooses.
The principal political parties are the Labour party,
which holds the majority of seats in Parliament, and the Conservative
party, led by William Hague. Other parties include the Liberal
Democrats, formed as the Social and Liberal Democrats in 1988 by a
merger of the Liberal party and the Social Democratic party (led by
Charles Kennedy); the Communist party; and the locally important Ulster
Unionist, Scottish National, and Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalist)
parties.
Of the 659 members in the Commons, 529 represent England, 40 represent
Wales, 72 represent Scotland, and 18 represent Northern Ireland. The
Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have separate local assemblies and
are self-governing entities.
Proposals to establish home rule for Scotland and Wales were approved by
referendums in 1997, and legislatures for the two regions were elected
in May 1999. The new Scottish Parliament has the power to raise taxes
and make laws; the Welsh Assembly does not. Home rule in Northern
Ireland, suspended since 1972, was restored in December 1999 but
suspended again in February 2000.
Local administration in England is managed through 35
nonmetropolitan counties, 7 metropolitan counties, the City of London,
andÑfollowing local government alterations in 1995 and 1996Ñ14 new
jurisdictions called unitary authorities. The metropolitan counties are
Greater London (boroughs), Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, Greater
Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and the West Midlands. The
nonmetropolitan counties are subdivided into 274 districts. Also
created, effective in 1996, were 22 unitary authorities in Wales and 29
unitary authorities in Scotland. Scotland s 3 "island
districts"ÑShetland, Orkney, and the Western IslesÑremain. Northern
Ireland is divided into 26 districts.
British dependencies overseas include Gibraltar, Bermuda, British Virgin
Islands, Falkland Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands,
Montserrat, the British Indian Ocean Territory, Saint Helena, Ascension
Island, Tristan da Cunha Islands, and Pitcairn Island.
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