The full name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The United Kingdom is situated on the
British Isles. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great
Britain and Ireland, and a great number of small islands. Their total
area is over 314 000 sq. km.
The British Isles are separated from the
European continent by the North Sea and English Channel. The western
coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish
Sea.
Northern Ireland occupies one third of the island of Ireland. It borders on the Irish Republic in the south.
The island of Great Britain consists of
three main parts: England (the southern and middle part of the island),
Wales (a mountainous peninsula in the West) and Scotland (the northern
part of the island).
There are no high mountains in Great
Britain. In the north the Cheviots separate England from Scotland, the
Pennines stretch down North England along its middle, the Cambrian
mountains occupy the greater part of Wales and the Highlands of Scotland
are the tallest of the British mountains. There is very little flat
country except in the region known as East Anglia.
Most of the rivers flow into the North
Sea. Thames is the deepest of the British rivers. Some of the British
greatest ports are situated in the estuaries of the Thames, Mersey,
Trent, Tyne, Clyde and Bristol Avon.
Great Britain is not very rich in
mineral resources, it has some deposits of coal and iron ore and vast
deposits of oil and gas that were discovered in the North Sea.
The warm currents of the Atlantic
Ocean influence the climate of Great Britain. Winters are not severely
cold and summers are rarely hot.
The population of the United Kingdom
is over 58 million people. The main nationalities are: English, Welsh,
Scottish and Irish. In Great Britain there are a lot of immigrants from
former British Asian and African colonies.
Great Britain is a highly
industrialized country. New industries have been developed in the last
three decades. The main industrial centres are London, Birmingham,
Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow and Bristol.
The capital of the country is London. The United Kingdom is a parliamentary monarchy.