Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles, of Western Europe. The British Isles consist of two large islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and about five thousand small islands. Their total area is over 244,000 square kilometers.

    The country is often referred to as Great Britain, Britain or the UK. But to be precise, Great Britain comprises England, Wales and Scotland on the island of Great Britain, while the United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. But in everyday speech "Great Britain" is used to mean the United Kingdom. The capital of the United Kingdom is London, in England. The capitals of Scotland, Ireland and Wales are Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff respectively.

The British Isles are separated from the European continent by the North Sea and the English Channel. The western coast of Great Britain is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. Shakespeare called Britain a "precious stone set in the silver sea" because of its natural beauty. It has a varied countryside where you can find mountains, plains, valleys and sandy beaches. There are no high mountains in Great Britain. In the north the Cheviots (the Cheviot Hills) separate England from Scotland, the Pennines stretch down North England almost along its middle, the Cambrian mountains occupy the greater part of Wales, and the Highlands of Scotland are the tallest of the British mountains. Ben Nevis in Scotland is the highest mountain, is only 1,343 meters high. There are a lot of rivers in Great Britain, but they are not very long. The Severn is the longest river, while the Thames is the deepest and the most important one. The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of Gulf Stream influence the climate of the British Isles. It is mild the whole year round.

    Great Britain is not very much 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. Great Britain is a highly developed in­dustrial country. It has achieved this position despite the lack of most raw materials needed for industry. Ship-building, coal-mining, metallurgical and textile industries are the older fields of industry. The newer ones are aircraft, automobile, chemical industries, electronic engineering. It is known as one of the world's largest producers and exporters of machinery, electronics, textile, aircraft and navigation equipment. The main industrial centers are London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Cardiff.   

    The population of the United Kingdom is over 55 million people. The English are more than 80 % of the country's population. English is the official language of Great Britain.

    The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. The Queen is formally the head of the state, but in fact the country is ruled by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. The parliament consists of two Houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. There are three main political parties in Great Britain: the Labour, the Conservative and the Liberal parties. There's no written constitution in Great Britain only a centuries-old accumulation of statutes, judicial decisions, usage, and tradition.