Explore it. Britain

Рќ. Рђ. РћРІСЃСЏРЅРЅРёРєРѕРІР°

Д. С. Ведунова

В данной книге вы найдете информацию об истории Соединённого Королевства, отличительных чертах страны и самых известных достопримечательностях.

Explore it. Britain

Рќ. Рђ. РћРІСЃСЏРЅРЅРёРєРѕРІР°

Д. С. Ведунова

© Н. А. Овсянникова, 2016

© Д. С. Ведунова, 2016

© Роман Алексеевич Голобоков, cover design, 2016

Created with intellectual publishing system Ridero

Geographical location and characteristics ofВ the country

Features of the geographical location and the United Kingdom, located in the British Isles in the north-western coast of continental Europe, traditionally called (by the name of the largest island), the United Kingdom, and the name of its main part of England. Officially it is called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In fact the UK has three historical and geographical areas: England, Wales and Scotland. The structure of the United Kingdom also includes Northern Ireland, which occupies the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland. This is the fourth region of the country. British Isles is the most extensive archipelago in Europe. It consists of two large islands – Great Britain and Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, and another 5 thousand small islands, among which highlights the three island groups in the North: Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland and the Isle of Man, England and others. The UK is an archipelago of an irregular shape with a very diverse landscape and nature. The last one is due to the fact that the British Isles were once part of Europe, but were cut off from the mainland after the flooding of low-lying land, and now is the bottom of the North Sea and the English Channel. Northern Ireland, which is politically complements the United Kingdom, located on the second largest island of Ireland, and is the western extension of the Scottish mountains. These mountain areas are separated by a narrow channel of the North. The western coast of the island of Great Britain is rocky and steep, east is more gentle. The area of the UK is about 240842 km

Most ofВ it is the land, and the rest are rivers and lakes. England area is 129,634В km

, Wales is 20637В km

, Scotland is 77179В km

and Northern Ireland is 13438В km

. Thus, England is bigger than the other countries of the United Kingdom, and has the largest population. These factors explain the dominance of England in British history. The southern end of the island of Great Britain is Cornwall peninsula – is at 50° NL (North latitude), and the most northern part of the archipelago of Shetland Islands are at 60° N.L. The length of the island of Great Britain from the north to south is 966 km. The British archipelago which is located on the Continental Shelf, is separated by the shallow North Sea from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany and by the narrow English Channel (the British call it the English Channel) and Pas-de-Calais from France. Historically, the UK geographic features have influenced human settlement, migration, armed conquest and political union. They also identified the location and operation of industry, transport systems, agriculture, fishing industry, forests, energy and communications. Today, they continue to determine the life of the British, and in addition, they are closely related to public concern about the environment and wildlife. England (population – 48.2 million people) consists mainly of hilly or flat lowland areas with several mountain zones in the north and south-east. But the low hills stretch across most of the country, interspersed with low-lying lands and plains. The population is concentrated mainly around the city of London and even in the south-east of England, west of Birmingham,