Great Britain
Great Britain or The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the north-west part of Europe. Great Britain occupies many of islands – there are between 5 thousands and the biggest of them is Great Britain and next are for example Irish island with Northern Ireland, isle of Man between Great Britain and Ireland, Shetlands islands, Orkneys and Hebrides, the Isles of Scilly, the Channel Islands or Isle of Wight. Great Britain is separated of continental Europe by English Channel (or Channel la Manche) on the south, on the west is the Irish sea, on the east is the North sea and on the north is the Atlantic ocean.
Great Britain covers more then 250 000 square kilometers and its population is about 60 million, so density is quite high around 240 people per square kilometer, it is one the biggest in Europe. We can find many ethnic groups: English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Ulster, Indian, Pakistan and others. The main language is English but we can find minority languages – Welsh, Scottish and Irish Gaelic. Britain is divided into four parts: England – London, Wales – Cardiff, Scotland – Edinburgh and Northern Ireland – Belfast.
First mention about Great Britain can we find in The Old Ages, when Roma occupied this area, Julius Caesar led invasion about 55 years BC. From this time come first mentions about village named Londonium, which became capital city later. For next time periods was England leading state in Europe and of the world. It was always mighty monarchy with strong king. In 17th and 18th century was Great Britain state number one of the world thanks own colonies. In 20 century lost this position and many of colonies became independent state. Great Britain is a leader state of British Commonwealth Countries.
Great Britain is constitution monarchy. Head of state is queen Elizabeth II, but she hasn´t real power. The Government is formed by the party with majority support in the Commons. The Queen appoints is leader as Prime Minister. Prime Minister is Tony Blair from Labour party, who lives in Downing street number 10. The country is in fact governed by the Cabinet – about 20 leading ministers headed by the Prime Minister. The second largest party forms the official Opposition, with its own leader and shadow cabinet. The Opposition has a duty to critise government and to present an altenative programme. The supreme law-making body in the country is Parliament. It consists of the House of Commons and House of Lords. There are 650 elected Members of Parliament (MPs)in the House of Commons. General elections to choose MPs must be held at least every five years. The House of Lords consists of hereditary and life peers and peeresses , 2 archbishops and 24 bishops who are the representatives of the Church of England. The center of parliamentary power is the House of Commons. The House of Lords as a revising chamber should complement the Commons and not rival it.
British currency is pound which has 100 pennies. National Flag is sometimes called Union Jack. It symbolized the Union of England, Scotland and Ireland. Each country has its cross in the flag – England white background with red cross, Scotland blue with white diagonal, ireland white with red diagonal. National Anthem is God save the Queen!
Great Britain lies in temperate climate zone, climate is determinated by ocean. There are not big differences in temperature between winter and summer and there is enough rains.
Great Britain has various surface with Central lowlands on the south and with highlands on the north in Scotland. There are for example the Cornish Heights, the Cambrian in Wales, the Pennies in the central Britain, the Cambrick Highlands in Scotland and the Scottish highlands with the highest peak Ben Nevis (1342 m) and the Grampians.
Great Britain has a lot of short and long rivers. The most important of them are The River Thames, it flows through London into the North Sea, The River Severn flows into the Bristol Channel, The River Mersey, it flows through Liverpool and the River Clyde or Dee in Scotland. The North of the Scotland is a large lake and mountains area. There is a world known Loch Ness or Loch Lomond.
Capital city of Great Britain is London – it is one of the largest city of the world, it has population about 7 million people and about 12 million in its conurbation. Capital city of Wales is Cardiff – old historical town, center of industry. Capital city in Scotland is Edinburgh – tradition Scottish town and seat of kings, bigger then Edinburgh is Glasgow – industry town, economic and services center. The biggest city is Glasgow.
Oxford and Cambridge are old university towns, Stratford-upon-Avon is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Northwest is mainly an industrial area – Birmingham is second largest town in Britain Liverpool is famous as a home of music group called Beatles, it is old industry town with many factories and air pollution, York is very historical town. Similar city is Manchester – it is center of textile industry. Then are there Brighton, Portsmouth, Sunderland, Canterbury or Winchester – cathedral town or Plymouth. Near Salisbury we can find Stonehenge. It is a beautiful historic monument from stones more than 3000 years old. The purpose of this construction is unknown – probably religious or astronomical reasons.
Industry: Great Britain is one of the richest country of the world and has very developed economy. During 20th century can we notice that British industry changed from heavy industry with traditional branches as shipbuilding, car and train building, engineering. Now dominate chemical industry, production of electronics – televisions, radios, equipment for home and then steel, metals, vehicles, shipping, shipbuilding, aircraft, banking or textiles.
Natural resources aren´t big. Important are coal, oil and natural gas in the North sea, limestone, iron, salt, clay, chalk, lead, tin, gold and zinc.
The main agriculture’s products are wheat, sugar beet, corn, vegetables and fruit and vegetables on south-west part. Great Britain is very important cattle and sheep breeding and production of meat.
The main Britain´s trading partners are Germany, the USA, France, Netherlands and the others countries of European Union.
British love sport. Sports matches are important social events. The most popular are football – the highest football competition is called Premier League, next popular sports are tennis the competition is called Wimbledon, horse racers – steeplechase, cricket, rugby, golf or polo.