THE BRITISH ISLES

= UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN

 

Great Britain = England + Scotland + Wales

United Kingdom = Great Britain + Northern Ireland

British Commonwealth of Nations = Uk + Canada + Australia + New Zealand

 

UK consists of

England on SE, Wales on SW, Scotland on N and North Ireland (1/5 of Ireland)

↓                        ↓                   ↓                                     ↓

London               Cardiff        Edinburgh                     Belfast

 

MOUNTAIN RANGES:

Scotland – The Scottish Highlands with Ben Nevis (1643m)

Wales – Cambrian Mountains with Snowdon (1085m)

England – Cumbrian Mountains with Scafell Pike (978) and Reading

 

Pennines – backbone of England

 

RIVERS:

Severn – longest river – ends in Bristol Channel

Thames, Mersey, Clyde, River Lagan

 

LAKES:

England – Windermere

Scotland – Loch Lomond, Loch Ness

North Ireland – Lough Neagh – 381,7km²

 

FLAG:

Union Jack – because England, Scotland and Wales formed a union

 

LANGUAGE:

Southern England accent – most easily understood = R.P. received pronunciation, BBC English, Oxford English

London Dialect – most difficult to understand = Cockney

Germanic language – developed from AngloSaxons

Welsh, Scottish, Irish – Celtic origin

 

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM:

Britain is parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch as a head of state. Important duty is the choice of Prime Minister. The queen sees him every week. Three man political parties: the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, the Liberal-Democratic Party

 

 

HISTORY:

• First inhabitants of British Isles were settler from Europe 3500 – 3000 BC. They introduced farming, pottery and stone tools
• Celts started invade Britain from the 10^th century BC. One of the tribes was called the Brittons
• Romans occupied the country from 55 BC to the 5^th century BC. The Island got the name Brittania because of them
• The Angles and Saxons came from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in 5^th century and England gets its name from this invasion
• The Vikings arrived from Scandinavia throughout the 9^th century
• 1066 Norman invaded from France
• Celts went to Scotland, Wales and they remained in Ireland
• 1066 Battle of Hastings changed the future of England. English were defeated by a French army, led by William Duke of Normandy. Harold, king of England was killed and the Duke of Normandy became King William I.
• The tapestry of the Battle of Hastings is now in the French town Bayeux

Henry VIII

• During his reign Wales was brought into legal union with England. He had 6 wives: Catherine Parr, Catherine Howard (beheaded), Catherine of Arragen, Anne of Cleves, Anne Boleyn (beheaded), Jane Seymont. Some of them were beheaded because they were unfaithful.
• Anne Boleyn’s daughter Elizabeth became queen of England

Elizabethan I (Elizabethan age)

• Elizabeth I – ruled by female diplomacy not by force, she remained unmarried and was called “Virgin Queen”
• 1588 Spanish Armada invaded England but defeated but the British navy led by Sir Francis Drake
• Under Elizabeth’s patronage Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh explored the eastern coast of North America and founded first English colony, called it: VIRGINIA IN HONOUR OF THE QUEEN.

Victoria

• Victoria came to throne in 1837 at the age of 18. During her reign the British Empire grew, wealth and power expanded, industry was replacing agriculture, people were becoming urban, schools were built
• In 1920s The British Empire reached its greatest importance
• In 1926 the British Commonwealth of Nations was declared (=free association of equal states under one sovereign)

Elizabeth II

• in 1952 she was coronate
• in 1947 married Philip Mountbatten (now he is Duke of Edinburgh)
• His Son Prince Charles married in 1981 Lady Diana Spencer and their two sons: William and Henry

 

HOLIDAY CENTRES:

• BATH – well preserved Roman baths
• BRIGHTON – extravagant Royal Pavilion
• CANTERBURY – cathedral and market town
• CAMBRIDGE – university
• DOUGLAS – capital of the isle of man
• DOVER – major channel in country of Kent. Channel between Folkstone and Calais. Opened in 1994.
• EDINBURGH – famous for its castle
• HASTINGS – famous since 1066
• OXFORD – university and cathedral
• STONEHENGE – built about 2 000 BC on Salisbury Plain
• STRATFOR ON AVON – Shakespeare’s birth place
• WINDOR CASTLE – a royal palace founded by William the Conqueror, the residence of British monarch outside London