The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

BASIC FACTS
 Capital
o London
 Official name
o The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 Largem cities
o England = London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester
o Northern Ireland = Belfast, Londonderry
o Scotland = Edinburgh, Glasgow
o Wales = Swansea, Cardiff
 Area
o 244.805 km2
 Symbols of the country
o British Union Flag  three crosses
 the upright red cross = St.George’s cross  patron of England
 the diagonal white cross = St.Andrew’s cross  patron of Scotland
 the diagonál red cross = St.Patrick’s cross  patron of Ireland
+ St.David  patron of Wales
o Coat of arms
o National athem = God save the Queen (king)




PEOPLE
 Population
o 60.587.300
 Ethnc group
o British, irish + Greeks, Russians, Poles, Serbs, Estonies, Armenians…

LAND AND CLIMATE
 An island country
 4 geographic and historici parts = England, Scotland, Wales, Nothern island

 Islands
o Isles od Scilly
o Isles od Wight
o Orkney Islands
o Shetlands Islands
o Hebrides
o Anglesey
 Sea
o Atlantic Ocean
o North Sea
o Irish Sea
o English Channel
 Rivers
o Thames
o Severn
o Trent
 Lakes
o Lake District
o Loch Ness
 Highland zone
o The Highlands of scotland – Ben Nevis = 1.343 m
o The cheviot Hills
o The Pennines

 Climate
o Modified by the warm Gulf Stream
o Mild summers, cool Winter
o Weather is rainy

GOVERNMENT
 From of government
o Constitutional monarchy  in practice: a parliamentary democracy
 Head of state
o Monarch = queen or king  queen Elizabeth II.
o The monarch si formally
 the head of the executive and judiciary
 commander-in-chief of all the armed forces
 tempoval governon of the Church of England
 Head of government = The Prime Minister
 Legislature
o Two house of The Parliament
 The House of Commons
 646 members
 Lawmaking body
 it’s presided over by the Speaker
 The House of Lords
 746 members
 it’s presided over by the Lord Chancellor
 Executive
o The Prime Minister id appointed by the Monarch
 Political subdivision
o 4 historical parts
 England
 Scotland
 Wales
 Northern Ireland
o Every of each other has a local government
ECONOMY
 Important products
o Agriculture
 wool, beef cattle, horse breeding, popatoes, barley, sugar beet, wheat, oats
o Manufacturing
 food and beverages, chemicals and pharmaceutivals, electronic goods, clothing, motor vehicles
 mining
 oil, coal, natural gas
 Currency
o the pound, also called pound sterling = 100 pence
 Major exported goods
o machinery, peroleum, chemicals, pharmaceuticals
 Major imported goods
o food (tea, coffee, fruit), melatls, paper
PLACES OF INTEREST
Southern England
 Canterbury
o The Canthedral
o The Spiritual centre of the Church of England
o Built between 1000s abd tge earky 1500s
o The destination of travellers in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
 Stonehenge
o Prehistoric monuments
o Circles of huge stones
o Erected more than 3.500 years ago
 Bath
o A health spa with warm sprint
o Used since Roman times
o With beautiful Down architecture dating from 1700s
Central England
 Stratford-upon-Avon
o The birthplace and the burial place of William shakespeare
 Oxford
o The UK’s oldest universit
 Cambridge
o The second oldest university
o Its college include Trinity College with a famous library
Northern England
 Liverpool
o A major and industrial city
o Two modern cathedras
o The Home of the Beatles
 Hadrian’s Wall
o Arend AD 122 Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered a wall to built in northern britain, the then part od the Roman Empire, to keep out enemies
Scotland
 Loch Ness
o A legendary monster called Nessie is daid to live in the lake
 Glasgow
o The largem city in Scotland