Great Britain

GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL DIVISION(ROZDĚLENÍ)
RELIEF: The British Isles are in the north-west of Europe. They cover the area of 121,600 square miles and consist of two large islands-Great Britain and Ireland and more than 5000 smaller islands. Great Britain is made up of three countries: England ,Scotland and Wales and it is the largest island in Europe. Ireland includes(zahrnovat) the Irish Republic and Northern England. Among the smaller islands belong the Isle of Wight(an island off  the southern coast of England),the Isles of Scilly(a group of about 140 small islands in Atlantic ocean) ,the Isle of Man in the Irish see, the Channel Islands(a group of islands near to the French coast),the Hebrides(a group of islands off western Scotland), the Orkneys and the Shetlands lying to the north of Scotland. The British Isles are surrounded by the North see and the Atlantic Ocean. In the south the Atlantic is  connected with the North see by the English Channel. The Channel is fairly (docela) narrow. At the Straits(průliv,úžina ) of Dover it is 21 miles wide. The see separating Ireland from Great Britain is called the Irish See.
The British Isles are divided into two independent states: 1.The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland –it consists of a) England-the capital is London which is also the capital of the United Kingdom, the political centre of the British Commonwealth and one of the world’s banking and financial centres. b) Scotland-the capital is Edinburg. The International Festival of Music and Drama is held there every summer. c) Wales-the capital Cardiff is situated in an industrial area on the southern coast. d) Northern Ireland(Ulster)-the capital is Belfast-a seaport. Each country of the United Kingdom is divided into counties(En-46,Sc-33,W-13,NI-6)
2.The Irish Republic(Eire)-a self-governing country with Dublin as a capital
 
MOUNTAINS: Great Britain can be divided into two main regions: Lowland Britain and Highland Britain
1. Lowland Britain lies in the south-east of England
2.Highland Britain comprises(zahrnovat) the whole Scotland, the Lake District, the central upland(vysočina), almost the whole of Wales and the south-west of England. You can the followings ranges of mountains(pohoří) find there. The Scottish Highlands-the highest mountains in the British Isles. The consist of two parts- the Northwest Highlands and the Grampian Mountains. The highest peak of the British Isles Ben Nevis is in the Grampians. The Southern Uplands-low hills in the southern part of Scotland separated from the Scottish Highlands  by the Central Lowlands. The Pennines- also called the “Backbone of England”, the longest chain of mountains in England, situated in the central part of northern England.  The Cumbrian Mountains-known as the Lake District. The Cambrian Mountains-comprises most of the Wales, the highest mountains is Snowdon.


RIVERS AND LAKES: Most of the longest rivers flow eastwards(směrem k východu) because the west of the country is mountainous. The most famous river is The Thames. It is 215 miles long. The Severn is the longest river in the United Kingdom. The Shannon, in the Irish Republic, is the longest river in the British Isles. Lakes can be found in the north-west of England( Lake District),in Scotland and in Ulster. The most beautiful lakes, like Loch Lomond, Loch Ness and Loch Katrine world-famous for its “Loch Ness Monster, are in Scotland and in the Lake District, where the most famous are Windermere and Derwentwater, called “the Queen of Lakes” because of his beauty. The largest lake in the British Isles is called Lough Neagh and is situated in Northern Ireland.
 
POPULATION: The present population of the United Kingdom is about 57 million. For the time being the growth has stopped. This trend, common to much of western Europe, is mainly the result of a drop in the birth-rate, but Britain also loses some people by emigration to Australia and America. The country has a great population density(hustota) , in England the figure is about 360 people per square kilometre. Most of Britain’s mountainous parts are very sparsely populated. The population of England is greater than that of all the parts of Britain. About half the population lives in a belt going across England with south Lancashire and West Yorkshire at one end and the London area at the other. The major metropolitan areas make up 3 per cent of the total land area, but a third of Britain’s people live there.
There are many minority groups in Britain. In the 16th and 17th centuries French Protestants fled(uprchnout) to England. In the 1930s many Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany found a new home in Britain. In the early 1950s there was a shortage of labour. The British were unwilling(neochotný)to take unskilled jobs. London Transport could not get enough drivers and conductors and invited people to come from the West Indies. At that time many islands in the Caribien were still British colonies, among them Jamaica, from which some 60 per cent of the West Indians in Britain have come. In the 1960s there was a wave of immigration from Asia and Africa. Indians and Pakistanis came to Britain to find the better economic opportunities; they often settled in places with a textile industry, particularly in the northern industrial areas. The Hindus later sent for their large families. Asians also came from East Africa, where they had lived for several generations, they were suddenly expelled (vyhnat,vykázat) as non-Africans or life was made difficult for them. Having British passports, they came to settle in England. Later new immigration laws made it harder for coloured people to come to Britain. The British government felt it necessary to place various restriction on further immigration because they considered the number of people of West Indies, African and Asian origin in the country is too high.   

 CLIMATE: Britain has a mild climate. There are mild winters, not very hot summers, few extremes of temperature, frequent rain all the year and common changes in weather.
Britain’s climate is influenced by westerly winds blowing from the Atlantic, mild in winters, cool in summer, bringing rain and fog, and by the Gulf Stream – a warm sea current flowing from the Gulf of Mexico to western Europe.
 
NATIONAL ECONOMY: The industrialization of Britain began in about 1760. This great change, which transformed completely the economic and social life of Britain, is called the Industrial Revolution. For a long time Britain held an industrial monopoly and was called the workshop of the world. By the end of the 19th century the USA and Germany had surpassed (předčit) Britain in industrial production.
Britain exports about 30 per cent of its gross domestic product. It is among the largest exporters of  aerospace products, motor vehicles, electrical equipment (vybavení), machinery, chemicals, textiles. Britain is also one of the world’s largest importers of agriculture products, raw materials and semimanufactured goods. It is self-sufficient  in oil. The European Community is now the main trading partner.
London is the centre of printing, clothing, food and drink industries and light entertainment. Yorkshire is the area of the woollen industry. Textiles, man-made(umělý, syntetický) fibres (tkanina) and cotton industries are concentrated in Manchester.
The United Kingdom is mostly industrial and commercial. But agriculture also plays an important role in its national economy. The Britains grow mainly the corps (wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, sugar beet and oil seed rape) and vegetables. Britain has a long tradition of sheep-breeding. The majority of sheep and cattle are reared in the hills and moorland (planina) areas Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and northern England. Britain is one of Europe’s fishing nations.

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