Theme “Great Britain: Introduction”

Plan:

1. Introduction

2. Geographical Position

3. Physical Face, Rivers and Lakes

4. Climate and Weather

5. Mineral Resources

Theme “Great Britain: Introduction” Part 1

Introduction

The official name of the country is THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND (The UK).

Political subdivision:

Politically there are two states on the British Isles:

1. The United Kingdom of great Britain and northern Ireland (The UK) (capital - London) that comprises 4 countries:

 England (capital - London)

 Wales (capital - Cardiff)

 Scotland (capital - Edinburgh)

 Northern Ireland (capital - Belfast)

2. The Irish Republic (Eire) (capital - Dublin)

Country	Population	Flag	Patron Saint	Colour	Symbol
England	~ 50mln	Red cross, white background	St. George ( April, 23)	White	Rose
Wales	~ 3mln	Red dragon, white and green background	St. David (March, 1)	Red	Daffodil, leek
Scotland	~ 5mln	White diagonal cross, dark-blue background	St. Andrew (November, 30)	Blue	Thistle
Northern Ireland	~ 1,6mln	Red diagonal cross, white background	St. Patrick (March, 17)	Green	Shamrock

The Flag of the UK is called the Union Jack

Geographical Subdivision:

Geographically the British Isles are subdivided into:

 Great Britain (the largest island)

 Ireland (the second largest island)

 5000 smaller islands:

 The Hebrides (Inner, Outer) – N-W

 The Orkney Islands – N

 The Isle of Man – W, in the Irish Sea

 Anglesey – W, in the Irish Sea

 The Isles of Scilly – S-W, in the English Channel

 The Isle of Wight – S, in the English Channel

Theme “Great Britain: Introduction” Part 2

 the British Isles are situated off the north-west of Europe

• latitude - 50°-60° North;

• longitude - 2° East-8° West.

Dimensions:

• total area: 322,246 square km (the British Isles); 244,100 square km (the UK);

• total population (the UK): 60 million people;

• Great Britain stretches:

from the south to the north - 900 km;

from the west to the east - 500 km (the widest part); 60 km (the narrowest part).

Surrounding Oceans, Seas and Channels:

• the Atlantic Ocean (N and W);

• the North Sea (E!);

• the English Channel (S) - the Strait of Dover is the narrowest part of the English Channel; it is 32 km wide; the Greeks named England "Albion" (i.e. "white land") because the first thing they saw when sailed through the English Channel were the white chalk cliffs of Dover; the famous Channel Tunnel runs under the Strait of Dover and connects the 2 cities - Folkestone on the English side and Calais on the French side _{(for details see Unit 2 in "How do you do, Britain?" by D.D. Kozikis)};

• the Irish Sea and the Celtic Sea (between Ireland and Great Britain) - comprise the North Channel and St. George's Channel.

The British Isles are situated on the so-called Continental Shelf - the zone of shallow water that surrounds a continent (the average depth of the North Sea and the English Channel is 95m and 60m respectively)

Benefits of the Shelf:

1. fishing (warm water);

2. oil and natural gas deposits (platforms in the North Sea);

3. the Channel Tunnel (the depth of the water over the Tunnel is only 30m);

4. mild climate (shallow water gets warm during the day and never gets too cold during the night).