18

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE, YOUTH AND SPORTS OF UKRAINE

KYIV NATIONAL LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY

PROJECT PAPER

«CITIES OF GREAT BRITAIN»

Done by

student of German dpt

group 318

Marina Zakharchenko

Kyiv-2012

Outline:

1. Introduction……………………………………………………….................3

2. General information about cities of the UK………………………................4

3. England……………………….................………………………...................6

4. Scotland……………………….................………………………..................8

5. Wales……………………….................………………………....................10

6. Conclusion……………………….................………………………............14

7. Vocabulary……………………….................………………………...........15

8. Literature……………………….................………………………..............16

9. Exercises……………………….................………………………...............17

1. Introduction

The official title of the UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .

The United Kingdom consist of:

• Great Britain (the formerly separate realms of England and Scotland, and the principality of Wales. )

• Northern Ireland (also known as Ulster) 

• Numerous smaller islands including the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, and the Scilly, Orkney, Shetland, and Hebridean archipelagos.

The United Kingdom is made up of:

• England - The capital is London.

• Scotland - The capital is Edinburgh .

• Wales - The capital is Cardiff.

• Northern Ireland - The capital is Belfast.

England, Scotland and Wales together form Great Britain. Great Britain and Northern Ireland together form the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (UK). The UK is an island nation in Western Europe just off the coast of France. The UK lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, and comes within 35 km (22 miles) of the north-west coast of France, from which it is separated by the English Channel. Northern Ireland shares a 360 km international land boundary with the Republic of Ireland. The Channel Tunnel bored beneath the English Channel, now links the UK with France. The UK has a total area of approximately 245,000 km², almost a quarter-of-a-million square kilometres.

2. General information about cities of the uk

The 'official' meaning of the word 'city' in the UK is quite different from the word's common usage meaning and is independent of its geographical size or population size. 

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines 'city' as 'a large town' or 'any town in the UK which has a cathedral'. This is the common meaning of the word throughout the world, and in most countries the size of a town is the deciding factor over whether it has city status. Large towns are automatically considered cities. This is perfectly logical and sensible, however this is not the case in the UK.

Despite having a parliamentary democracy, many decisions within the UK are not open to the public, but instead controlled by the monarchy or parts of the British government which answer to the monarchy, irrespective of which political party is in office. The decision to grant a town city status is one such decision. Hence in the UK city status is not granted automatically just because a town becomes very large, or because of a cathedral. A town must be granted city status by the British monarch.

According to the part of the British government known as the Department for Constitutional Affairs:

"City status is a rare mark of distinction granted by the Sovereign and conferred by Letters Patent. It is granted by personal Command of The Queen, on the advice of Her Ministers. It is for Her Majesty The Queen to decide when a competition for city status should be held. Competitions are usually held on occasions such as important Royal anniversaries."

Because of this peculiarity there is a discrepancy between the common meaning of the word 'city' and the 'official' meaning.

There are currently sixty-six officially registed cities in the UK, fifty of which are in England.

London, the capital of England and the UK, occupies over 620 square miles and is the most populous city in the European Union, with over 7 million residents. It is also one of the European Union’s most densely settled areas: only Copenhagen, Brussels and Paris are more densely populated.

Birmingham, in the industrial Midlands, has a population of 976,400 and is England's second largest city.

The information below has been taken from the 2001 Census. A census of the British population has been taken every 10 years since 1801.

Rank	City	Where found	Area	Population ( 2001 Census)
1	London	England	1,580 km² (620 mi²)	7,172,091
2	Birmingham	England	283 km² (109 mi²)	970,892
3	Leeds	England	552 km²	715,404
4	Glasgow	Scotland	177 km² (68 mi²)	577,869
5	Sheffield	England		513,234
6	Bradford	England		467,665
7	Edinburgh	Scotland	260 km² (100 mi²)	448,624
8	Liverpool	England		439,477
9	Manchester	England		392,819
10	Bristol	England		380,615
11	Cardiff	Wales		305,353
12	Coventry	England	97 km² (37 mi²)	300,848
13	Leicester	England		279,921
14	Belfast	Northern Ireland		276,459
15	Nottingham	England	75 km² (29 mi²).	266,988
16	Newcastle on Tyne	England		259,000
17	Kingston upon Hull	England		243,589
18	Plymouth	England		240,720
19	Stoke-on-Trent	England		240,636
20	Wolverhampton	England	69 km² (27 mi²)	236,582
21	Derby	England		221,708