Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. At the time of the 2001 UK Census, its population was 1,685,000, constituting between a quarter and a third of the island's total population and about 3% of the population of the UK.

Northern Ireland consists of six of the traditional nine counties of the historic Irish province of Ulster. It was created as a distinct subdivision of the UK on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, though its constitutional roots lie in the 1800 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. For over 50 years it had its own devolved government and parliament. These institutions were suspended in 1972 and abolished in 1973. Repeated attempts to restore self-government finally resulted in the establishment of the present-day Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly operates on consociational democracy principles requiring cross-community support.

Northern Ireland was for many years the site of a violent and bitter ethno-political conflict ("The Troubles") between those claiming to represent Nationalists, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and those claiming to represent Unionists, who are predominantly Protestant. Unionists want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom , while nationalists wish it to be politically united with the rest of Ireland. In general, Unionists consider themselves British (or "Ulstermen") and Nationalists see themselves as Irish, though these identities are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Since the signing of the Belfast Agreement (or "Good Friday Agreement") in 1998, most of the paramilitary groups involved in the Troubles have ceased their armed campaigns.

Geography Northern Ireland was covered by an ice sheet for most of the last ice age and on numerous previous occasions, the legacy of which can be seen in the extensive coverage of drumlins in Counties Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim and particularly Down. The centrepiece of Northern Ireland's geography is Lough Neagh, at 151 square miles (392 km²) the largest freshwater lake both on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. A second extensive lake system is centred on Lower and Upper Lough Erne in Fermanagh. The largest island of Northern Ireland is Rathlin, off the Antrim coast. Strangford Lough is the largest inlet in the British Isles, covering 150 km² (58 sq mi).

There are substantial uplands in the Sperrin Mountains (an extension of the Caledonian fold mountains) with extensive gold deposits, granite Mourne Mountains and basalt Antrim Plateau, as well as smaller ^ ranges in South Armagh and along the Fermanagh-Tyrone border. None of the hills are especially high, with Slieve Donard in the dramatic Mournes reaching 849 metres (2,785 ft), Northern Ireland's highest point. Belfast's most prominent peak is Cave Hill. The volcanic activity which created the Antrim Plateau also formed the eerily geometric pillars of the Giant's Causeway on the north Antrim coast. Also in north Antrim are the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Mussenden Temple and the Glens of Antrim.

The Lower and Upper River Bann, River Foyle and River Blackwater form extensive fertile lowlands, with excellent arable land also found in North and East Down, although much of the hill country is marginal and suitable largely for animal husbandry.

The valley of the River Lagan is dominated by Belfast, whose metropolitan area includes over a third of the population of Northern Ireland, with heavy urbanisation and industrialisation along the Lagan Valley and both shores of Belfast Lough.

Northern Ireland contains six of the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster and that is why the name "Ulster" is sometimes used as equivalent to Northern Ireland. Its capital city is Belfast. If one asks an Irishman away from home what he misses most about Ireland, he will probably say "the greenness". Irish poets put it in a different way when they call Ireland "the Emerald Isle". Is the grass really greener in Ireland? The fact is that the winds usually blow in from the Atlantic Ocean and make the air and soil warm and damp. Grass grows well in such a climate and it makes the island look so beautiful.

The population of Northern Ireland is about 1,5 million people. 53% of the total population live in urban areas. The whole economy of Northern Ireland is closely integrated with that of Great Britain. It has its roots in 3 basic industries — agriculture, textiles and shipbuilding. The largest industry is agriculture conducted for the most part on small family farms. It occupies about 72 per cent of the land area.

History The island itself has been inhabited for about 9,000 years. These peoples left huge stone monuments, many of them astronomically aligned. The Bronze Age, which began around 2500 BC, saw the production of elaborate gold and bronze ornaments and weapons. The Iron Age in Ireland started with the arrival of the Celts, who colonised Ireland in a series of waves between the 8th and 1st centuries BC. The Gael, the last wave of Celts, conquered the island and divided it into five or more kingdoms. The Romans referred to Ireland as Hibernia. In 432 AD, St. Patrick arrived on the island and converted the Irish to Christianity. Irish scholars excelled in the study of Latin learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished, preserving Latin learning during the Dark Ages. They produced such treasures as the Book of Kells, ornate jewellery, and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island. Beginning in the 9th century, 200 years of intermittent warfare began with waves of Viking raiders who plundered monasteries and towns. The Vikings eventually founded many seacoast towns in Ireland. In 1172, King Henry II of England gained Irish lands. English rule was largely limited to the area around Dublin known as the Pale but this began to expand in the 16th century with the final collapse of the Gaelic social and political superstructure at the end of the 17th century. In the middle of the 1800's the country suffered a huge potato famine. The English approach to this catastrophe meant that millions were starving, and millions emigrated to Britain, North America and Australia. The population dropped from over 8 million before the Famine to 4.4 million in 1911. From that time, English influence and expansion grew, and with it spread the English language. Over time there grew a movement to shake off English rule, and for Ireland to become independent. A war of independence raged from 1919 to 1921, resulting in the creation of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland (which remained in the Union).

Language Irish has been the spoken language of Ireland for over two thousand years, and has an extensive literature stretching back to the seventh century. While Irish speakers are very much a minority in the Ireland of today, they have an importance to the cultural life of the nation far out of proportion to their numbers. Irish is by constitutional law the first official language of the Irish Republic, and was recently awarded official status in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland as a central part of the Good Friday Agreement. In the most recent censuses (1991), over a million people in the Republic and over 140,000 in the Six Counties of Northern Ireland reported themselves as having a reasonable proficiency in the language. Around 260,000 people still use Irish as their first language, although many more use it as a second language and it is taught in all schools in Ireland. There are pockets of Ireland where Irish is spoken as a traditional, native language. These regions are known as Gaeltachtai. The most important ones.

Industry Ireland has one of the best performing economies in the industrialised world. The highest growth rates in Irish industry over recent years have been achieved in the high- technology sectors of manufacturing, where overseas investment has been attracted by combination of tax and grant incentives, as well as Ireland's location within the European Single Market and the availability of a highly skilled labour force. Within this high technology grouping, the most impressive growth has been achieved in the computer sector, with quite a number of world-leading companies now located in Ireland. There has also been a considerable expansion of output in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and engineering.

Government and politics Northern Ireland has devolved government within the United Kingdom. There is a Northern Ireland Executive together with the 108 member Northern Ireland Assembly to deal with devolved matters with the UK Government and UK Parliament responsible for reserved matters. Elections to the Assembly are by single transferable vote with 6 representatives elected for each of the 18 Westminster constituencies.

Northern Ireland elects 18 Members of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons; only 13 take their jeats, however, as the 5 Sinn Fein MPs refuse to take the oath to serve the Queen that is required of all MPs. The Northern Ireland Office represents the UK government in Northern Ireland on reserved matters and represents Northern Irish interests within the UK government. The Northern Ireland office is led by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who sits in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland is a distinct legal jurisdiction, separate from England and Wales and Scotland.

The main political divide in Northern Ireland is between Unionists who wish to see Northern Ireland continue as part of the United Kingdom and Nationalists or Republicans who wish to see Northern Ireland join the rest of Ireland, independent from the United Kingdom.

The population of Northern Ireland was estimated as being 1,759,000 on 10 December 2008.

Most of the population of Northern Ireland are at least nominally Christian. The ethno-political loyalties are allied, though not absolutely, to the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations and these are the labels used to categorise the opposing views. This is, however, becoming increasingly irrelevant as the Irish Question is very complicated. Many voters (regardless of religious affiliation) are attracted to Unionism's conservative policies, while other voters are instead attracted to the traditionally leftist, nationalist Sinn Fein and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and their respective party platforms for Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy. For the most part, Protestants feel a strong connection with Great Britain and wish for Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. Catholics generally aspire to a United Ireland, or are less certain about how to solve the constitutional question. In the 2007 survey by Northern Ireland Life and Times, 39% of Northern Irish Catholics supported Northern Ireland remaining a part of the United Kingdom, either by direct rule (4%) or devolved government (35%)

36% of the present-day population define themselves as Unionist, 24% as Nationalist and 40% define themselves as neither.

Belfast Belfast is one of the youngest capital cities in the world and it has grown incredibly fast. Today the city has a population of 400,000, nearly a third of the entire population of Northern Ireland, but in the 17th century it was only a village. Then, during the 19th century, the development of industries like linen, rope- making, engineering, tobacco and the sea-trade doubled the town's size every ten years. The city is well-known for shipbuilding — it was here that the "Titanic" was built and sent out on her fatal maiden voyage.

Some of the Belfast streets have often been the scenes of violence — street names such as the Falls Road and Shankill Road are well known throughout Britian because they have been heard so often on the news — but people still live in Belfast, and they can and do go out and enjoy themselves. In spite of the years of trouble, there are many cultural and leisure facilities.

Tourists can visit an Art Gallery, step into Belfast Cathedral, or go souvenir hunting for the Irish linen, pottery and hand-cut glass in Belfast's covered arcades. If the sun is shining they can drive out to Stormont, the former Parliament building and walk through the parkland. Whether it rains or shines they can try their hand at archery or indoor canoeing in one of the city's excellent Leisure Centres or visit the Zoo. The Botanic Gardens contain rare plants, some of them are 100 years old! In the evening tourists can go to the theatre, the Grand Opera House, or a concert at the Ulster Hall — home of the Ulster Orchestra. Stories, Legends and Myths The Irish are great story-tellers. They will tell you that the places where the little people, or fairies, are said to go, are Lurigethan Mountain and Teveragh Hill. These little people are mischievous and take terrible revenge on anyone who cuts down a fairy thorn tree. Today many farmers throughout Ireland are so superstitious that they will not cut down a thorn tree, even if it is in the middle of their field!

Story-telling has always been a part of the Irish way of life — stories of gods and people who lived in a land of adventure, warfare and romance, stories told by the fire side.

Monks living in the late Middle Ages preserved many of these stories in the beautifully decorated manuscripts of the Book of Leinster. But it is the strong oral tradition of the Irish people which has made it possible for so many folk tales to survive. Over the centuries, story-telling was an important tradition, but nowadays such people would be hard to find. Perhaps the last storyteller was Peig Sayers who died in 1958. It was said that she had 375 stories to tell!

The Giant's Causeway may be the eighth wonder of the world. The Causeway is a mass of stone columns standing very near together. The tops of the columns form stepping stones leading from the cliff foot and disappearing under the sea. Over the whole Causeway there are 40,000 of these stone columns. The tallest are about 42 feet (13 m) high.

Visitors in modern times have been told that the Causeway is a strange eological feature — the result of volcanic action. The ancient Irish knew differently, however. Clearly, this was giants' work and, in particular, the work of

the giant Finn McCool, the Ulster soldier and commander of the armies of the King of All Ireland. Finn was extremely strong. On one occasion, during a fight with a Scottish giant, he picked up a huge piece of earth and threw it at him. The earth fell into the Irish Sea and became the Isle of Man. The hole it left filled with water and became the great inland sea of Lough Neagh. People said that Finn lived on the North coast and that he fell in love with a lady giant. She lived on an island in the Scottish Hebrides, and so he began to build this wide causeway to bring her across to Ulster.

Gaelic Names Years ago, all Irish people spoke Gaelic, and this language is still spoken in some parts of Ireland (it is the first official language in the Republic of Ireland), although today all Irish people speak English too. Evidence of Gaelic is still 9%/ found in place names, for example "bally"—town, "slieve"— mountain, "glen"— valley.

The influence of Irish Gaelic is also found in the names of people. Here are some typical Gaelic first names:

Sean, same as John

Seamus, same as James Liam, same as William

Seanna, same as Joanna

Brid, same as Bridget

Paddy (short of Patric) and Micky (short for Michael) are not Gaelic names but they are found so often in Ireland that these two names are sometimes used jokingly to mean "an Irishman". Many Irish surnames begin:

O'... meaning from the family of (eg O'Brien, O'Neil)

Fitz... meaning son of (eg Fitzwilliam, Fitzgerald)

Mac... meaning son of (eg McMahon, MacHugh)

Kil... meaning son of (eg Kilmartin)

Gil... meaning son of (eg Gilmurrey).

Culture With its improved international reputation, Northern Ireland has recently witnessed rising numbers of tourists. Attractions include cultural festivals, musical and artistic traditions, countryside and geographical sites of interest, public houses, welcoming hospitality and sports (especially golf and fishing). Since 1987 public houses have been allowed to open on Sundays, despite some opposition.

The Ulster Cycle is a large body of prose and verse centring around the traditional heroes of the Ulaid in what is now eastern Ulster. This is one of the four major cycles of Irish Mythology. The cycle centres around the reign of Conchobar mac Nessa, who is said to have been king of Ulster around the time of Christ. He ruled from Emain Macha (now Navan Fort near Armagh), and had a fierce rivalry with queen Medb and king Ailill of Connacht and their ally, Fergus mac Roich, former king of Ulster. The foremost hero of the cycle is Conchobar's nephew Cuchulainn.

Sport In Northern Ireland, sport is popular and important in the lives of many people. Sports tend to be organised on an all-Ireland basis including both Northern Ireland and the Republic, as in the case of Gaelic football, rugby, hockey, basketball, cricket and hurling.^[81] The main exception is association football (soccer), which has separate governing bodies for each jurisdiction.^[82]

Gaelic games Gaelic games include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Of the four, football is the most popular in Northern Ireland. Players play for local clubs with the best being selected for their county teams: Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. The Ulster GAA is the branch of the Gaelic Athletic Association that is responsible for all nine counties of Ulster, including the six that are in Northern Ireland. All nine field teams in the Ulster Senior Football Championship, Ulster Senior Hurling Championship, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Recent successes for Northern Ireland's teams include Armagh's 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship win and Tyrone's wins in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

Association football (soccer) The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the organising body for soccer in Northern Ireland. The highest level of competition within Northern Ireland is the IFA Premiership. There is also an all-island tournament, the Setanta Cup, which includes four IFA Premiership teams and four teams from the Republic's league. However, the best Northern Irish players tend to play for clubs in Great Britain in the English or Scottish leagues. Despite Northern Ireland's small population, its international team has had a number of notable successes including World Cup quarter-final appearances in 1958 and 1982.

Rugby union Similar to Gaelic games, Northern Ireland's six counties are among the nine governed by the Ulster branch of the all-island governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union. Ulster is one of the four professional provincial teams in the island of Ireland and competes in the Celtic League and European Cup. Ulster won the European Cup in 1999. In international competition, players from Northern Ireland represent the Ireland national rugby team, whose recent successes include four Triple Crowns between 2004 and 2009 and a Grand Slam in 2009.

Vegetation and wildlife of Great Britain The island of Great Britain, along with the rest of the archipelago known as the British Isles, has a largely temperate environment. Animal diversity is modest due to several factors including human impact, the small size of the land area, climatic changes and the age of the habitats found on the island.

The fact that Great Britain has such a small area means that the number of species that can evolve is severely limited because there is not enough land mass to support extensive animal diversity. The environment and the ecology is also very young due to the appearance of an Ice Age, which means that there has been much less time for such diversity to develop.

In most of Great Britain there is a temperate climate which receives high levels of precipitation and medium levels of sunlight. Further northwards, the climate becomes colder and coniferous forests appear replacing the largely deciduous forests of the south.

The seasonal changes that occur across the country means that plants have to cope with many changes linked to levels of sunlight, and this has led to a lack of plant diversity. Ultimately this has limited animal speciation and diversification because there are fewer edible types of vegetation in the habitats found on the island.

Since the mid eighteenth century, Great Britain has gone through industrialisation and increasing urbanisation. A DEFRA study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate. This has had a major impact on indigenous animal populations. Song birds in particular are becoming more scarce and habitat loss has affected larger mammalian species.

Some species have however adapted to the expanding urban environment, particularly the Red Fox, which is the most successful urban mammal after the Brown Rat.

Flora Britain was originally a land of vast forests, mainly oak and beech in the Lowlands and pine and birch in the Highlands, with great stretches of marshland and smaller areas of moors. In the course of time, much forest land was cleared and almost all Lowlands outside the industrial areas were put under cultivation. Today only about 6 per cent of the total land area remains wooded.

Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in south-eastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with thin soil are largely moorland with heather and grasses. In the cultivated areas that make up most of Britain there are many wild flowers, flowering plants and grasses.

In a similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora of Great Britain is impoverished compared to that of continental Europe. Great Britain's flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced into the island. The island has a wide variety of trees, including native species of birch, beech, ash, hawthorn, elm, oak, yew, pine, cherry and apple. Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut, maple, spruce, sycamore and fir, as well as cherry plum and pear trees. The tallest species are the Douglas firs; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 meters or 212 feet. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe.

There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower in Britain, Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission. A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties. These include red poppies, bluebells, daisies, daffodils, rosemary, gorse, iris, ivy, mint, orchids, brambles, thistles, buttercups, primrose, thyme, tulips, violets, cowslip, heather and many more. There are also many species of algae, lichens, fungi and mosses across the island.

Fauna The fauna or animal life of Britain is much like that of north-western Europe, to which it was once joined. Many larger mammals such as bear, wolf have been hunted to extinction, others are now protected by law. There are many foxes. Otters are common along rivers and streams, and seals live along much of the coast. Hedgehogs, hares, rabbits, rats and mice are numerous. Deer live in some of the forests in the Highlands of Scotland and England.

There are 220 species of non-marine molluscs that have been recorded as living in the wild in Britain. Two of them (Fruticicola fruticum and Cernuella neglecta) are locally extinct. In addition there are 14 gastropod species that live only in greenhouses.

There are more than 20,000 insects of Great Britain: dragonflies, grasshoppers, flies, beetles, butterflies and many others.

Some 230 kinds of birds live in Britain, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrow and starling. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of Britain. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years.

In general the avifauna of Britain is, of course, similar to that of Europe, consisting largely of Palaearctic species. As an island, it has fewer breeding species than continental Europe, with some species, like Crested Lark, breeding as close as northern France, yet unable to colonise Britain.

The mild winters mean that many species that cannot cope with harsher conditions can winter in Britain, and also that there is a large influx of wintering birds from the continent or beyond.

There are about 250 species regularly recorded in Great Britain, and another 300 that occur with varying degrees of rarity.

Large mammals are not particularly numerous in Great Britain. Many of the bigger species, such as the Grey Wolf and the Brown Bear, were hunted to extinction many centuries ago. However, in recent times many of these large mammals have been tentatively reintroduced to some areas of mainland Britain. The largest wild mammals that remain in Britain today are predominantly members of the Deer family. The Red Deer is the largest native mammal species, and is found commonly throughout England, Scotland and Wales. The other indigenous species is the Roe Deer, The common Fallow Deer is in fact not native to Britain, and was brought over from France by the Normans in the late 11th century and has become well established. The Sika Deer is another small species of deer which is not indigenous, and instead comes from Japan. It is widespread and expanding in Scotland from west to east, with a strong population in Peeblesshire. Bands of Sika exist across the north and south of England though the species is absent in Wales.

There are also several species of insectivore found in Britain. The hedgehog is probably the most widely known as it is a regular visitor to urban gardens. Sadly it is also vulnerable to road traffic, and many are killed crossing busy motorways and dual carriageways. The mole is also widely recognised and its subterranean lifestyle causes much damage to garden lawns. Shrews are also fairly common, and the smallest, the Pygmy Shrew, is one of the smallest mammals in the world. There are also several species of Bat found in Britain: the Pipistrelle Bat is the smallest and the most common of them all. Rodents are also numerous across Britain, particularly the Brown Rat which is by far the most abundant urban animal after humans. Some however, are becoming increasingly rare. Habitat destruction has led to a population decrease in the number of dormice and Bank Voles found in Britain. Due to the introduction of the alien Grey Squirrel, the Red Squirrel had become largely extinct in England, with the last population existing in parts of Scotland, North West England and Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour in Dorset. Rabbits and Hares are also abundant in Britain.

There are a variety of carnivores, especially from the weasel family (ranging in size from the Weasel, Stoat and European Polecat to the Badger and Pine Marten and including the introduced Mink and semiaquatic Otter). In the absence of the extict Wolf and Brown Bear the largest carnivores are the Red Fox, the adaptability and opportunism of which has allowed it to proliferate in the urban environment, and the Scottish Wildcat whose elusiveness has caused some confusion over population numbers, and is believed to be highly endangered.

There are many threats to wildlife and ecological balance around the coast. The biggest threat to the coastline is pollution.

Blackpool is not officially asafe. More than 3.500 million tons of industrial waste is pumped into the North Sea every year. "We cannot continue to use our seas as a dustbin and expect our coastline to survive," says Greenpeace. Many other ecological problems may be caused by privatization of the coast. Many of the rivers are "biologically dead", i.e. unable to support fish and wildlife.

Climate of Great Britain Weather is not the same as climate. The weather at a place is the state of the atmosphere there at a given time or over a short period. The weather of the British Isles is greatly variable.

The climate of a place or region, on the other hand, represents the average weather conditions over a long period of time.

The climate of any place results from the interaction of a number of determining factors, of which the most important are latitude, distance from the sea, relief and the direction of the prevailing winds.

The geographical position of the British Isles within latitudes 50o to 60o N is a basic factor in determining the main characteristics of the climate. Temperature, the most important climatic element, depends not only on the angle at which the sun's rays strike the earth's surface, but also on the duration of daylight. The length of day at London ranges from 16 hours 35 minutes on June to 7 hours 50 minutes on 21 December. British latitudes form the temperate nature of the British climate, for the sun is never directly overhead as in the tropical areas.

Britain's climate is dominated by the influence of the sea. It is much milder than that in any other country in the same latitudes. This is due partly to the presence of the North Atlantic Drift, or the Gulf Stream, and partly to the fact that north-west Europe lies in a predominantly westerly wind-belt. This means that marine influences warm the land in winter and cool in summer. This moderating effect of the sea is in fact, the cause of the relatively small seasonal contrasts experienced in Britain.

The moderating effect of the ocean on air temperature is also stronger in winter than in summer. When the surface water is cooler than the air above it - as frequently happens during the summer months - the air tends to lose its heat to the water. The lowest layers of air are chilled and become denser by contradiction, and the chilled air tends to remain at low levels. The surface water expands because it is warmed, and remains on the surface of the ocean. Unless the air is turbulent, little of it can be cooled, for little heat is exchanged.

Opposite conditions apply in winter. The air in winter is likely to be cooler than the surface water, so that the heat passes from water to air. Air at low levels is warmed and expands and rises, carrying oceanic heat with it, while the chilled surface water contracts and sinks, to be replaced by unchilled water from below.

This convectional overturning both of water and of air leads to a vigorous exchange of heat.

The prevailing winds in the British Isles are westerlies. They are extremely moist, as a result of their long passage over warm waters of the North Atlantic. On their arrival to Britain, the winds are forced upwards, and as a result large-scale condensation takes place, clouds form and precipitation follows, especially over the mountainous areas.

North and north-west winds often bring heavy falls of snow to north Britain during late October and November, but they are usually short-lived. Continental winds from the east sometimes reach the British Isles in summer as a warm, dry air-stream, but they are more frequently experienced in winter when they cross the north sea and bring cold, continental-type weather to eastern and inland districts of Great Britain.

Relief is the most important factor controlling the distribution of temperature and precipitation within Britain. The actual temperatures experienced in the hilly and mountainous parts are considerably lower than those in the lowlands. The effect of relief on precipitation is even more striking. Average annual rainfall in Britain is about 1,100 mm. But the geographical distribution of rainfall is largely determined by topography. The mountainous areas of the west and north have more rainfall than the lowlands of the south and east. The western Scottish Highlands, the Lake District (the Cumbrian mountains), Welsh uplands and parts of Devon and Cornwall in the south-west receive more than 2,000 mm of rainfall each year.

In contrast, the eastern lowlands, lying in a rain-shadow area, are much drier and usually receive little precipitation. Much of eastern and south-eastern England (including London) receive less than 700 mm each year, and snow falls on only 15 to 18 days on the average.

Rainfall is fairly well distributed throughout the year, although March to June are the driest months and October to January are the wettest.

Ireland is in the rather a different category, for here the rain-bearing winds have not been deprived of their moisture, and much of the Irish plain receives up to 1,200 mm of rainfall per year, usually in the form of steady and prolonged drizzle. Snow, on the other hand, is rare, owing to the warming effects of the Gulf Stream. The combined influences of the sea and prevailing winds are equally evident in the general pattern of rainfall over the country.

Because of the North Atlantic Drift and predominantly maritime air masses that reach the British Isles from the west, the range in temperature throughout the year is never very great. The annual mean temperature in England and Wales is about l0oC , in Scotland and Northern Ireland about 9oC. July and August are the warmest months of the year, and January and February the coldest.

The mean winter temperature in the north is 3oC,the mean summer temperature 12oC. The corresponding figures for the south are 5oC and 160C. The mean January temperature for London is 4oC, and the mean July temperature 17oC.

During a normal summer the temperature may occasionally rise above 30oC in the south. Minimum temperatures of — l0oC may occur on a still clear winter's night in inland areas.

The distribution of sunshine shows a general decrease from south to north - the south has much longer periods of sunshine than the north.

It is frequently said that Great Britain does not experience climate, but only weather. This statement suggests that there is such a day-to-day variation in temperature, rainfall, wind direction, wind speed and sunshine that the "average weather conditions", there is usually no very great variation from year to year or between corresponding seasons of different years.

No place in Britain is more than 120 km from the sea. But although the British are crowded very closely in a very small country, there is one respect in which they are very fortunate. This is their climate. Perhaps, this is a surprising statement because almost everyone has heard how annoying the weather usually is in England. Because of the frequent clouds and the moisture that hangs in the air even on fairly clear days, England has less sunshine than most countries, and the sunlight is weaker then in other places where the air is dry and clear. What is worse, sunshine rarely lasts long enough for a person to have time to enjoy it. The weather changes constantly. No ordinary person can guess from one day to another which season he will find himself in when he wakes in the morning. Moreover, a day in January may be as warm as a warm day in July and a day in July may be as cold as the coldest in January.

But although the English weather is more unreliable than any weather in the world, the English climate - average weather - is a good one. English winters are seldom very cold and the summers are seldom hot. Men ride to work on bicycles all through the year. Along the south coast English gardens even contain occasional palm trees.

The most remarkable feature of English weather, the London fog, has as exaggerated reputation. What makes fog thick in big industrial areas is not so much the moisture in the air as the soot from millions of coal fires. Such smogs (smoke + fog) are not frequent today. Since 1965 as a result of changes in fuel usage and the introduction of clean air legislation, they have become less severe. It is quite natural that in fine, still weather there is occasionally haze in summer and mist and fog in winter.

The amount of rainfall in Britain is exaggerated, too. Britain seems to have a great deal of rain because there are so many showers. But usually very little rain falls at a time. Often the rain is hardly more than floating mist in which you can hardly get wet. Although a period of as long as three weeks without rain is exceptional in Britain.

It is no wonder that, living in such an unbearable climate with so many rules and with still more exceptions, the Englishmen talk about their weather, whatever it may be, and their climate, too.