11. Geography of great britain and northern ireland

The United Kingdom is a country of Europe. The U.K. includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland (9 counties), the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands (Jersey; Guernsey), the Inner and Outer Hebrides (10 large and about 100 small islands), the Orkneys (about 70), the Shet-lands, the Isle of Wight, the Scilly Isles. The largest island is Great Britain. It contains England, Scotland and Wales. The zero meridian of longitude passes through the old Royal Greenwich Observatory in London. The U.K. has an area of 94, 2 square miles (about 244 square km.). Great Britain is separated from the continent by the English Channel (220 km at its widest part), (21 miles - 32 km wide at its narrowest point, the Strait of Dover.) Great Britain is washed by the North Sea in the east, the English Channel in the south, the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea in the west.. The surface of England and Ireland is flat, but Scotland and Wales are mountainous. Most of the mountains are in the northern and western parts: the Cheviot Hills, the Pennines (the Pen­nine Chain), the Cambrian mountains (Wales) and the Cumbrian mountains (Lake District).The highest mountain in Wales is Snowdon (3560 ft high=1085 metres). Most of surface in Scotland is highland. The highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis (4.406 ft high=1343m), is situ­ated in the Grampians. Smaller groups of chalk hills occur in the southwest: The North and the South Downs. Many parts of the country have beautiful green meadows. The whole of Great Britain is well watered. Among the main rivers are: the Severn (the longest river rises in Wales and flows into the Bristol Channel), the Thames and the Trent which flow into the North Sea, the Mersey and the Clyde which flow into the Irish Sea and the Atlantic. In the Cumbrian mountains Windermere and other lakes are famed for their beauty. The beauti­ful Lake District is here. The lakes in Scotland are called lochs. The largest lake is Loch Lo­mond. Loch Ness is well-known due to numerous legends about a monster, called Nessie. The climate of Great Britain is temperate and mild. It means that the coldest temperature is about 40 F, warmest 61 F. And for most of the year the country lies within the influence of the south-westerly winds which are cool and rainbearing. The western coast is generally warmer than the eastern (with warm summers and mild winters in the west and cool summers and cold winters in the east). It often rains. Rain falls in all seasons. It is foggy and cold in autumn and winter. Snow falls only in the North and West of the country. If it snows in the South, it is only once or twice a year, and the snow melts immediately. The U.K. has few mineral resources, of which the most important are coal and oil (gas). The largest coal fields are in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The oilfields are in the North sea along the north-eastern coast of Scotland and England. Other minerals are clavs, shale, chalk, iron ore, lead, zink, salt, etc. The population of the U.K. is about 57 million people. 76% live in urban and 24% in rural areas, but only 2% work in agriculture. 80% are English, 2.8 million people are Welsh, 5.5 mil­lion are Scottish, about 2 million are Irish, 2 million are people of the former commonwealth. The capital of England is London, of Scotland - Edinburgh, Wales – Cardiff, Northern Island – Belfast.