The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The land and the people
Planof thelecture
1. Geographical position
2. Climate
3. The State system
4. Industry
5. The main parts of the country
1. Geographical position
(Slide 2) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is the political name of the country which consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Several islands off the British coast are also part of the United Kingdom (for example, the Isle of Wight, the Orkneys, Hebrides and Shetlands, and the Isles of Scilly), although the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not. However, all these islands do recognize the Queen.
Formation
How was the United Kingdom formed? This took centuries, and a lot of armed struggle was involved. The United Kingdom is a name which was introduced in 1501 when Great Britain became united with Ireland. The whole of Ireland was united with Great Britain from 1801 up until 1922. In that year the independent Republic of Ireland was formed in the South, while Northern Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Location
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an island state: it occupies the territory of the British Isles and is composed of some 5,500 islands, large and small. The two main islands are: Great Britain (in which England, Wales and Scotlandare situated) to the east and Ireland (in which are Northern Ireland and the independent Republic of Ireland) to the west. They are separated by the Irish Sea.
The UK is one of the world's smaller countries (it is twice smaller than France or Spain), with an area of some 244,100 square kilometres. However, there are only nine other countries with more people, and London is the world's seventh biggest city. The UK is situated off the northwest coast of Europe between the Atlantic Ocean on the north and northwest and the North Sea on the east and is separated from the European continent by the English Channel (or la Manche) and the Strait of Dover (or Pas de Calais).
(Slide 3) Geographically, the island of Great Britain is subdivided into two main regions – Lowland Britain and Highland Britain. Lowland Britain comprises southern and eastern England. Highland Britain consists of Scotland, most of Wales, the
Pennines, and the Lake District.
The highest mountains are in Scotland and Wales: Ben Nevis is 1,343 metres and Snowdon is 1,085 metres. Of course, these are very small compared with other mountains in the world – Everest, the highest mountain in the world, is 8,839 metres. In fact everything in the United Kingdom is rather small – the longest river’s the Severn (354 kilometres). There are many lakes in Great Britain. On the north-west side of the Pennine system lies the Lake District, containing the beautiful lakes which give it its name. This district is widely known for its association with the history of English literature and especially with the name of William Wordsworth (1770-1850), the founder of the Lake School of poets.
(Slide 4) 2. Climate
Britain is as far north as Siberia. For example Edinburgh is 56 degrees north of the equator, the same latitude as Moscow, yet its climate is generally mild and temperate because of the Gulf Stream, which brings warm water and air across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico. The climate in the UK is usually described as cool, temperate and humid.
The weather is so changeable that the English often say that they have no climate but only weather. Therefore it is natural for them to use the comparison "as changeable as the weather" of a person who often changes his mood or opinion about something. The weather is the favourite topic of conversation in the UK. As the weather changes with the wind, and Britain is visited by winds from different parts of the world, the most characteristic feature of Britain's weather is its variability.
The English also say that they have three variants of weather: when it rains in the morning, when it rains in the afternoon, or when it rains all day long. Sometimes it rains so heavily that they say "It's raining cats and dogs".
So, we may say that the British climate has three main features: it is mild, humid and changeable. That means that it is never too hot or cold, too wet or dry. This humid and mild climate is good for plants. The trees and flowers begin to blossom early in spring.
(Slide 5) Vegetation and Wildlife
The humid and mild climate of Great Britain is good for plants and flowers. Some of them have become symbols in the UK. Probably you know that the poppy is the symbol of peace, the red rose is the national emblem of England, the thistle is the national emblem of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival. The daffodils and the leek are the emblems of Wales, the shamrock (a kind of clover) is the emblem of Ireland.
The UK 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.
Extensive forests remain in eastern and northern Scotland and in southeastern and western England. Oak, elm, ash, and beech are the commonest trees in England, while Scotland has much pine and birch. The Highlands with their 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.
The fauna, or animal life of the UK is much like that of northwestern Europe.
Some 230 kinds of birds live in the UK, and another 200 are regular visitors, many are songbirds. The most numerous are blackbirds, sparrows and starlings. Robin Redbreast is the national bird of the UK. The number of ducks, geese and other water fowl has diminished during recent years. Partridges, pheasants and other large and rare birds are protected by law. Gulls, geese and other sea birds nest near the coast.
The state system
(Slide 6) The official name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Administrative division of the Kingdom is as thefollows: it consists of four administrative-political units (historical provinces): England (39 counties, 6 Metropolitan counties and London), Wales (9 counties, 3 cities, 10 towns-counties), Scotland (32 regions) and Ireland (26 districts).
The official language is English. Although they speak another 4 languages: Welsh, Irish, Gaelic and Cornish. The ethnic composition of the population is quite diverse. Early periods of British history was a process of formation of three different ethnic groups - English, Scots and Welsh.
Great Britain is a unitary state (a parliamentary monarchy). They don’t have the single Constitution, there is the legislation, which are based on many centuries of constitutional customs, the most important statuses and the decisions of higher courts (precedents). Officially the Supreme authority in the country belongs to the Royal house of Windsors. Today the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom is Queen Elizabeth. But she reigns but does not rule.
Parliament is the Supreme legislative body, which consists of the House of Commons(a representative national Assembly, elected every five years) and the House of Lords (it includes hereditary peers, the princes of the Royal blood, the highest spiritual and judicial dignitaries). The Executive power is in the hands of the Prime Minister.
There is a hierarchy of cities. London, as the capital of the UK, holds a leading position as a major political, cultural, industrial, economic center of the country and also one of its largest marine. The main citiesare: Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast (the capital cities of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds and Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool.Popular seaside resorts (Brighton, Margate, Blackpool and Scarborough) like the British themselves,
and tourists.
Industry
(Slide 7) The Geographical features of the UK directly affect and influence the settlements, migration of people, their aggressive policy and unions. Today they define the transport systems, agriculture, communications, fisheries, energy resources and forests. The UK has proved itself as a highly developed industrial country in the world which acts as a supplier of industrial products. The largest industrial monopolies are Imperial chemical industries, or ICI, Unilever, British Leyland and General electric company.
Later began to develop the mountainous areas, where the main incentive was rich grazing land and mineral resources. In the United Kingdom nearly all known minerals, except diamondsare found. Rich coal deposits are in the Pieniny, at Sredne-Scottish lowland, in the foothills South Wales (its industrial reserves amount to 4 billion tons). In the East Midlands is the largest Deposit of iron ore (60% of all reserves). In Cheshire and Durham potash and rock saltare found. In Embedlinks there are the array of the found lead-zinc ore and hematite, in the Peninsula of Cornwall - lead zinc and tin. In the North sea – oil and gas are (2.6 billion tons, and 1,400 billion cubic meters).
However, natural conditions are rather favorable for development of cattle-breeding than agriculture. So the UK imports products such as bacon, sugar, wheat etc.
The main parts of the country
Traditonally Great Britain is devided into 4 main parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland.
(Slide 8) Out of every thousand inhabitants of Great Britain, 860 are English. England is by far the most populous constituent part of the United Kingdom. In the national census carried out in the summer of 2001, its population for the first time exceeded 49 million.
Around the year 2000, it became a common thing in England to wonder – in print, or on television or the radio, or just in thinking aloud – what kind of country was England, as it entered the third millennium of the Common Era. What kind of country did it want to be? How did it see itself? This internal debate was partly brought on by the British difficulty in establishing a coherent and positive role within the European Union, a difficulty exacerbated not only by the Atlantic pull of its relationship with the United States of America, but also by a historic sense of detachment from the European arena. Other factors were the establishment of a separate parliament in Scotland, and of an assembly in Wales, and a new attempt at a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales, ancient national communities, integral parts of Great Britain along with England, both acquired forums in which they could arrange their own internal affairs and express their own sense of identity. They became political entities once again. England, politically speaking, was a non-entity. It had no forum in which strictly English internal matters could be decided by elected English members only, or in which a specifically English sense of identity could be expressed. Of course it continued to house the body still sometimes referred to as 4he mother of parliaments' – the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - but this, with Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish members, was not an exclusively English institution.
In one sense, this did not matter. England contributed more than five-sixths of the population of the United Kingdom: inevitably the vast bulk of domestic legislation was made with England in view. More than five out of six MPs sat for English constituencies. No one could dispute the fact that England was a distinct country. Its legal system, its established church, its educational system, quite apart from the sense of identity of nearly fifty million people, all testified to that. Apart from a brief interval in the Second World War, regions had never played a part in the history of English economic or political life. In all their history, perhaps the greatest triumph of the English was to form and foster the concept of their own united Englishness, which combined in one nation an originally diverse and mutually hostile group of peoples from Cornwall to North Umbria. They created a single and remarkable nation.
(Slide 9) Scotland is the most northern of the four countries constituting Great Britain. It occupies the territory of about 80 thousand square kilometres and is not so densely populated as England. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh, situated in the eastern part of the Central Lowlands.
Certain differences between England and Scotland remain to this day, particularly in the legal and education systems.
Although Scotland takes up one third of the territory of the British Isles, its population is not very big. It is the most northern part of the island of Great Britain and is not very far away from the Arctic Circle. That's why it is not densely populated: its population is a little over 5 million people.
The Cheviot Hills mark the boundary between England and Scotland. Apart from this land link with England, Scotland is surrounded by sea. Scotland includes the Hebrides off the west coast, and the Orkeyand Shetland Islands off the north coast. It is bounded by the North Sea in the east.
Scotland is divided into three regions: the Highlands, which is the most northern and the most underpopulated area with a harsh climate; the Lowlands, which is the most industrial region, with about three quarters of the population; and the Southern Uplands, with hills, which border on England.
The Highlands of Scotland are among the oldest mountains in the world. They reach their highest point in Ben Nevis (1,343 m). Many valleys between the hills are filled with lakes, called lochs. The best-known is Loch Ness, where, as some people think, a large monster lives. The most important city here is Aberdeen which is the oil centre of Scotland. Ships and helicopters travel from Aberdeen to the North Sea oil rigs. Work on an oil rig is difficult and dangerous.
Most of the population of Scotland is concentrated in the Lowlands. Here, on the Clyde, is Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city. Shipbuilding is one of its most important industries; other industries are iron and steel, heavy and light engineering, and coal mining. It's an industrial city and an important port in the UK. It's a grim city because of the greyness of its houses many of which are not suitable for living and need repairs and rebuilding. Glasgo is also the home of two well-known football clubs, Giasgo Rangers and Celtic.
Clans and Tartans
One of the things that people associate with Scotland is the kilt. The kilt is a relic of the time when the clan system existed in the Highlands. The Gaelic word "clan" means "family" or "descendants" and the great clans of the 16th and 17th centuries were indeed very similar to enormous families, ruled by powerful chiefs. Sometimes there were fierce battles between different clans but nowadays the McDonalds and McKenzies, the Campbellsand the Lindsays all live in peace with each other. It is possible to find people with these surnames in many English-speaking countries, and they all feel they share the same background.
The wearing of tartans or coloured checks was common in the Highlands before the defeat by the English in 1745. Originally, the tartan was worn as a single piece of cloth, drawn in at the waist and thrown over the shoulder. The kilt did not become popular until the beginning of the 18th century. Each clan has its own tartan, and, since the first international gathering of the clans in 1972, many people have become interested in traditional forms of Scottish dress. Tartans are now part of international fashion.
Many people in Scotland have the name McDonald or McKenzie. “Mc” means “son of” and people with this name usually feel they belong to the same family or clan. Campbell or Cameron is other common surnames. Common boys' names are Angus, Donald or Duncan, and girls' names are Morag, Fiona or Jean. The names Jimmy and Jock are so common that many English people call a man from Scotland "a Jimmy" or "а Jock".
Gaelic
Most of Britain was inhabited by Celts until the 4th century. Their languages were not related to English. In the fourth century the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain from Northern Germany and Denmark, and their language formed the basis of the English spoken today. The Anglo-Saxons drove the Celts into the mountainous west of Britain. Two Celtic languages survive there: Welsh and Gaelic.
Gaelic is used in the Republic of Ireland, where it is the first official language,
andin Scotland. Scots Gaelic is spoken by 80,000people the hills and islands of the west of Scotland, but it has no official status.
Nearly all Welsh and Gaelic speakers are bilingual, although most would think of English as their second language.
Many Scottish people still use Scottish words when they speak English. "Wee", meaning small, is often heard in such expressions as "wee laddie" – small boy. “A bonnie lass” is a pretty girl and a “bairn” is a child.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh has been the capital since the 15th century, when its fortified castle was the centreof Scotland’s resistance to its enemies. Edinburgh is an administrative, commercial and cultural centreof Scotland. It is associated with the names of Geogre Gordon Byron, Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns, and Arthur Conan Doyle. It is also associated with the world-famous Edinburgh Festival of Music and Drama. The Festival was first held in 1947 and has been held annually ever since. Its aim is bringing to Scotland’s capital the finest performers and productions from all over the world. The Edinburgh International festival of 1987 was devoted to Russia, the Russian musicians, dancers and singers were a great success.
Wales
(Slide 10) 1301 – After defeating the native princes of Wales, King Edward I of England named his son "Prince of Wales". Since then the eldest son of the king or queen of England has traditionally been given this title.
1536 – Wales was brought into the English system of national and local government by the Act of Union.
1850 – In the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution completely changed the face of South Wales. Workers came in large numbers from England and Ireland.
The Welsh call their country Cymru, and they call themselves Cymry. The population of Wales is almost three million people. About 75 per cent of the people of Wales live in towns and urban districts.
The vegetation of Wales reflects the mountainous nature of the country and its moist climate. Moisture-loving species such as ferns are found almost throughout all Wales. The whole area of Wales may be subdivided into three regions – the Welsh Mountainous area, Industrial South Wales and the Welsh Borderland.
The living standards of people in Wales are lower than in England, the unemployment rate is higher. South Wales has many traditions of struggle for more jobs and better working conditions in mines.
Wales is a highland country of old, hard rock. North Wales is a country of mountains and deep valleys; South Wales is a land of high hills and wide valleys. The pride of Wales in scenery is Snowdonia, the region of high mountains. Snowdon (1,085 m) is the highest mountain in England and Wales.
Except for coal, mineral resources are limited and include gold, silver, and copper. South Wales is more developed; during the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, the valleys of South Wales became the iron and steel capital of the world. Nowadays, coal-mining, steel Production, electronics, electrical engineering and chemicals be found here.
The capital of Wales is Cardiff, the largest city of Wales.
Cardiff: a Modern Capital
Cardiff has been the official capital of Wales since 1955. There has been a community here for hundreds of years, but it began to grow quickly and to become prosperous during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the period when the coal, iron and steel industries were developing in South Wales, and Cardiff became a major industrial town and an important port. However, when these industries began to decline, Cardiff suffered too. Today, the docks are much smaller, but the city is now expanding as a commercial and administrative centre. It is an attractive and interesting place to live in, with good communications; plenty of parks and a varied population which includes nearly 10,000 university and college students.
As a tourist, you might want to visit the castle and Llandaff cathedral, or the National Museum of Wales. If you like music, there is the famous national concert hall, St. David's Hall, or the New Theatre, which is the home of the Welsh National Opera Company.
Cardiff is situated near the mouth of the Taff River. It's an important industrial city and port, and administrative and educational centre.
The second largest city is Swansea where mainly steel production can be found. Since World War II there has been intensive development in the metal industries especially in the south and southeast.
Language
Welsh is one of Celtic languages, like Scottish and Irish Gaelic. It is estimated that Welsh is spoken by 16 to 20 per cent of the population, although in North and West Wales 50 per cent speak the language. The Welsh Language Act of 1967 said that all official documents should be in both languages, and most road signs are printed in English and Welsh.
Since the 1960s there has been a serious attempt to revive the language. At secondary schools almost 50 per cent of all pupils learn Welsh as a first or second language. Since 1982 there has been an independent fourth TV channel broadcasting mainly in Welsh.
Although not many Welsh words are well-known in England, the word "eisteddfod" is understood by almost everybody. The 800-year-old National Eisteddfod is certainly the most picturesque and most moving ceremony in Wales. Here the love of song and poetry of the Welsh is organized to make a spectacle unique in the world. Presided over by white-robed druids with their attendant blue-robed bards, the Eisteddfod calls upon the people of Wales each year to send forth its singers and poets to participate in this colourful tournament.
The National Eisteddfod, as a festival of Welsh culture, is held annually at some place in South Wales (even years) and North Wales (uneven years).
The Welsh National Game
Rugby Union is a national game of Wales, and during the 1970s the Welsh team was thought to be the best in the world. The rules of the game are rather complicated but mainly involve the carrying of an egg-shaped ball over your opponents' line and pressing it firmly on the ground to score a try. A team consists of fifteen players, eight of whom are usually much bigger and heavier than the rest. Although the game seems to be similar to American football, the players are not allowed to throw the ball forward.
When the Welsh side are playing at home at Cardiff Arms Park their supporters often try to encourage them to play better by singing the Welsh National anthem, Land of My Fathers. The sound of thousands of Welsh voices singing this famous song usually helps the Welsh side score another try to win the game. Naturally they are especially pleased when this is against the English.
What's in a Name?
The way in which British surnames have developed is very complicated. Before the Normans arrived, the use of surnames wasn't really known. Many English surnames were originally connected with a person's job – Charles Baker, Margaret Thatcher; someone's size – Jack Long, Mary Little; or a family relationship – Robin Williamson (Robin, son of William), Peter Richardson.
The most common Welsh names were all originally Christian names in some form: Dylan Thomas, Roger Davies (a form of David), Geoffrey Jones (from John), David Williams, etc. Many other names come from the tradition of calling a child “son of” his father using the Welsh word ap(or ab). This "p" can be found at the beginning of many common Welsh names, eg Gary Pritchard, which is the same as English Richardson. Other examples are Prees, Price, Parry, and Pugh.
Welshmen living in England are often called by the nickname "Taffy". This may come from the River Taff, which runs through the capital Cardiff, or it may come from Dafydd, the Welsh form of David.
When the Romans came to Wales nearly two thousand years ago they found a strange religion called Druidism, whose priests were called Druids. Little is known about Druids, but there are many legends about them.
(Slide 11) Northern Ireland is the smallest component of the United Kingdom. It occupies northeast of the island of Ireland, only one-sixth of its territory. 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.
There are low hills and peaks of rocks in the north-west, while the northeast sector of the island is a plateau. The Mourne Mountains in the southeast slope down to Lough Neagh, the largest lake in the British Isles. The rivers of Ireland are short, but deep. The largest river is the Shannon.
The population of Northern Ireland is about 1,5 million people. 53% of the total population lives 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.
