2. GREAT BRITAIN
The United Kingdom, also called the U.K., consists of a group of islands off the northwest
coast of Europe: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England, Wales, and
Scotland also make up Great Britain.
OFFICIAL NAME: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Constitutional monarchy with parliamentary government
Much of the north and west of the U.K. is covered in high ground, knife-edged mountain
ridges separated by deep valleys.
Great Britain's rugged mountains, like the Scottish Highlands, offer habitat that is
relatively untouched by humans.
3.
4. ENGLAND
In many ways England has seemingly been absorbed within the larger mass of Great Britain since
the Act of Union of 1707.
England is a fertile land, and the generosity of its soil has supported a thriving agricultural
economy for millennia.
Formed of the union of small Celtic and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during the
early medieval period, England has long comprised several distinct regions, each different
in dialect, economy, religion, and disposition; indeed, even today many English people identify
themselves by the regions or shires from which they come
Weather in England is as variable as the topography. As in other temperate maritime zones, the
averages are moderate, ranging in the Thames river valley from about 35 °F
England shares with the rest of Britain a diminished spectrum of vegetation and living creatures
5.
6. BRITISH ISLES
he group consists of two main islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands
and island groups, including the Hebrides, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Isles of
Scilly, and the Isle of Man
Although the term British Isles has a long history of common usage, it has become increasingly
controversial, especially for some in Ireland who object to its connotation of political and cultural
connections between Ireland and the United Kingdom
7.
8. TIMETABLE
The first Britons (people who live in the United Kingdom) were the Picts, who arrived about 10,000 years ago. In the
eighth century B.C.,
the Celts arrived from Europe and pushed the Picts north into Scotland. In A.D. 43, the Romans invaded and ruled
for nearly 400 years. They built roads, bathhouses, sewers, and large villas.
In 1485 the Welsh noble Henry Tudor claimed the English crown and became Henry VII, the first of five Tudor
monarchs.
In the early 19th century, England became the epicentre of a worldwide Industrial Revolution and soon the world’s
most industrialized country.
The British are the creation of waves of invaders and migrants, including Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and
Normans
And the U.K. has produced many great writers, including William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Robert Burns.
J.K. Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter books, is British.
But the early 20th century was a time of setbacks for Britain. Drained by World War I and II, Britain could no longer
afford its empire, and most of its colonies became independent.
9. HENRY
V
After an insult from the French Dauphin, King Henry V of England
invades France to claim the throne he believes should be his. Henry
stops an assassination plot, gives powerful speeches, and wins battles
against the odds. In the end, he woos and marries the Princess of
France, linking the two nations.
