The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United Kingdom lies off the European continent. It's separated from France by the English Channel. It consists of 2 large islands- Great Britain and Ireland and more than 5000 small ones. The isles are washed by the North sea, Irish sea and Atlantic Ocean. Its area is about 245 square kilometres and the population is about 60 million.

Mountains in Britain are for example Pennines, Highlands, Grampians or Cornish Heights, the highest mountain is Ben Nevis in the Highlands of Scotland. There are also many rivers in Britain like Thames, Avon, Severn, Tyne. There are many isles around the Great Britain like Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, the Hebrides, the Shetlands.

The United Kingdom consists of 4 countries - England where Capital is London, Wales with Cardiff, Northern Ireland with Belfast and Scotland with Edinburgh. The official head of state is the Queen Elizabeth 2nd but the real head of state is the Prime Minister-Gordon Brown. Official language is English but some people speaks also Scottish, Welsh or Irish Gaelic.

There are many industrial cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham or Leeds. There are also many holiday resorts in the south like Brighton, Bath, Southampton or Portsmouth. Education has its huge centres in Oxford and Cambridge and there are also many schools in the south.

People in Scotland has their typical costumes - kilts. It's a skirt made from tartan, they wear sporran, dirk and backpipes. Their national festival is Highland games. Welsh festival is called Eisteddfod.

In 43 The Romans invaded. They built camps, forts and roads throughout the land, which have been used for many centuries. The Romans stayed in Britain for about 400 years. They also built the Hadrian's wall. The Norman duke William the Conqueror defeated king Harold in the Battle of Hastings.

There were also some very important kings and queens like Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, James I and Victoria.