Britain

Geography The british isles are a group of islands situated off the continent of Europe. The british state is made up of Great Britian (England, Wales, and Scotland) and Northern Ireland. Its full name is The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) . Geographical Feature With an area of about 243,000 sq km, britain is just about 600 miles from north to south, it is therefore possible to travel to any part of the country within one day. Britain is an island country, surrounded by the sea. It is separated from the rest of Europe by the english channel in the south and the no rth sea in the east. The english channel between england and france is quite narrow and the

narrowest part is called the strait of dover. The united kingdom is divided politically into four parts and they are: 1 england England occupies the largest, southern part of Great britain with wales to its west and scortland to its north, which takes up neraly 60%of the whole island. The pennies are the principlal mountain chain. 2 Scotland Scotland is in the north of great britain. There are three natrual zones: the highlands in the north and ben nevis, the highest mountain in britain(1,343m) is located there; the central lowlands, the most important area in scotland which contains most of the industry and population the southern uplands

Though the Gaelic language( Scottish Gaelic (Scottish Gaelic : Gidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages , and is distinct from the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish (collectively called the "Goidelic language s") are all descended from Middle Irish, and share an

ancestry going back to Old Irish and Primitive Irish . Other common names for Scottish Gaelic are Scots Gaelic and Highland Gaelic. [citation needed]

Outside Scotland, it is occasionally also called Scottish, particularly when being compared to Irish and Manx, though Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with the Scots language (Lowland Scots, Lallans), which is an Anglic language descended from Old English . Within Scotland, the language is called Gidhlig pronounced [

a l k ] while outside e l k/.

Scotland it is usually referr ed to as Gaelic pronounced /

The 2001 UK Census showed a total of 58, 652 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.2% of population over three years old).
[7]

Compared to t he 1991 Census,

there has been a diminution of approximately 7,300 people (11% of the total), showing a decline in Gaelic. By 1991, attempts at language revival or reversing language shift had met with limited success, [8][citation needed] and there has been an increase in young Gaelic speakers
[9]

) is still heard in

the in the highlands and the western isles, english is spoken all over scotland.

Edinburgh is the capital of scotland.

3 wales

Wales is in the west of Britain, most of which is mountainous. Caddiff is the capital and largest city in wale s.

4 Northern Ireland

Belfast is the captial and biggest city of Northern Ireland.

Rivers and lakes

Rivers play a very important role in the country,s economy. The great ports of london, liverpool and glasgow are all connected to the sea rivers.The second and most important river is the Thames river, which is very favorable for transportation. Oxford is also on the thames. River clyde is the most important river i n scotland. The lake district in northwest england is one of the famous lake poet William wordsworth.

The largest lake in britain is the lough neagh( ireland.

) in northen

The climate

The climate is generally mild and temperate. It often has freque nt changes but has few extremes of temperature. It has a favorable maritime( )climate. Winters are mild and summers are cool and it has

a steady reliable rainfall.

Population

The structure of the population

The total population of the united kindom is around 60 million, with the largest number of people living in england.

The population of britain is made up mainly of the english, the scottish, the welsh,the irish, the northern irish and other people.

The english are anglo -saxons and they hanve man y differences in regional speech.

The welsh are emotional and cheerful people. They are music lovers and are pround of their past.

The scots are hospitable and generous.

Irish is the official language of the republic of ireland and english is the second. Irish is the favored language of irish nationalists who wish to preserve cultural apartness from britain.

Ethic groups

Because of its long tradition of accommodation immigrants and refugees and because it is part of a multiracial commonwealth, br itain contains a diversity of peoples.

The highest concentration of ethnic minorities is in london and some other large cities.