GEOGRAPHY OF UK

The official name of the UK is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It lies on the British Isles which are situated on the north-western coast of Europe. These British Isles consist of two big islands - Great Britain and Ireland.

Rivers and lakes:

The longest river in the UK is the River Severn (220 mi, 354 km) which flows through both Wales and England.The longest rivers in the UK by country are:

England: River Thames (215 mi, 346 km)

Scotland: River Tay (117 mi, 188 km)

N. Ireland: River Bann (76 mi, 122 km)

Wales: River Tywi (64 mi, 103 km)

The largest lakes in the UK by country are:

N. Ireland: Lough Neagh (147.39 sq mi, 381.74 km²)

Scotland: Loch Lomond (27.46 sq mi, 71.12 km²)

England: Windermere (5.69 sq mi, 14.74 km²)

Wales: Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) (1.87 sq mi, 4.84 km²)

The deepest lake in the UK is Loch Morar with a maximum depth of 309 metres (Loch Ness is second at 228 metres deep). The deepest lake in England is Wastwater which descends to 79 metres (258 feet).

The ten tallest mountains in the UK are all found in Scotland. The highest peaks in each part of the UK are:

Scotland: Ben Nevis (Aonach Mòr, 1,344 metres)

Wales: Snowdon (Snowdonia, 1,085 metres)

England: Scafell Pike (Cumbrian Mountains, 977 metres)

Northern Ireland: Slieve Donard (Mourne Mountains, 852 metres)

Mountains and hills

The ranges of mountains and hills in the UK include:

Scotland: Cairngorms, Cheviot Hills, Scottish Highlands, Southern Uplands, Grampian Mountains

Wales: Brecon Beacons, Cambrian Mountains, Snowdonia, Black Mountains, Preseli Hills

England: Chilterns, Cotswolds, Dartmoor, Lincolnshire Wolds, Exmoor, Lake District, Malvern Hills, Mendip Hills, North Downs, Peak District, Pennines, Salisbury Plain, South Downs, Shropshire Hills, Yorkshire Wolds

Northern Ireland: Mourne Mountains, Antrim Plateau, Sperrin MountainsThe lowest point of the UK is in the Fens of East Anglia, in England, parts of which lie up to 4 metres below sea level.

Climate

- Britain has a temperate and equable climate

- the prevailing winds are south-westerly and the weather is influenced by Antlantic

- in the winter there is cold, dry continental type of weather

- the average difference between temperatures in winter and summer is biggest in inland

- the summer lasts from June to September and the temperature is hovering around 20 degrees

- at any time the weather in cloudy and rainy

- The lowest temperatures in winter aren’t lower than –7°C

- the average rain-fall is about 900 mm

Population

Population is over 59 million. In Britain, we can find the following ethnic groups: 81.5% English, 9.6% Scottish, 2.4% Irish, 1.9% Welsh and 1.8% Ulster. They are nearly all English- speaking, but still three Celtic languages have survived: Welsh (spoken by the population of the Wales), Gaelic (spoken in Scotland), and Irish (spoken by Irish).UK is one of the most densely populated countries in the world (249 inhabitants per one square km) and about 80 per cent of its inhabitants live in towns.

London is the capital city with a population of 7.2 million. There is one town besides London with population over 1 million - Birmingham. Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Belfast, Coventry, and Cardiff follow these two - each has population of more than 300,000. The Church of England and the Church of Scotland are the official national churches in their respective countries but there are some Roman Catholic (7%), Muslims, Hindu and Jewish in the UK.

IndustryScotland

Wales

Northern Ireland

England

- Agricultural industry

Ports: Cardiff, Swansea and Newport

Scottish Glasgow is the largest industrial city and port

- engineering, textile, shipbuilding

The industrial center is the capital of Northern Ireland - Belfast (shipbuilding and textiles)Port of Londonderry with the textile industry

- electronics, automotive and aerospace industry