Familiar name - Great Britain - not quitecorresponds to the present name of the most interesting country. In fact, this constitutional monarchy has a long, stiff name - the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Acquaintance with the country
Unusual location of the state in the Britishislands and separation from the European mainland by the North Sea, the powerful Channel Islands and the Pas-de-Calais created a sufficient isolation and united England, Scotland and Wales with Northern Ireland. The abbreviated name of the country - Great Britain - contains all the united territories, simplifying the cumbersome phrase "United Kingdom". The area of Great Britain is 243,610 square kilometers, its population is 63,396 thousand people. The country is ruled by Queen Elizabeth II.
History of the formation of the state
Formation of the monarchy lasted formany years. During the Middle Ages, the present Great Britain was occupied by several small states. The eleventh century and the conquests of the Normans combined them into a single feudal state, located on the territory of modern England. Growing up new territories, the Kingdom of England captures Wales, and from the sixteenth century it is part of the country. The seventeenth century brought significant changes - state management began to be carried out by the Scottish royal dynasties, in the eighteenth century this led to the unification of these countries under a single name - the United Kingdom. The beginning of the nineteenth century was marked by the annexation to the state of the island of Ireland, later split into Northern Ireland, remaining in the Kingdom and a separate independent country of Ireland. Such composition and area of the UK remain today.
Political influence
It should be noted that since the seventeenth century the Britishinfluence becomes very significant in the world and colonies, promoting the spread of the English language and the introduction of forms of government. The economic leap and high growth of production with the use of machines in the progressive nineteenth century made Great Britain the world's largest supplier of manufactured goods. At the present time, there has been a slight weakening of the country's position, connected with the collapse of the colonial British Empire and the entry into the arena of other developed countries - the USA, Japan, Germany. One can not deny the enormous political influence of this state, despite the small area that it occupies. Great Britain, or more precisely, its government, has a well-thought-out business management that retains the reputation of a wise modern politician.
Variety of landscape
A feature of the country's relief is the divisionlandscape in two categories: in the north and west is High Britain, represented by dismembered mountainous hills interspersed with small lowlands. Low Britain - with a predominance of plains, which has several mountainous regions - occupies the southeastern part. Great Britain is characterized by a lack of a clear boundary between these areas, and the imagination of the traveler affects the markedly changing several types of terrain over several hours of travel.
Rainy and foggy High Britain, quitejustifying its north-western location, consists of six regions rising above sea level, interspersed by three lowlands. It smoothly passes into the vast area of Low Britain, which represents the Lancashire-Cheshire Plain, the Midlands and the Valley of York. A common feature of these areas is fertile soils. The area of Great Britain in the square. km contains all kinds of landscapes and mountainous and flat areas.
Climate
The relatively mild climate of the country is explained by the closeneighborhood with the North Atlantic Current. The predominance of the western winds ensures the arrival in the summer of a comfortable cool, and in winter warm air from the Atlantic. The average air temperature in summer is +29 ºС, in winter -7 ºС. Rare cases of extreme summer temperature rise up to 38 ° C and frost in winter to -18 ° C have been noted.
There are snowfalls and frost here, especially inmountainous areas, but in the plains and lowlands minus temperatures last only 30-40 days a year, the snow lies no more than 10-15 days, and in cities - 5 days a year. The average July temperature in the capital is 17 ° C, on the islands of Scilly - 16 ° C, in Holikhed - 15 ° C, and the northern coast of Scotland is not happy with hot weather - less than 13 ° C. In the British Isles, as a rule, there is no drought. A sufficient amount of rain falls for agricultural work.
The area of Great Britain for 2014 isalmost 244 thousand square meters. km. Located on the British Isles, Misty Albion, as this constitutional monarchy is often called, is an extraordinary and mysterious country where everything is interesting: the state structure, climate, architecture, traditions and people.
