Geographical position territory

PHISICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

LECTURE 2

List of questions:

1. Geographical position territory

2. The seas

3. The relief: the Highlands and the Lowlands

4. Rivers, Lakes

5. The mineral resources

6. The climate

Literature:

1. Нестеров Н.М. Страноведение: Великобритания. Ростов на Дону, «Феникс», 2006.

2. Михайлов Н.Н. Лингвострановедение Англии. М., «Академия», 2003.

3. Артемова А.Ф. Великобритания. Книга для чтения по страноведению. М, «АСТ: Восток-Запад», 2006.

4. Томахин Г.Д. По странам изучаемого языка. М., «Просвещение», 1998.

5. M. Vaughan-Rees In Britain. Lnd., 1999.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK for short) is situated on a group of islands lying off the north – west coast of Europe. The total area of the country is 94217 sq. miles (244021 sq. km.) of which nearly 99% is land and remainder inland water. The UK is a small country. It is twice smaller than France and Spain. The UK’s territory is 2% of the inhabited territory of the world, claiming the 75^th place among other countries.

The prime meridian of 0(or the zero longitude line) passes through the old Observatory of Greenwich in London. The time in every country in the world is calculated from this line.

Of all the islands comprising the territory of the UK, Great Britain is the largest, being the biggest island in Europe and the 7^th largest in the world. It is 300 miles (483 km) across its widest, 60 km. at its narrowest and 600 miles (966 km) long at its longest.

The second largest island is Ireland, which lies to the west of Great Britain and separated from it by the North Channel and the Irish Sea. The total area of 6 counties, making Northern Ireland, covers 5452 sq. miles (14120 sq. km). among the smaller coastal islands forming administrative counties of the UK are the Isle of White, situated off the southern coast of England, the Isles of Scilly – off the extreme south-west and Anglesey – of north of Wales.

Western Scotland is fringed by numerous islands – the Hebrides. To the north and far north of Scotland are the important groups of the Orkneys and the Shetlands. All these islands have administrative ties with the mainland. But two islands the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Channel Islands in the English Channel, lying south of England and forming archipelago, have a large measure of administrative autonomy and strictly are not part of the UK but are dependencies of the Crown.