Great Britain

Great Britain

Basic facts: Great Britain or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the north-west part of Europe and covers more than 250 000 km². It occupies many of islands; the biggest of them are Great Britain and Irish island with Northern Ireland, Man between Great Britain and Ireland, Shetlands, Orkneys and Hebrides or Isle of Wight. Great Britain is separated of continental Europe by English Channel. It´s divided into four parts: England, Scotland, Wales - these are three historical parts and Northern Ireland, which was connected to Great Britain in year 1921 in national referendum.
 
History: First mention about Great Britain can we find in The Old Ages, when ancient Roma occupied this area, Julius Caesar led invasion about 55 years BC. From this time come first mentions about village named Londonium, which became capital city later. William the Conqueror landed in Britain in September 1066, while Harold was in the north defeating Vikings. At Hastings, luck and good archery skills gave William the victory and he became English king. The Wars of the Roses took place in the 15th century.

They were the wars between the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The battles continued nearly 85 years. After Charles I execution in 1649 was England ruled by Oliver Cromwell as the Lord Protector. After his death the people were tired of wars and heavy taxes and Charles II was welcomed to England. For next time periods was England leading state in Europe and of the world. It was always mighty monarchy with strong king. In 17th and 18th century was Great Britain state number one of the world thanks own colonies. In 20th century lost this position and many of colonies became independent state. Great Britain is a leader state of British Commonwealth.

Valuuttamuunnin – Englannin punta
 
Population: Great Britain and has population of about 58 millions, so density is quite high, around 240 people per square kilometer. The Church of England is main church in GB, but in Northern Ireland live two religion groups - one group is catholic confession and second are Protestants. Catholics group wanted to separate from Great Britain and situation was not optimal especially in the 70’s, when there were many terrorist attacks in Belfast.

In this time is quite peace, Northern Ireland has own representatives in British Senate. Great Britain is country of one nation, more then 90 percent of people are British origin. But in this time there live many immigrants from anothers countries. They want to a British citizenship and have a use a social benefit or allowance. England has difficult political rules for immigrants.
 
Geography: Great Britain has various surfaces with Central lowlands on the south and with highlands on the north (Scotland). There are for example the Pennies in the central Britain, the Cambrian in Wales, the Cambrick Highlands in Scotland and the Scottish highlands with the highest peak Ben Nevis (1342 m). Great Britain has quite dense river network.

The most important is the River Thames in south-east, The Mersey in north-west of England and the River Clyde in Scotland. Great Britain lies in temperate climate zone, climate is determinated by ocean. There are not big differences in temperature between winter and summer and there is enough rainy allocation.
 
Political system: Great Britain is constitution monarchy. Head of state is Queen Elizabeth II., but she has not real power. Queen is represented by Prime Minister Tony Blair from Labour party. 

Parliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Seats in The House of Lords are hereditary. The House of Commons is elected by universal adult suffrage and consists of 650 members.
 
Economy: The currency is the British pound sterling. Great Britain is one of the richest countries of the world and has very developed economy. During 20th century can we notice that British industry changed from heavy industry with traditional branches as shipbuilding, car and train building, engineering. In this dominate chemical industry and production of consumable electronics.

Thanks to long intensive mine activities there are a little law materials. Important are coal, petrol, natural gas, gold, zinc, steel, oil, metals. Only 2 percent of British people work in agriculture. There are important production of wheat, corn, vegetables and strawberries on south-west part. Ground is not too fertile, so for Great Britain is very important cattle breeding and production of meat.
Major partners for Great Britain are Germany, France, Netherlands and the others countries of European Union.

Kurssi englannin punta (GBP) - Yhdistynyt kuningaskunta
 
Towns: Capital city of Great Britain is London – one of the largest city of the world, it has population about 8 milion people. It is remarkable city, where is connected old Victorian architecture style with modern and progressive style. Liverpool is old industry town with many factories and air pollution. Similar describes is used for Manchester - center of textile industry. Capital city of Wales is Cardiff – old historical town, center of industry. Capital city in Scotland is Edinburgh – tradition Scottish town and seat of kings, but bigger than Edinburgh is Glasgow – industry town, center of commerce and services.