ON LINE EUROPEAN TOURIST GUIDE

UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and NORTHERN IRELAND

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, GALLES, NORTHERN IRELAND

 

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is a constitutional monarchy and is one of the 25 member states of the European Union. The UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland (Eire). Britain is the largest of the British Isles. The second largest is Ireland who meet Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Offshore of Scotland are the Hebrides archipelago to the west and the Orkney and Shetland to the northeast. Other islands are the coastal islands of Wight, Anglesey and Scilly; the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Channel Islands between Britain and France, are Crown dependencies, lands owned by the British monarch but not part of the United Kingdom. The UK has also fourteen Overseas Territories: Anguilla, British Antarctic Territory, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St Helena and Dependencies (Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha), Turks and Caicos Islands, Pitcairn Island, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus.

 

The United Kingdom is characterized by a very rugged coastal profile, with peninsulas separated by deep creeks, these creeks are estuarine (Thames, Humber), or consist of a funnel creeks, narrow and elongated, called firths. The northern and western areas of the country are mostly mountainous, while the southeast is formed from plains. Among the main mountain chains are the North West Highlands, the Grampian Mountains, Cheviot or Southern Uplands, the Cumberland Mountains, Pennines, all still make modest heights, in fact, the highest peak is the Ben Nevis in Scotland (1 343 m). There are numerous rivers with abundant and regular flow, but short course, this is due to the shape of the island, the most important of these rivers are the Thames, the Clyde (main river of Scotland), the Mersey, the Severn. Typical of Scotland are the lochs, narrow and elongated lakes; the largest lake basin in the country is the Irish Lough Neagh (396 sq km). 

 

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Area: 242,521 sqkm

Population: 59,755,700 (England 49.997.100; Galles 2.946.200; Scotland 5.114.600; Northern Ireland 1.697.800).

State Capital: London

Languages: The two official languages in Britain are English and Welsh, English being the most widely spoken. Scottish Gaelic is also spoken in some parts of Scotland.

Religion: Mainly Protestant (53,4%; Anglican in England and Presbyterian in Scotland), Roman Catholic (9,8%), Islam (2,6%), Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Sikhism .

Currency: Britain’s unit of currency is the Great British Pound (sterling) (GBP)

Time: British Summer Daylight saving time starts on the last Sunday in March when clocks go forward 1 hour at 01:00, and ends on the last Sunday in October when they go back 1 hour at 01:00 (UTC +1). The time for the rest of the year is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC 0).

 

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