Text 10. Brief geographical outline of Great Britain

The British Isles lie to the north-west of the continent of Europe and consist of two main islands, the larger of which is Great Britain, the smaller is Ireland. These two and over 500 small islands are known collectively as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The total land area of the UK is 244.1 square km, it is the 75^th place among other countries in the world. Great Britain is made up of England, Wales and Scotland.

The north-west and west of Great Britain is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. In the west the country is washed by the Irish Sea. The eastern coast is open to the waters of the North Sea. The south-eastern tip of Great Britain is separated from the France by the English Channel which is 32 km wide at its narrowest point.

Great Britain is irregularly shaped, being deeply indented by the numerous gulfs of the sea, no part of the country is more than 120km from the sea. The island of Great Britain is quite distinctly divided into two parts; mountainous highland (north and west) and lowland, sometimes hilly (south and east). The rivers of Great Britain are short, their direction and character are determined by the position of the mountains. The rivers seldom freeze in winter, most of them remain ice-free but they are not navigable for ocean ships. England has no large lakes. But the Lake District in the north-western part of the country is known for its beauty. There are 16 lakes there.

England has a mild climate. Rainfall is plentiful during the whole year. On the average Britain has 204 rainy days a year, with its maximum in the estuary of the river Thames.

The British climate has a bad reputation, which is partly justified. What’s the forecast in Britain? It’s mainly showers and sunny intervals, there’s too little sunshine in the country. The British love to complain about the weather. They practically always mention it when they greet people. However, there are rarely extremes of cold or heat in Britain and when temperatures drop below 0 C or rise above 32 C nobody is prepared.

The most important natural resources of England are coal and iron. Coal is the mineral that contributes much to the development of many industries in Britain. By the absolute deposits of coal Great Britain claims the 6^th place in the world and is one of the most world important coal basins. Among other mineral resources, iron ores are of primary importance, but the iron content of most of the ores is very low.

England is highly industrialized and was the country in which the earliest development of modern industry took place. The original basis if British industry was coal mining and the early factories grew up not very far from main mining areas. Glasgow and Newcastle became great centres of engineering and shipbuilding. Lancashire produced cotton goods and Yorkshire woolens. Sheffield concentrated iron and steel work. Birmingham developed light engineering.