The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

– location: it is located in north-west Europe

– size: UK: 243,610 km2 (=square)

– population: 67,545,000

– constitutional monarchy

GEOGRAPHY:

· Basically, the north is hilly and mountainous, the south is flat

· The UK lies in the temperate zone (it doesn´t have very cold winters and summers are not extremely hot either)

· The highest peak – Ben Nevis (1,344 m)

The main industries are steel, metals, vehicles, shipbuilding, shipping, banking, insurance, textiles, chemicals, electronics, aircraft, machinery, distilling. The main agricultural products are grain, sugar, beet, fruit and vegetables. Worldknown is British sheep and cattle breeding. Britain’s natural riches are coal, tin, oil, gas, limestone, iron, salt, clay, chalk and lead.

HISTORY:

· 700 (or maybe 500 BC (= before Christ) the Celts

· The first millennium was dominated by invasions:

· 43 AD (= Anno Domini = našeho letopočtu) the Romans

· 5th century AD the Angles, Saxons, Jutes

· 7th-10th centuries Vikings

· the House of Normandy – 1066 William the Conqueror X Saxon king Harold

· the House of Plantagenet – King John – Magna carta

· the House of Tudor – the Wars of the Roses

· Elizabeth I (the Virgin Queen)

· the House of Stuart – James I – the Gunpowder Plot

· English Civil War – Charles I

· Oliver Cromwell – dismissed Parliament and became the Lord Protector

· the House of Hanover – Queen Victoria – Britain’s greatest period of world power and industrial development

· the House of Windsor – Queen Elizabeth II

PLACES OF INTEREST:

· London – just the most important sights, i.e. The Tower, Westmister Abbey, St. Paul´s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, the London Eye, the National Gallery

· Stratford upon Avon (lies on the River Avon) – the birthplace of the playwright and poet William Shakespeare

· Oxford – it has the oldest university in the English-speaking world – teaching has existed here since 1096)

· Cambridge – the second oldest university in the English-speaking world is located here – established at about 1200

· Canterbury – has a beautiful cathedral /kəˈθiːdrəl/, the central church of the Church of England, a place of pilgrimage

· York – well-known for its Minster – one of the largest cathedrals in the world; also the city walls are well-preserved

· Hastings – where William the Conqueror deafeated Harold, the last Saxon king

· Liverpool – the birthplace of the Beatles

WALES

· beautiful country with many highlands and castles (Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech)

· there aren’t many industrial towns, the biggest are Cardiff, Newport and Swansea

SCOTLAND

· historically and culturally separate country from England

· Scotland is the land of many special traditions, which cannot be found elsewhere in the world – playing the pipes, wearing kilts made of tartan, Scotch whisky

· Glasgow – it is culture centre and heart of the arts in Scotland

· Edinburgh is dominated by its imposing 12th century castle – Holyroodhouse

· the city is full of attractive squares, three-lined avenues and elegant shopping centres

· in the North of the country there are many lakes as Loch Lomond and Loch Ness, which is famous for its “Loch Ness Monster”