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COUNTRY HOPPING: United Kingdom
Official name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK)
Area: 244,100 sq km
Population: 58,649,000
Capital: London
Currency: pound sterling
Major cities: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Belfast, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cardiff
Independence Day: January 1, 1801
Major exports: Industrial and electrical machinery, automatic data-processing equipment, motor vehicles, petroleum, chemicals, finished and semi-finished manufactured products, agricultural products and foodstuffs.
The United Kingdom is situated in northwest Europe off the coast of France, consisting of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Physical features
The terrain of England is diverse. The principal region of highland, the Pennine Chain, forms the backbone of northern England. It is composed of several ranges extending from the Cheviot Hills to the valley of the River Trent. Scotland is divided into three distinct regions, the Scottish Highlands, the Central Lowlands, and the Southern Uplands.
The main rivers in England include the Thames, the Humber, the Mersey, and the Severn. Scotland is characterized by an abundance of streams and lochs, or lakes. The longest river in Scotland is the Tay.
Climate
The United Kingdom’s climate is generally mild and moist. Temperatures in England vary between a mean of about 16°C during July, the hottest month of the year, and 4°C during January, the coldest month. Fog, mist, and overcast skies are frequent. In England, rainfall is heaviest during October and averages about 760mm annually.
People
About four-fifth of the UK’s population lives in England. About 10 per cent of the UK’s population is Scottish. The rest include Irish, Welsh, Ulster, Caribbean, Indian and Pakistani communities.
English is the official language of the UK. There are considerable variations in regional accents throughout England. Welsh and Scottish Gaelic are commonly spoken.
There are about 27 million Anglicans in the UK. Roman Catholics number more than five million, Presbyterians about two million, Methodists about 700,000, and Jews about 400,000. Numerous other religions are practised in England, significant among them being Islam and Hinduism.
Government
England is the largest division of the UK, which has no written constitution. The constitutional arrangements are the result of acts of Parliament, common law, and precedent. The monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state, but elected officials govern through the Parliament.
The House of Commons is the main legislative body, with 651 members. The party with the most members of parliament (MPs) forms the government, and that party’s leader becomes the prime minister. The parliament’s upper chamber is the House of Lords, which has more than 1,200 members. About two-thirds are hereditary members, and the remaining one-third are members appointed for life.
Places to visit
London has many historic monuments, cathedrals, churches, palaces, parks, and museums; historic towns, including York, Bath, Edinburgh, Oxford, and Cambridge are worth visiting. The other interesting places are the Lake District in the northwest, the mountains of North Wales, varied coastline that includes sandy beaches, cliffs, and the fjord-like inlets of northwest Scotland.
Wildlife
The animals found in the UK are red deer, fallow deer, Eurasian badger, pine marten, common dormouse, wildcat, red fox and Eurasian otter.
The birds found here include whooper swan, European robin, snowy owl, song thrush, osprey, European nuthatch, golden oriole, bohemian waxwing, common eider, blue tit western Capercaillie.
History
400-200 BC: British Isles conquered by Celts.
55-54 BC: Romans led by Julius Caesar raided Britain.
43-60 AD: Romans conquered England and Wales, which formed the province of Britannia.
5th-7th centuries: After Romans withdrew, the Anglo-Saxons overran most of England and formed kingdoms, including Wessex, Northumbria, and Mercia; Wales was the stronghold of Celts.
829: King Egbert of Wessex accepted as overlord of all England.
843: Kenneth McAlpin unified Scots and Picts to become first king of Scotland.
9th-11th centuries: Vikings raided British Isles, conquering north and east England and northern Scotland.
1066: Normans led by William I defeated Anglo-Saxons at Battle of Hastings and conquered England.
1215: King John forced to sign Magna Carta, which placed limits on royal powers.
1265: Simon de Montfort summoned the first English parliament in which the towns were represented.
1284: Edward I of England invaded Scotland; Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.
1314: Robert the Bruce led Scots to victory over English at the Battle of Bannockburn; England recognized Scottish independence in 1328.
1455-85: Wars of the Roses: House of York and House of Lancaster disputed English throne.
1513: Battle of Flodden: Scots defeated by English; James IV of Scotland killed.
1529: Henry VIII founded the Church of England after break-up with Rome; Reformation effective in England and Wales, but not in Ireland.
1536-43: Acts of Union united Wales with England, with one law, one parliament, and one official language.
1541: Irish parliament recognized Henry VIII of England as king of Ireland.
1603: Union of crowns: James VI of Scotland became James I of England as well.
1607: First successful English colony in Virginia marked the beginning of three centuries of overseas expansion.
1610: James I established plantation of Ulster in Northern Ireland with Protestant settlers from England and Scotland.
1642-52: English Civil War between king and parliament, with Scottish intervention and Irish rebellion, resulted in victory for parliament.
1649: Execution of Charles I; Oliver Cromwell appointed Lord Protector in 1653; monarchy restored in 1660.
1689: ‘Glorious Revolution’ confirmed power of parliament; replacement of James II by William III resisted by Scottish Highlanders and Catholic Irish.
1707: Act of Union between England and Scotland created United Kingdom of Great Britain, governed by a single parliament.
1721-42: Cabinet government developed under Robert Walpole, in effect the first prime minister.
1760-1850: Industrial Revolution: Britain became the first industrial nation in the world.
1775-83: American Revolution: Britain lost 13 American colonies; empire continued to expand in Canada, India, and Australia.
1793-1815: Britain at war with revolutionary France, except for 1802-03.
1800: Act of Union created United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, governed by a single parliament.
1846: Repeal of Corn Laws reflected shift of power from landowners to industrialists.
1870: Home Rule Party formed to campaign for restoration of separate Irish parliament.
1880-90s: Rapid expansion of British Empire in Africa.
1906-14: Liberal governments introduced social reforms and curbed power of House of Lords.
1914-18: United Kingdom played leading part in World War I; the British Empire expanded in Middle East.
1919-21: Anglo-Irish war ended with secession of southern Ireland as Irish Free State; Ulster remained within United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with some powers devolved to Northern Irish parliament.
1926: General Strike arose from coal dispute. Equality of status recognized between United Kingdom and Dominions of British Commonwealth.
1939-45: United Kingdom played a leading part in World War II.
1945-51: Labour government of Clement Attlee created welfare state and nationalized major industries.
1947-71: Decolonization brought about the end of the British Empire.
1969: Start of Troubles in Northern Ireland; Northern Irish Parliament suspended in 1972.
1973: UK joined European Economic Community.
1979-90: Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher pursued radical free-market economic policies.
1982: Falklands War.
1991: British troops took part in US-led war against Iraq under the United Nations umbrella.
1993: Peace proposal for Northern Ireland, the Downing Street Declaration, issued jointly with Irish government.
1994: IRA and Protestant paramilitary declared cease-fire in Northern Ireland.
1996: IRA renewed bombing campaign in London.
1997: Labour Party won in general election; Tony Blair became prime minister. Scotland and Wales voted in favour of devolution.
1998: Historic multiparty agreement (Good Friday Agreement) was reached on the future of Northern Ireland; peace plan approved by referenda in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. UUP leader, David Trimble, elected first minister.
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