Лекция: Physical Geography

The British Isles is the geographical term for a group of about 5,000 islands off the north-west coast of mainland Europe between the latitudes 50o N and 61o N. The largest island is Britain or Great Britain, which is also the largest island in Europe. It consists of England, Wales and Scotland. The next largest island is Ireland, which is made up of Northern Ireland (or Ulster) and the Irish Republic (also known as Eire). Britain and Northern Ireland, together with a number of small islands, form the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland. In everyday usage, however, Great Britain or Britain is used to mean the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man, between Ireland and Britain, and the Channel Islands, off the north-west coast of France, though recognising the Crown, have their own parliaments and are largely self-governing.

Great Britain is just under 1,000 km long and just under 500 km across in its widest part. The most mountainous region is Scotland (with Britain’s highest peak, Ben Nevis – 1,343 m), which also has a wide lowland area between the Grampians and the Southern Uplands, where most of the large towns, including Edinburgh and Glasgow, and three-quarters of the population are located. Much of Wales is also mountainous and in England the Pennine Range (the “backbone of England”) extends 224 km (although the highest peak is only 895 m high). The rest of England tends to be rather undulating, and not even the large agricultural plains of East Anglia are perfectly flat. In Ireland all the highland areas are around the edge, but there are no peaks over 1,100 m.

Rivers in Great Britain are quite short – the longest rivers are the Severn and the Thames – but their easy navigability has made them an important part of the inland transport network for the transportation of bulk products such as coal, iron ore and steel.