Реферат: The down of British History
The English Channel and the North Sea separate the British Isles from Europe. In the west they are washed by the Atlantic Ocean, in the east-by the North Sea. The two main islands - Great Britain and Ireland - are separated by the Irish Sea.
Off the north-western coast of Great Britain there is a group of Islands known as the Hebrides ([hebridiz] - Гебридские острова). They are divided into the Inner and Outer
Hebrides, the groups of Islands, separated from each other by the sea of Hebrides and the Little Minch.
Separated from the mainland by the stormy mile wide land there are the Orkneys Islands, comprising about a hundred Islands, though only a third are inhabited, by about 19.500 people. Most of the people are engaged in dairy and poultry farming, bacon, cheese and eggs are exported to central Scotland.
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Situated about 70 miles north of Orkneys there are the Shetland Islands which provide thin, infertile soils suitable only for rough pasture. The total population is about 18.000.The Shetland farmers during the summer months are actively engaged in herring-fishing.
In the middle of the Irish Sea there is the Isle of Man (571 sq. km).The Island is administered by its own Parliament and has a population of about 50.000.Chiefly engaged is farming, fishing and Tourist trade.
Another important Island in the Irish Sea is Anglesey contains only 52.000 people and more of working population are now engaged in industry than in fishing and agriculture.
The Isle of Wight is in the English Channel. It is diamond-shaped 40 km from west to east, and about half as much from west to south. The Isle of Wight lies across the southern end of Southampton. With its sunny beaches and pleasant varied Countryside, the Island forms the South Coast's most important tourist resorts.
Of the extreme south-western coast of Great Britain there is a tiny group the Isles of Scilly.
The Channel Islands lie to the south-west on the French side of the English Channel. They are known to the French as the Isles Normandy’s, and their position can indeed be best seen from a map of North-West France than Southern England.
2. Physical structure and relief
Britain has different physical characteristics and despite its small area, contains rocks of nearly all the main geological periods. There is a contrast between the highlands of western and northern Britain and the lowland areas of the south and east.
You will not find very high mountains or large plains here. Everything occupies little place. (Nature, it seems, has carefully adapted things-mountains, valleys, plains, rivers and lakes-to the size of the island itself.)
The highest mountain in the British Isles is Ben Nevis in Scotland, 1.347 meters high. The longest river is the Severn in England, 390 km long. The largest lake in Great Britain is Loch Lomond in Scotland, covering a surface area of 70 sq. kilometers.
England . Though England cannot be considered as a very hilly country still it far from being flat everywhere. The most important range of mountains is the Pennine range. Some rivers flowing from the central Pennines have cut long open valleys, (known as dales which attract tourist because of their picturesque scenery.) Rainfall in the Pennines is heavy and their flowing streams provide power for woolen mills. Today the area is used for water storage; reservoirs in the uplands supply water to the industrial towns on each side of the Pennines.
Across the north end of the Pennine Range there are the grassy Cheviot Hills. They serve as a natural borderland between England and Scotland.
The valleys, which separate the various mountains from each other, contain some beautiful lakes. This is so-called Lake District. They are Windermere, Crasmere, Coniston Water, Ennerdale water, Ullswater, Hawswater. This is the celebrated Lake District, where many tourists resort every year and where the famous poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, Quincy lived and wrote.
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In north-west England, separated from the Pennine by the valley of the river Eden lie the Cumbrian Mountains. These mountains form a ring round the peak of Helvellyn (950).Other peaks Scafell (978 m) and Skiddaw (931 m)
Thirlmere and News Water are in use as reservoirs for the Manchester area and permission has been granted for Manchester to take water from Ullswater and Windermere.
The region is scarcely populated and sheep rearing is the main occupation of the farmers. A typical farmhouse is built of stone, quarried locally, and roofed with slate, also obtained in the region. Around it are a number of small fields, separated from one another by dry stone walls.
The south-west region is essentially agricultural area. The areas of best soil occur around the southern borders of Dart moor, in northern Devon and Vale of Taunton. On the lower land between the moors, both in Cornwall and Devon are fertile river valleys.
The south-west Peninsula presents numerous attractions for the holiday-makes and the artists, and tourism is of the most important activities of the region.
Wales . Wales is the largest of the peninsula on the western side of Britain. It consists of a complex of worn down mountain ranges representing high. They are called Cambrian Mountains. The highest and most glaciated area occurs in the north, especially around Snowdon (1.085 m) and often the mountains approach close to the sea.
The Cambrians largely comprise the upland areas, generally and collectively described as the Welsh Massif. In the south the massif includes an important coalfield, on which an industrial area has grown. It is the most densely populated of 208 m/n inhabiting about one-eight of the area.
Two relief divisions may be distinguished in South-Wales;
1. A coastal plain which in the south-eastern part around Cardiff becomes up
to 16 km wide, and
2. The upland areas of the coal-field proper, which rise between 245 and 380
meters.
Much of the land of Wales consists of bare rock, it produce not good enough crops. There are barren moorland and rough pasture, with only a few' people to the square kilometers. But this region constitutes the heartland of Wales, for centered upon the massif in the Welsh culture where the traditions and language of a Celtic people are best preserved in the upland areas.
Scotland . Scotland may be divided into three major physical regions; the Highlands, the Southern Uplands and the Central Lowlands.