Great Britain is an island An island or isle (/ˈaɪl/) is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets. A key or cay is another name for a small island or islet. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot, /ˈaɪ.ət/. A grouping of geographically or geologically related[5] situated to the northwest of Continental Europe Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands. Notably, in British English usage, the term means Europe excluding the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Ireland and Iceland. It is the ninth largest island in the world This is a list of islands in the world ordered by area. It includes all islands with an area greater than 2,500 km2 , and several other islands over 500 km2 (193 sq mi). For comparison, continental landmasses are also shown, and the largest European Europe is one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and island. With a population of about 61.8 million people in mid-2009,[3] it is the third most populated island on Earth This is a list of islands in the world ordered by population. It includes all islands with population greater than 100,000. For comparison, continental landmasses are also shown. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000[6] smaller islands An island or isle (/ˈaɪl/) is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets. A key or cay is another name for a small island or islet. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot, /ˈaɪ.ət/. A grouping of geographically or geologically related and islets As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability. The island of Ireland Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɾlənd],; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann) is the third largest island in Europe and the twentieth largest island in the world. It lies to the northwest of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland is Great Britain, separated from lies to its west. Politically, Great Britain may also refer to the island itself together with a number of surrounding islands which comprise the territory of England The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant, Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland and Wales Wales ( /ˈweɪlz/ Welsh: Cymru; pronounced [ˈkəmrɨ] (help·info)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. Wales has a population estimated at three million and is officially bilingual; Welsh and English have equal status, and bilingual signs are the.

All of the island is territory In international politics, a territory is a non-sovereign geographic area which has come under the authority of another government; which has not been granted the powers of self-government normally devolved to secondary territorial divisions; or both of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land, and most of the United Kingdom's territory is in Great Britain. The term "Great Britain" (and the abbreviation 'GB') is the traditional 'short form' of the full country title 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land', although usage of 'the UK' has increased more recently. Most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island of Great Britain, as are their respective capital cities: London London is a leading global city being the world's largest financial centre alongside New York City, and has the largest city GDP in Europe. Central London is home to the headquarters of most of the UK's top 100 listed companies and more than 100 of Europe's 500 largest. London's influence in politics, finance, education, entertainment, media,, Edinburgh Edinburgh (pronounced /ˈɛdɪnbɹə/ ( listen), ED-in-brə or ED-in-bə-rə) (Scots: Edinburgh/Embra/Emburrie) (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland after Glasgow and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government, and Cardiff Cardiff (pronounced /ˈkɑːdɪf/ , Welsh: Caerdydd (info)) is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. According to recent estimates, the.

The Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801. It was created by the merger of the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, under the Acts of Union 1707, to create a single kingdom encompassing the whole of the island of Great resulted from the political union of the kingdoms of England The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales. It had a land border with the Kingdom of and Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was a state in North-West Europe which existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England, with which it was united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, under the terms of the Acts of Union, in 1707. Since 1482, with the Acts of Union 1707 The Acts of Union were a pair of Parliamentary Acts passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England to put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706, following negotiation between commissioners representing the parliaments of the two countries. The Acts joined the Kingdom of on 1 May 1707 under Queen Anne Anne became Queen regnant of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702, succeeding her brother-in-law and cousin, William III of England and II of Scotland. Her Catholic father, James II and VII, was deemed by the English Parliament to have abdicated when he was forced to retreat to France during the Glorious Revolution of 1688/9; her brother-.

In 1801, under a new Act of Union The twin Acts united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The union came into effect on 1 January 1801, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland was the name given to the Irish state from 1542, by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542 of the Parliament of Ireland. It was based on the contested legitimacy of the right of conquest. The new monarch replaced the Lordship of Ireland, which had been created in 1171. King Henry VIII thus became the first recognised King of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927. It was formed by the merger of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland, with Ireland being governed directly from Westminster through its Dublin Castle administration. After the Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed to a truce in July 1921, though violence continued in the northeast (mostly between, most of Ireland seceded from the Union. Currently the kingdom is named the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land.

Contents

Political definition

Main articles: Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801. It was created by the merger of the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, under the Acts of Union 1707, to create a single kingdom encompassing the whole of the island of Great and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land

Great Britain is the largest island of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land. Politically, Great Britain also refers to England, Scotland and Wales in combination,[7] and therefore also includes a number of outlying islands such as the Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, 3–5 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent. The island is known for its outstanding natural beauty, its world-famous sailing based at the town of Cowes, and its resorts, which, Anglesey The Isle of Anglesey is an island and county off the northwest coast of Wales, with a predominantly Welsh-speaking population. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges spanning the Menai Strait: the original Menai Suspension Bridge (carrying the A5), designed by Thomas Telford in 1826; and the more recently constructed Britannia Bridge (, the Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. Traditionally administered as part of the county of Cornwall, the islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890. This council is currently known as the Council of the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English speaking, and the island groups of Orkney Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands (and sometimes incorrectly as "The Orkneys"[Notes 1]), is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated 16 kilometres (10 mi) north of the coast of Caithness. Orkney comprises approximately 70 islands of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, known as the "Mainland" has an area of 523 and Shetland Coordinates: 60°18′14″N 1°16′08″W / 60.3038°N 1.2689°W Shetland is an archipelago in Scotland, off the northeast coast. The islands lie to the northeast of Orkney, 280 km (170 mi) from the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total area is. It does not include the Isle of Man The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann (Manx: Mannin, [ˈmanɪn]), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The island is and the Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey, neither of which is part of the United Kingdom; rather they are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy. They have a which are not part of the United Kingdom, instead being self-governing dependent territories of that state with their own legislative and taxation systems.[7][8]

The union of the kingdoms of England The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales. It had a land border with the Kingdom of and Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was a state in North-West Europe which existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England, with which it was united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, under the terms of the Acts of Union, in 1707. Since 1482, began with the 1603 Union of Crowns, a personal union under James VI of Scotland James VI & I was King of Scots as James VI from 1567 to 1625, and King of England and Ireland as James I from 1603 to 1625, I of England James VI & I was King of Scots as James VI from 1567 to 1625, and King of England and Ireland as James I from 1603 to 1625. The political union that joined the two countries happened in 1707, with the Acts of Union The Acts of Union were a pair of Parliamentary Acts passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England to put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706, following negotiation between commissioners representing the parliaments of the two countries. The Acts joined the Kingdom of merging the parliaments of each nation, and forming the Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801. It was created by the merger of the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, under the Acts of Union 1707, to create a single kingdom encompassing the whole of the island of Great, which covered the entire island.

Geographical definition

Further information: Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, in addition to a number of small islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. England is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of mainland Britain, divided from France only by a 24-, Geography of Scotland The geography of Scotland is highly varied, from rural lowlands to barren uplands, and from large cities to uninhabited islands. Located in north-west Europe, Scotland comprises the northern one third of the island of Great Britain. Aside from the mainland, Scotland is surrounded by 790 islands encompassing the major archipelagoes of the Shetland, and Geography of Wales Wales comprises a peninsula in central-west Great Britain together with offshore islands of which the largest is Anglesey. It is a country of the United Kingdom. It borders England to the east, and is surrounded by sea on the other three sides: the Bristol Channel to the south, St George's Channel to the west, and the Irish Sea to the north. It is

Great Britain lies to the northwest of Continental Europe Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands. Notably, in British English usage, the term means Europe excluding the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Ireland and Iceland and east of Ireland. It is separated from the continent by the North Sea The North Sea is a marginal, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean. It is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, with an area of around 750,000 square kilometres (290,000 sq mi). A large part and by the English Channel The English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 560 km (350 mi) long and varies in width from 240 km (150 mi) at its widest, to only 34 km (21 mi) in the Strait of Dover. It is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of, which narrows to 34 kilometres (21 miles) at the Straits of Dover.[9] It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north-south axis, and occupies an area of 209,331 km² (80,823 square miles).[10] The island is physically connected with continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel, the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world which was completed in 1993. Geographically, the island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets.

It is the third most populous island after Java and Honshū.[11]

The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by the breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline, a ridge which held back a large proglacial lake, now submerged under the North Sea.[12] Around 10,000 years ago, during the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level, Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of northwestern Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about 120 metres (390 ft) lower than today, and the bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge to Europe, now known as Doggerland. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland became submerged beneath the North Sea, cutting off what was previously the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC.[13] An alternative hypothesis is that much of the land was inundated about the same time by a tsunami, caused by a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway known as the Storegga Slide.[14]

History

Main articles: History of England, History of Scotland, History of Wales, and History of the United Kingdom See also: Prehistoric Britain, Roman Britain, Medieval Britain, and Early Modern Britain

The island was first inhabited by people who crossed over the land bridge from the European mainland. Traces of early humans have been found (at Boxgrove Quarry, Sussex) from some 500,000 years ago[15] and modern humans from about 30,000 years ago. Until about 10,000 years ago, Great Britain was joined to Ireland, and as recently as 8,000 years ago it was joined to the continent by a strip of low marsh to what is now Denmark and the Netherlands. In Cheddar Gorge near Bristol, the remains of animal species native to mainland Europe such as antelopes, brown bears, and wild horses have been found alongside a human skeleton, 'Cheddar Man', dated to about 7150 BC. Thus, animals and humans must have moved between mainland Europe and Great Britain via a crossing.[16] Great Britain became an island at the end of the Pleistocene ice age when sea levels rose due to isostatic depression of the crust and the melting of glaciers.

According to John T. Koch and others, Britain in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal where Celtic languages developed.[17][18][19][20][21][22]

Its Iron Age inhabitants are known as the Britons, a group speaking a Celtic language. The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall, in northern England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia. For 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons). At about the same time Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to, after the Angles, as the English people.

Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh. This term eventually came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace, and in the second syllable of Cornwall. Cymry, a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria. The Britons living in the areas now known as Wales and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into modern times. At the time of the Germanic invasion of Southern Britain, many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany, where Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from the language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England. In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans, who introduced a French ruling élite that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century.

On 20 October 1604 King James (who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland) proclaimed himself as "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland", a title that continued to be used by many of his successors.[23] However, England and Scotland each remained legally in existence as separate countries with their own parliaments until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify the Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year. This had the effect of creating a united kingdom, with a single, united parliament, from 1 May 1707. Though the Treaty of Union referred to the new all-island state, as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain", many regard the term 'United Kingdom' as being descriptive of the union rather than part of its formal name (which the Treaty stated was to be 'Great Britain' without further qualification.) Most reference books, therefore, describe the all-island kingdom that existed between 1707 and 1800 as the "Kingdom of Great Britain".

Terminology

Toponymy

Main article: Britain (name)

The oldest mentions of terms related to the formal name of Britain was made by Aristotle (c. 384–322 BC), in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, "... in the ocean however, are two islands, and those very large, called Bretannic, Albion and Ierna". The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2,000 years: the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. Pliny the Elder (c. 23–79 AD) in his Natural History (iv.xvi.102) records of Great Britain: "It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae."

The earliest known name of Great Britain is Albion (Ἀλβίων) or insula Albionum, from either the Latin albus meaning white (referring to the white cliffs of Dover, the first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island of the Albiones", first mentioned in the Massaliote Periplus and by Pytheas.[24]

The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Brittania or Brittānia, the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne) and Middle English Bretayne, авBreteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond, Breten-lond). Brittania was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of the ancient Greek Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far North as Thule (probably Iceland).

The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοι, Priteni or Pretani.[24] Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic speaking inhabitants of Ireland.[25] The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans.

Derivation of "Great"

After the Old English period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany. The term "Great Britain" was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee." It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I, in a deliberate attempt to impose a term which would unite his double inheritance of the kingdoms of Scotland and England, proclaimed his assumption of the throne in the style "King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland ..."[26]

Use of the term Great Britain

"Great Britain" refers to the majority of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (UK). It refers to the largest island only, or to England, Scotland and Wales as a unit (though these three countries also include many smaller islands). It does not include Northern Ireland.[27]

In 1975 the government affirmed that the term Britain, not Great Britain, could be used as a shortened form of the United Kingdom.[28] British refers, however, to all citizens of the United Kingdom — including Welsh, Scottish, English, and Northern Irish.[29]

The abbreviations GB and GBR are used in some international codes as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Examples include: Universal Postal Union, international sports teams, NATO, the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3, and international licence plate codes, among others.

On the Internet, .uk is used as a country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. A .gb top-level domain was also used to a limited extent in the past, but this is now effectively obsolete because the domain name registrar will not take new registrations.

Biodiversity

Fauna

Main article: Fauna of Great Britain The Robin is popularly known as "Britain's favourite bird".[30]

Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last Ice Age and the island's physical separation from continental Europe, and the effects of seasonal variability.[31] Great Britain has also gone through industrialisation and increasing urbanisation, which have contributed towards the overall loss of species.[32] A DEFRA study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate.[33] However, some species, such as the brown rat, red fox, and introduced grey squirrel, are well adapted to urban areas.

Rodents make up 40% of the total number of mammal species in Great Britain. These include squirrels, mice, voles, rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver.[32] There is also an abundance of rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, shrews, moles and several species of bat.[32] Carnivorous mammals include the fox, badger, otter, weasel, stoat and elusive wildcat.[34] Various species of seal, whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer. The red deer is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans.[34][35] Habitat loss has affected many species. Extinct large mammals include the brown bear, grey wolf and wild boar; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times.[32]

There is a wealth of birdlife in Britain, 583 species in total,[36] of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter.[37] Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly ducks, geese and swans.[38] Other well known bird species include the golden eagle, grey heron, kingfisher, pigeon, sparrow, pheasant, partridge, and various species of crow, finch, gull, auk, grouse, owl and falcon.[39] There are six species of reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slow worm. One snake, the adder, is venomous but rarely deadly.[40] Amphibians present are frogs, toads and newts.[32]

Flora

Main article: Flora of Great Britain Heather growing wild in the Highlands at Dornoch.

In a similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora of Great Britain is impoverished compared to that of continental Europe.[41] Great Britain's flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced into the island.[42] The island has a wide variety of trees, including native species of birch, beech, ash, hawthorn, elm, oak, yew, pine, cherry and apple.[43] Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut, maple, spruce, sycamore and fir, as well as cherry plum and pear trees.[43] The tallest species are the Douglas firs; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 meters or 212 feet.[44] The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe.[45]

There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower in Britain,[46] Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission.[46][47] A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties.[48] These include red poppies, bluebells, daisies, daffodils, rosemary, gorse, iris, ivy, mint, orchids, brambles, thistles, buttercups, primrose, thyme, tulips, violets, cowslip, heather and many more.[49][50][51][52] There are also many species of algae, lichens, fungi and mosses across the island.[53]

Religion

Main articles: Religion in England, Religion in Scotland, and Religion in Wales Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Anglican Church – the island's largest denomination

Christianity is the largest religion on the island and has been since the Early Middle Ages, though its existence on the island dates back to the Roman introduction in antiquity and continued through Early Insular Christianity. The largest form practiced in present day Britain is Anglicanism (also known as Episcopalism in Scotland), dating from the 16th century Reformation period, the religion regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed. Head of the Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom as the Supreme Governor. It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today.[54] The second largest Christian practice in Britain is the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church which traces its formal, corporate history in Great Britain to the 6th century with Augustine's mission and was the main religion on the island for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents in Britain today; 4.5 million in England and Wales[55] and 750,000 in Scotland.[56]

Saint Alban – the first Christian saint from Britain

The Church of Scotland, a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity is the third most numerous on the island with around 2.1 million members.[57] Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox, it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented prominently by a Lord High Commissioner. Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley.[58] It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, also amongst tin miners in Cornwall.[59] The Calvinistic Methodism form is the largest denomination in Wales.[60] There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists, Unitarians and more.[61] The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban.[62] He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and was sacrificed to the pagan gods.[63] In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of Saint Aidan as another patron saint of Britain.[64] Originally from Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria.[64]

Three constituent countries of the United Kingdom located on the island have patron saints; Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively.[65] These two saintly flags combined form the basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604.[65] Saint David is the patron saint of Wales.[66] There are many other British saints, some of the best known include; Cuthbert, Columba, Patrick, Margaret, Edward the Confessor, Mungo, Thomas More, Petroc, Bede and Thomas Becket.[66]

Baitul Futuh – the largest mosque in Western Europe[67]

Several non-Christian religions are practised in Great Britain. Judaism has a history of a small minority on the island since 1070.[68] The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 until being allowed to return in 1656.[68] Their history in Scotland is quite obscure until later migrations from Lithuania.[69] Especially since the 1950s Eastern religions from the former colonies have began to appear; Islam is the most common of these with around 1.5 million adherents in Britain.[70] Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are next in number, introduced from India and South East Asia.[70] Prior to the rise of Christianity Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Norse polytheistic religions were practised.

Settlements

See also: List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population

Capital cities

Capitals of countries of the United Kingdom in Great Britain:

Other major cities

Cities with a population of over 300,000 in Great Britain (not including the capital cities listed above): Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester, Leicester, Coventry and Kingston upon Hull.

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Dictionary of the Scots Language". DSL.ac.uk. http://www.dsl.ac.uk. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  2. ^ "World Guide - Largest islands". Intute. http://www.intute.ac.uk/worldguide/guide_largestislands.html. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  3. ^ a b "Population Estimates". National Statistics Online. Newport, Wales: Office for National Statistics. 27 August 2009. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=6. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  4. ^ "-images-eicexpertsreportfull_tcm77-19490.pdf - Adobe Reader" (PDF). National Statistics: 2011 Census: Ethnic group, national identity, religion and language consultation. Office for National Statistics. 2007. p. 19. http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/consultations/eth-group-nat-iden/sum-rep-exp-com-grp.pdf. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  5. ^ Islands by land area, United Nations Environment Programme
  6. ^ says 803 islands which have a distinguishable coastline on an Ordnance Survey map, and several thousand more exist which are too small to be shown as anything but a dot.
  7. ^ a b "Key facts about the United Kingdom". Direct.gov.uk. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/LivingintheUK/DG_10012517. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  8. ^ Ademuni-Odeke (1998). Bareboat Charter (ship) Registration. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 367. ISBN 9041105131. http://books.google.com/?id=rvIWmznNEGYC&pg=PA367&dq=great+britan+political+definiton+isle+of+man.
  9. ^ accessed 14 November 2009
  10. ^ United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) ISLAND DIRECTORY TABLES "ISLANDS BY LAND AREA". Retrieved from http://islands.unep.ch/Tiarea.htm on 13 August 2009
  11. ^ See Geohive.com Country data; Japan Census of 2000; United Kingdom Census of 2001. The editors of List of islands by population appear to have used similar data from the relevant statistics bureaux, and totalled up the various administrative districts that comprise each island, and then done the same for less populous islands. An editor of this article has not repeated that work. Therefore this plausible and eminently reasonable ranking is posted as unsourced common knowledge.
  12. ^ Gupta, Sanjeev; Jenny S. Collier, Andy Palmer-Felgate & Graeme Potter (2007). "Catastrophic flooding origin of shelf valley systems in the English Channel". Nature 448 (7151): 342–345. doi:10.1038/nature06018. PMID 17637667. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7151/full/nature06018.html. Retrieved 18 July 2007. Lay summary – msnbc.com (18 July 2007).
  13. ^ Vincent Gaffney, "Global Warming and the Lost European Country"
  14. ^ Bernhard Weninger et al., The catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga Slide tsunami, Documenta Praehistorica XXXV, 2008
  15. ^ Gräslund, Bo (2005). "Traces of the early humans". Early humans and their world. London: Routledge. p. 62. ISBN 9780415353441.
  16. ^ Lacey, Robert. Great Tales from English History. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004. ISBN 0-316-10910-X.
  17. ^ http://www.aber.ac.uk/aberonline/en/archive/2008/05/au7608/
  18. ^ "O'Donnell Lecture 2008 Appendix". http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/ODonnell.pdf.
  19. ^ Koch, John (2009). Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 (2009). Palaeohispanica. pp. 339–351. http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/54/26koch.pdf. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
  20. ^ Koch, John. "New research suggests Welsh Celtic roots lie in Spain and Portugal". http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413465. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  21. ^ Cunliffe, Karl, Guerra, McEvoy, Bradley; Oppenheimer, Rrvik, Isaac, Parsons, Koch, Freeman and Wodtko (2010). Celtic from the West: Alternative Perspectives from Archaeology, Genetics, Language and Literature. Oxbow Books and Celtic Studies Publications. pp. 384. ISBN 978-1-84217-410-4. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88298//Location/DBBC.
  22. ^ "Rethinking the Bronze Age and the Arrival of Indo-European in Atlantic Europe". University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies and Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford. http://www.oxbowbooks.com/pdfs/books/Celtic%20West%20conf.pdf. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  23. ^ Proclamation styling James I King of Great Britain on 20 October 1604
  24. ^ a b Snyder, Christopher A. (2003). The Britons. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-22260-X.
  25. ^ Foster (editor), R F; Donnchadh O Corrain, Professor of Irish History at University College Cork: (Chapter 1: Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland) (1 November 2001). The Oxford History of Ireland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280202-X.
  26. ^ Denys Hay, The use of the term "Great Britain" in the Middle Ages, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1955-56, pp.55-66
  27. ^ Britain 2001:The Official Handbook of the United Kingdom, 2001, ONS/Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London, ISBN 0
  28. ^ Britain 2001: The Official Handbook of the United Kingdom, 2001, ONS/Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London, ISBN 011 621278 0
  29. ^ Britain 2001: The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom, 2001, Office of National Statistics/Her Majesty's Stationary Office ISN 011 621278 0
  30. ^ "The Robin - Britain's Favourite Bird". BritishBirdLovers.co.uk. http://www.britishbirdlovers.co.uk/articles/the-robin-britains-favourite-bird.html. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  31. ^ "Decaying Wood: An Overview of Its Status and Ecology in the United Kingdom and Europe". FS.fed.us. http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/gtr-181/004_Butler.pdf. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  32. ^ a b c d e "A Short History of the British Mammal Fauna". ABDN.ac.uk. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/history.shtml. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  33. ^ DEFRA, 2006
  34. ^ a b Else, Great Britain, 85.
  35. ^ The Fallow Deer Project, University of Nottingham
  36. ^ "British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee". Interscience.wiley.com. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121577421/HTMLSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0. Retrieved on 16 February 2009.
  37. ^ "Birds of Britain". BTO.org. http://www.bto.org/birdfacts/. Retrieved on 16 February 2009.
  38. ^ "Duck, Geese and Swan Family". NatureGrid.org.uk. http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/birds/ducks.htm. Retrieved on 16 February 2009.
  39. ^ "Birds". NatureGrid.org.uk. http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/birdindex.html. Retrieved on 16 February 2009.
  40. ^ "The Adder's Byte". CountySideInfo.co.uk. http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/the1.htm. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  41. ^ "Plants of the Pacific Northwest in Western Europe". Botanical Electric News. http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben195.html. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  42. ^ Frodin, Guide to Standard Floras of the World, 599.
  43. ^ a b "Checklist of British Plants". Natural History Museum. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/plants-fungi/postcode-plants/checklist-british-plants.html. Retrieved on 2 March 2009.
  44. ^ "Facts About Britain's Trees". WildAboutBritain.co.uk. http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/facts_about_britains_trees. Retrieved on 2 March 2009.
  45. ^ "The Fortingall Yew". PerthshireBigTreeCountry.co.uk. http://www.perthshirebigtreecountry.co.uk/index.asp?pg=26. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  46. ^ a b "Facts and Figures about Wildflowers". WildAboutFlowers.co.uk. http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/facts_and_figures_about_wildflowers. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  47. ^ "Endangered British Wild Flowers". CountryLovers.co.uk. http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/hort/edgrflwr.htm. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  48. ^ "County Flowers of Great Britain". WildAboutFlowers.co.uk. http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/county_flowers_great_britain. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  49. ^ "People and Plants: Mapping the UK's wild flora". PlantLife.org.uk. http://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/assets/saving-species/saving-species-publications/People-and-plants-mapping-the-UKs-flora.pdf. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  50. ^ "British Wildflower Images". Map-Reading.co.uk. http://www.map-reading.co.uk/wildflowers/. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  51. ^ "List of British Wildlfowers by Common Name". WildAboutBritain.co.uk. http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/wildflower/common-names. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  52. ^ "British Plants and algae". Arkive.org. http://www.arkive.org/british-species/plants-and-algae/. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  53. ^ "Lichen". YorkshireDales.org.uk. http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/index/learning_about/nature_in_the_dales/species/fungi_and_lichen/lichen.htm. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.
  54. ^ "Global Anglicanism at a Crossroads". PewResearch.org. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/896/global-anglicanism-at-a-crossroads. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  55. ^ "People here 'must obey the laws of the land'". London: Telegraph. 9 February 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578212/People-here-must-obey-the-laws-of-the-land.html. Retrieved 4 May 2010. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  56. ^ "Cardinal not much altered by his new job". Living Scotsman. http://living.scotsman.com/features/Cardinal-not-much-altered-by.2573781.jp. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  57. ^ "Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census - Current Religion in Scotland". Scotland.gov.uk. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/02/20757/53570. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  58. ^ "The Methodist Church". BBC.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  59. ^ "Methodism in Britain". GoffsOakMethodistChurch.co.uk. http://www.goffsoakmethodistchurch.co.uk/page4.html. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  60. ^ "Religion in Wales". Sacred Destinations. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/wales/wales-religion.htm. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  61. ^ "Cambridge History of Christianity". Hugh McLeod. http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521815000&ss=exc. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  62. ^ Dawkins, The Shakespeare Enigma, 343.
  63. ^ Butler, Butler's Lives of the Saints, 141.
  64. ^ a b "Cry God for Harry, Britain and... St Aidan". The Independent. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20080423/ai_n25349801/pg_1?tag=content;col1. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  65. ^ a b "United Kingdom - History of the Flag". FlagSpot.net. http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-hist.html. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  66. ^ a b "Saints". Brits at their Best. http://www.britsattheirbest.com/heroes_adventurers/h_saints.htm. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  67. ^ "Western Europe's largest mosque opens in Morden". The Guardian (London: guardian.co.uk). 2 October 2003. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/oct/02/religion.world. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
  68. ^ a b "From Expulsion (1290) to Readmission (1656): Jews and England". Goldsmiths.ac.uk. http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/history/350th-anniversary.pdf. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  69. ^ "Jews in Scotland". British-Jewry.org.uk. http://www.british-jewry.org.uk/britishjewry/geography/scotland.htm. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.
  70. ^ a b "Religion: Key Statistics for urban areas, results by population size of urban area". Statistics.gov.uk. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8288. Retrieved on 1 February 2009.

Bibliography

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How did the United States settle its conflict with Great Britain over Canada?
Q. How did the United States settle its conflict with Great Britain over Canada, and why was resolving the conflict important to both nations? ( after war of 1812)
Asked by kevkev - Tue Mar 11 16:19:06 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. A treaty was negotiated, setting the boundary (with minor exceptions) at 49 degrees north latitude. The agreement was satisfactory to all concerned, and continues to this day.
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