1: Introduction to Country Study – Great Britain

5. Language.
English is the official language of the United Kingdom and is spoken throughout most of the country. English developed chiefly from the language of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invaders.
English is not the only language. Scottish, Welsh and Irish are also used. Less than a fifth of the people of Wales speak both English and Welsh, a language that developed from one of the languages of the Celts. A few people of Wales speak only Welsh. Thousands of people in Scotland speak the Scottish form of Gaelic, which is another Celtic language. The Irish form of Gaelic is spoken by a small number of people in Northern Ireland. The national currency is pound.
6. Rivers and lakes
Britain has much rainfall, rivers and lakes. Rivers in central and eastern Britain tend to flow slowly and steadily all year long because they are feed the frequent rain. Many have been navigable, and from the earliest times they have served peoples interested in either commerce or invasion. The Highlands act as a divide and determine whether rivers flow west to the Irish Sea or east to the North Sea. Rivers and streams moving westward down from the Highlands tend to be swift and turbulent; rivers flowing eastward tend to be long, graceful, and gentle, with slowly moving waters.
The rivers are of great importance for communication and especially for carrying goods. England is mostly a lowland country. There are upland regions in the north and the southwest, but the rest of England is almost flat. Northern England, Midlands and Southern England—each part of England is different. The Lake District in Northern England with its lakes, mountains and valleys is a favorite holiday area. On either side of the Pennies the plains of Yorkshire and Lancashire stretch to the sea. In Yorkshire swift rivers flow down from the hills into valleys called “dales”.
The Thames and the Severn are the longest rivers in Britain. The Thames, 338 km (210 mi) long, flows eastward out of the Cotswold Hills and weaves through the metropolis of London. The Thames provides water to the city of London and is used to carry commercial freight. The Severn flows south out of the mountains of central Wales to the Bristol Channel at Bristol. It is 290 km (180 mi) long. Other important rivers in England are the Mersey, which enters the Irish Sea at Liverpool; the River Humber on the east coast, into which the Trent River and several other rivers flow; and the Tyne River in northern England, which flows past Newcastle upon Tyne to the North Sea.
In Scotland the important rivers are the Clyde and the Forth, which are joined by a canal. The River Clyde flows northwest, past Glasgow, and empties into the Atlantic at the Firth of Clyde. (Firth is the Scottish name for an arm of the sea that serves as the broad estuary of a river.) The River Forth flows eastward into the Firth of Forth, where Edinburgh rises on its south bank. The most important rivers in Northern Ireland are the Lagan, the Bann, and the Foyle.
Many British rivers have drowned, or sunken, mouths called estuaries, up which the ocean tides flow. These rivers in­clude the Clyde and Forth of Scotland; the Humber, Mersey, and Thames of England; and the Severn of Eng­land and Wales. The estuaries of these rivers make ex­cellent harbors. Bristol, Hull, Liverpool, London, South­ampton, and other cities on or near estuaries are important ports.
There are mаnу lakes in Great Britain—on the north­west side of the Pennine system lays the Lake District, containing the beautiful lakes, which give it its nаmе. This dis­trict is widely known for its association with the history of English literature and especially with the nаmе of William Wordsworth (1770-1859), the founder of the Lake School of poets.
Lough Neagh (pronounced lahk nay) in Northern Ire­land is the largest lake in the British Isles. It is about 18 miles (29 kilometers) long and about 11 miles (18 kilome­ters) wide. Loch Lomond in Scotland is the largest lake on the island of Great Britain. It is 23 miles (37 kilome­ters) long and 5 miles (8 kilometers) wide at its widest point. England's biggest lakes are in the Lake District. The largest, Windermere, is about 10 miles (16 kilome­ters) long and up to 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide.

💡 QUE?

1. 
   What is the full name of Great Britain?
   
2. 
   Where is the United Kingdom’s borders? Where is the Great Britain located now?
   
3. 
   What can you say about the climate of Great Britain?
   
4. 
   How many people live in Great Britain and what languages do they mainly speak?
   
5. 
   The United Kingdom’s most famous rivers and their length?