GREAT BRITAIN

Official name — The United Kingdom of Great Britain and

Northern Ireland
Status — Parliamentary monarchy
Area — 244,100 square kilometres
Population — 56,000,000
Capital — London
Languages — English (official), Gaelic (Scotland, Ireland),
Welsh (Wales)

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

is situated on two large islands called the British Isles.
Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales. Ireland
consists of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
No place in Great Britain is far from the sea. The little
country has eastern, southern, and western coasts. It is washed
by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Irish Sea. It
also has many good harbors easy to reach from any part of
the country. England's fisheries are famous. West winds
from the sea bring rain and help to make English winters
mild. That is why the climate of the British Isles is normally
mild.
Great Britain is a highly-developed industrial country.
The older fields of industry are shipbuilding, coal-mining,
textile, metallurgical industries and the newer ones are electronics
and electrical engineering, chemical, aircraft, automobile
industries. All of them are very important for Great
Britain. The largest cities of Great Britain are: London,
Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh
and Cardiff. Oxford and Cambridge are called University
towns.
Administratively Great Britain Is divided into 55 counties.
Great Britain is a parliamentary monarchy. The Queen
is formally at the head of the state. But in fact the country
is ruled by the Parliament consisting of two Houses: the House
of Commons and the House of Lords. The Prime Minister is
head of the Government.