BRITISH CULTURE 1

Chapter 3:
Geography
Instructor: Đỗ Thảo Nhi
OVERVIEW

01 02 03

Climate, The Environment Geography

Land, & & Pollution Of Main
Settlement Regions
 01
CLIMATE, LAND,
AND
SETTLEMENT
CLIMATE
● The climate in Britain is similar to that of
the north-western European mainland

● There is usually more rain in the west

● The weather there is known for its

changeability
LAND AND SETTLEMENT
● Britain's landscape lacks its grandeur but
greatly varies

● Britain has a great proportion of grassland

● Human influence on the landscape has been

extensive
○ Enclosure of fields and hedgerows
LAND AND SETTLEMENT
● Britain's landscape lacks its grandeur but
greatly varies
● Britain has a great proportion of grassland

● Human influence on the landscape has been

extensive
○ Enclosure of fields and hedgerows
LAND AND SETTLEMENT
● Much of the land is used for human habitation
○ Britain is densely populated
○ People’s concern for privacy
○ People’s love of the countryside

● Cities are built outwards rather than upwards

 02
THE ENVIRONMENT
AND POLLUTION
THE ENVIRONMENT &
POLLUTION
• Britain is the first country to suffer air pollution
• “pea-soupers” and “smog”

• The situation in London reached the worst point

in 1952
• 4000 – 8000 deaths
 THE ENVIRONMENT & POLLUTION
• Water pollution was severe in the 1960s

• In the 1960s and 1970s, home heating with open

coal fires was banned

• The Thames was declared safe again 1970s

• Environmental problems caused by the

increase in the use of cars
THE ENVIRONMENT & POLLUTION

• Energy consumption has become a national

issue

• Green energy sources are now favored

• Wind power, tidal & wave power, solar power

• Nuclear power stations have been built

 GEOGRAPHY OF MAIN
03 REGIONS
London
Southern England
The Midlands of England
Northern England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
LONDON
● A fifth of the UK’s total population lives in London

● London is the headquarters of:

○ Government departments & legal institutions
○ Parliament & The monarch
○ Business & banking centres
○ Transport network
 CENTRAL LONDON
● The City ("The square mile"): financial
organizations

● The Westminster: Parliament & royal court

● The West End: theatres, cinemas, luxurious shops

● The East End: poorer residential area, immigrant

groups, home of the Cockney
LONDON
● Central London is only a small part of Greater
London

● The majority of Londoners live in the suburbs and

commute to the centre to work

● London is known for being very cosmopolitan

LONDON
● More than 300 languages are spoken in London

● Restaurants offer cuisine from more than 120

countries (2022)

● Diversity of cultures and social classes

SOUTHERN LONDON
● Commuter land

● Area of services and light manufacturing

● The county of Kent:

○ The “Garden of England”
○ fruit and vegetables
SOUTHERN LONDON
● The Downs
○ series of hills in a horseshoe shape
○ sheep farming
○ retired people live there

● The West County

○ rural beauty & dairy produce
SOUTHERN LONDON
● South-west peninsula
○ rocky coast & wild moorlands

○ Cornwall: low-lying land with palm trees

● East Anglia
○ uniformly flat land

○ wheat & arable crops

● Northfolk Broads: waterways

THE MIDLANDS OF ENGLAND
● Black Country
○ Birmingham + some north-west areas
○ major engineering centre

● The Potteries
○ factories of china

● Grimsby: fishing ports + fish processing centre

THE MIDLANDS OF ENGLAND
● Stratford-upon-Avon
○ Shakespeare’s birthplace

● Nottingham
○ legend of Robin Hood
NORTHERN ENGLAND
● Leading industrial sites
○ Large deposits of coal & iron ore
○ Manchester: cotton goods
○ Bradfords & Leeds: woollen goods
○ Sheffield: steel goods
○ Newcastle: shipbuilding
NORTHERN ENGLAND
● In the 20th century, the decline of heavy industry
in Europe hit Northern England hard
○ unemployment

○ noisy, dirty factories

○ “civic pride”

● Industrial and rural landscape interlock

● Lake District & National Park

SCOTLAND
● Southern uplands
○ small towns with sheep farming

● Central plain
○ 80% of Scotland’s population
○ North Sea oil industry

● Highlands
○ mountains & deep valleys
○ numerous small islands off the west coast
○ tourism and production of whiskey
SCOTLAND
● Glasgow
○ heavy industry
○ worst housing conditions in Britain
○ artistic heritage (European City of Culture 1990)

● Edinburgh
○ capital of Scotland
○ associated with scholarship, law, and
administration
○ “The Athens of the north”
WALES
● Heavily populated area
○ coal-mining (no longer now)
○ industrial villages

● Mountainous areas with no large cities

NORTHERN IRELAND
● Belfast
○ manufacture of linen

● Large agricultural land

● Giant’s Causeway
THANK YOU