A first look at the UK

1. Maps of the United Kingdom

The UK is in north-west Europe between the North Sea and the Atlantic ocean. An island
country, it is the 9th largest island in the world.
The UK is very small compared with many other countries in the world. However, there
are only nine other countries with more people, and London is the world’s 7 th biggest city.

World’s 9th largest island

In north-west Europe

A. The United Kingdom

 B. Understanding names
• official name given to the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the
principality of Wales.
• includes the small islands except the Channel Island and the Isle of Man.
• sometimes people use the shorten name “Britain”.
• the term “England” should NEVER be used to describe Britain.

Scottish

Welsh

English

• United Kingdom (UK)= Great Britain + Northern Ireland

• Official name is the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.
• Was the member of the European Union (EU) until The United Kingdom’s
withdrawal (Brexit – “British exit”) following a referendum held on 23 June 2016

Irish
• Consists of: Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales); the
whole of Ireland, the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the Isle of
Man, the Inner and Outer Herbrides, and the Isle of Wight, Scilly
Islands, Lundy Island, the Channel Islands and many other
offshore islands.

• Great Britain is the largest island in the British Isles.

*
Isle: an Island