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United Kingdom or the Great Britain is a sovereign island country positioned in the northwestern part of the mainland Europe. The United Kingdom comprises of the island of Great Britain, the northeast part of the island of Ireland and various other small islands. Northern Ireland is the only region of the United Kingdom with a land border, sharing it with the state of Ireland. The UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the North Sea and the Irish Sea. Great Britain, which is the largest island, is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel.
United Kingdom is a congregation of four constituent countries; the England, Scotland, Ireland and the Wales. UK enjoys a total coastline stretching upto 12,429 km and claims territorial sea stretching upto12 nm, exclusive fishing zone of about 200 nm and has a continental shelf as defined in continental shelf orders or in accordance with agreed upon boundaries. The geographical terrain is mostly rugged hills and low mountains and level to rolling plains in east and southeast. The lowest point in UK is The Fens with -4 m and the highest is the Ben Nevis 1,343 m.
The natural resources to be found in UK are coal, petroleum, iron ore, natural gas, lead, zinc, tin, limestone, gold, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, potash, silica sand, slate and arable land | | |
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| Climate |
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| The United Kingdom enjoys a temperate climate, with ample rainfall all year round. The temperature varies from season to season but very rarely drops below －10 °C or rises above 35 °C . The prevailing wind blows from the southwest, brings along frequent spells of mild and wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern regions are mostly sheltered from this wind and are as a result the driest. Atlantic currents that are warmed by the Gulf Stream bring along mild winters, especially in the west, where winters are wet, chiefly over high ground. South east of England faces the warmest summers, due to its proximity to the European mainland, and coolest in the north. During winter and early spring the country enjoys snowfall, though it rarely settles to great depth away from high ground. |
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| Government |
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The United Kingdom operates under the framework of parliamentary democracy with its seat of government in London which is the capital, and a constitutional monarchy with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state. Prime minister is the head of the government, who also appoints the cabinet ministers. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, formally possessions of the Crown, are not part of the UK but form a federacy with it. The UK has fourteen overseas territories, all remnants of the British Empire, which at its height encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface, making it the largest empire in history. As a result of the conquest of the empire, British still has an influence which can be observed in the language and culture of states such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, india, Pakistan, South Africa, and the United States of America, and other less globally influential independent states as well. HM Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth of Nations and head of state of the Commonwealth realms.
England is administratively divided into 34 two-tier counties, 32 London boroughs and 1 City of London or Greater London, 36 metropolitan counties, 46 unitary authorities. The two-tier counties are Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.
London boroughs and City of London or Greater London are Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, City of London, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster.
The metropolitan counties are Barnsley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Bury, Calderdale, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Kirklees, Knowlsey, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sandwell, Sefton, Sheffield, Solihull, South Tyneside, St. Helens, Stockport, Sunderland, Tameside, Trafford, Wakefield, Walsall, Wigan, Wirral and Wolverhampton.
The unitary authorities are Bath and North East Somerset, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, City of Bristol, Darlington, Derby, East Riding of Yorkshire, Halton, Hartlepool, County of Herefordshire, Ile of Wight, City of Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, Luton, Medway, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Reading, Redcar and Cleveland, Rutland, Slough, South Gloucestershire, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon, Telford and Wrekin, Thurrock, Torbay, Warrington, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham and York .
Northern Ireland is administratively divided into 26 district council areas the district council areas are Antrim, Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Derry, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh and Strabane
Scotland is divided into 32 unitary authorities.
The unitary authorities are Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, The Scottish Borders, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian
Wales is administratively into 22 unitary authorities
The unitary authorities are Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda, Cynon, Taff, Swansea, The Vale of Glamorgan, Torfaen and Wrexham
Capital: London
Chief of state : Queen Elizabeth II (since 6 February 1952), Heir Prince Charles
Head of government: Prime Minister Gordon Brown |
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| People |
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United Kingdom has an estimated population of about 60,943,912. U.K has a multi- ethnic population the chief are white with 92.2% of which English is 83.6%, Scottish 8.6%, Welsh 4.9% and Northern Irish 2.9% , black comprises of 2% of the population, indians with 1.8%, Pakistani with 1.3%, mixed ethnicity with 1.2% and others 1.6% . The chief religion followed by people are Christian with 71.6% followers including the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, 2.7% people follow Islam, 1% are Hindus, other 1.6% and unspecified or none 23.1%.
The languages used are English, Welsh spoken by about 26% of the population of Wales, Scottish form of Gaelic by about 60,000 in Scotland. |
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| Economy |
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The United Kingdom is a developed country. It has the 5th or the 6th largest economy in the world. It has been the most powerful empire in the 19th and the early 20th century, it has although witnessed economic decline after the 2 world wars depleting its power in the matter of global affairs. Despite all it retains its strength in economy, culture, military and political influence and is also a nuclear power. UK spend the 2nd highest on its defense in the world. It holds a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and is a member of the G8, NATO, WTO, the European Union and the Commonwealth of Nations.
The chief agricultural products are cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry and fish. The major industrial products and services are machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food processing, textiles, clothing and other consumer goods.
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