PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY Britain includes Great Britain (comprising England, Scotland and Wales) and Nort hern Ireland,

and lies off the northwest coast of mainland Europe. It is 500 Km wide and nearly 1,000 km long. Its closest continental neighbors France and Belg ium. It lies between latitudes 50 North and 60 North. London, the capital is close t o the same of latitude as Berlin, Vancouver and Warsaw. Great Britain is the lar gest island in Europe and the eight largest in the world. It is about the same s ize as Honshu the biggest of the island that make up Japan, and about twice size of Iceland of Cuba. Although it is as closer to the North Pole as eastern Siberia or Hudson Bay Brit ain has a warmer climate. While the British climate is very changeable, temperat ures rarely fall below 10 or go above 32. Rainfall is fairly well distributed througho t the year. The wettest parts are the mountainous areas of the West Coast. Brita in is a densely populated and industrialized nation, but much of the country is cultivated and around 10% of the land is covered by legally protected National P arks. PEOPLE English is the official language, but many people know more than one language. A round 20% of the people Wales speak Welsh and children learn it in schools. Abou t 80,000 people in Scotland speak Gaelic. For centuries people from overseas hav e settled in Britain to escape persecution or in search of a better standard of living. They have brought with them their languages, cultures and religions. The most widely spoken minority languages today are from the Asian sub-continent bu t other languages include Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish and Chinese. Ethnic m inority communities make up about 5 % of the total population. Population growth in Western Europe is generally low. There were 781,000 live bi rths in Britain in 1992, or 13,5 live births per 1,000 population. The death rat e is slightly lower at 11 per 1,000. The population is therefore fairly stable. The proportion of elderly people has been increasing as a result of better stand ards of living and health care. The percentage of young people on the population has been falling. At present only 20% of people in Britain are under the age of 16. Although Britain is quite small in terms of land area, it has a large population of nearly 58 million, which ranks 17th in the world. With an average of 239 peo ple per sq. km, Britain has the highest population density in Europe. Most peopl e in Britain live in towns or cities. England has 370 people per sq. km; Scotlan d has 66 Wales 139 and Northern Ireland 118. London is the 17 Th most heavily po pulated city in the world, but still much smaller than Mexico City. HISTORY AND POLITICS Roman rule of England and Wales lasted from AD 43 to around AD 409. Over the nex t 600 years there were invasions and settlements by peoples from northern Europe . Trimite email Email-ul dumneavoastra Email-ul prietenului Subiect Mesaj Am gasit un referat care cred ca te poate interesa: http://referate.unica. ro//referat-Anglia-12664.html Descarca referatAdaugat de cristi27