United Kingdom(Great Britain), which in colloquial speech is often referred to simply as England, is a state, the largest and most significant part of which is located in Europe. Officially, Great Britain has a much longer name: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and is located not only on British Isles.
Basic information
Total area of the kingdom: 244,820 km2
Population: about 62 million inhabitants
Capital: City of London (about 10 million inhabitants)
Official languages: English and Welsh.
National currency: Pound Sterling (GBP)
Telephone country code: +44
Local time: 3 hours behind Moscow
- Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the king or queen of Great Britain. Executive power is exercised by the cabinet of ministers headed by the prime minister, the head of the party that won the parliamentary elections.
- Legislative power is in the hands of parliament. Consisting of the House of Commons (650 members), re-elected every 5 years, and the House of Lords (the number of members is not rigidly fixed, currently 788 people). There are three main parties in the country. Two traditional ones: Conservative (Tories) and Labor (Whigs), as well as Liberal Democratic.
The United Kingdom is composed of:
- four historic metropolitan areas located in the British Isles, plus the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (separate administrative divisions) in the English Channel. And this in turn:
- England is the largest administrative part, including 39 counties, 6 metropolitan counties (special urbanized areas: Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, Time and Wear, South Yorkshire) and Greater London. Occupies 2/3 of the UK island. The area of the territory of England is 130 395 km2;
- Wales, which includes: 9 counties, 3 cities, 10 city-counties. Occupied area: 20,779 km2;
- Scotland - occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and the adjacent islands: Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland. Occupied area: 78 772 km2;
- Northern Ireland- divided into 6 counties and 26 districts. Area: 13 843 km2;
- as well as 14 territories in different parts of the world controlled by Great Britain and called overseas (overseas).
- In Europe it is -. In America:, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands (all - Caribbean), Montserrat Island, Falkland Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, South Sandwich Islands. In Africa - the island of Saint Helena. In the Pacific Ocean - Pitcairn Island. V Indian Ocean- British Indian Ocean Territory
Major cities of Great Britain
- - the most, apparently, Big city in Western Europe;
- (more than 1 million people) - located in Central England, the second most populous (after London) city in Great Britain;
- (about 1 million people) - the largest city in Scotland and the third most populous in the United Kingdom;
- (about 600 thousand people) - the capital and the second largest city of Scotland;
- Manchester (about 500 thousand people) - located in the north-west of England, a large industrial, cultural, financial, transport center of the country. Home of the most famous of English football clubs, Manchester United;
- (about 500 thousand people) - a port on the north-west coast of England and the birthplace of another famous soccer club, Liverpool
The main ones are concentrated in London and the surrounding area. This is the huge British Museum, the main residence of the Queen, old castle Tower, where Parliament sits, and where members of the royal family are married, St. Paul's Cathedral, country palace Windsor west of London and the historic Hampton Court Palace on the Thames, plus much more.
- The country's university centers, Oxford and Cambridge, which are considered one of the most prestigious educational institutions of the Old World, are very famous.
- It is worth visiting the prehistoric one in Wiltshire to the west and in the neighborhood - built, as they say, in just 40 years and in the same Gothic style. The vast Dartmoor Marshes in Devon, the setting for the most famous of the Sherlock Holmes novels, The Hound of the Baskerville
- Drive along the entire southeast coast, from Dover to Torquay, famous for its chalk cliffs and cozy coastal towns with surprisingly sunny weather for England. The counties of Kent and Norfolk are exceptionally beautiful, on the coast of which you can also enjoy seaside vacations with might and main.
Do not forget about a trip to Scotland, famous for its lakes and castles. In Lake Loch Ness, as it is suspected, the dinosaur Nessie is still found, but the number of ancient castles (or ruins from them) in this northern country number in the thousands.
Be sure to visit, climb the rock "Arthur's Chair", from which the famous king, the owner of the "Round Table", surveyed the surroundings, as well as get to the romantic castle on the island near west coast Scotland.
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England is undoubtedly the country that most tourists want to visit. It attracts them by some kind of closeness from the outside world, by difference from other, non-island, states. Even the name "Foggy Albion" already gives off some kind of mystery.
If you ask any adult about which cities Anglion knows, almost everyone will first answer about London because the first phrase of the tutorials English language- this is LondonisthecapitalofGreatBritain, which translates as "London is the capital of Great Britain". It happens that this is where the list of cities in England known to man ends.
View of Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey from the London Eye.
London is truly the center of England, its heart and center of people. Tourists, making a systematic study of Britain, first of all pay attention to London. It contains the majority known to the world English landmarks such as Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, British Museum, Trafalgar Square. Yes, both the Queen and her royal family can be safely recorded in the sights of England and London.
The main feature that almost all cities in England have is the similarity of their architecture. This is due to the limited area of the country, the compactness of cities in which architects of the same direction worked. Cities in Foggy Albion are relatively sparsely populated. The only city, in which the population reaches the figure of 7.5 million inhabitants, is London.
Next on the list of major cities is Birmingham, which has a population of about a million. Must-see in Birmingham Cathedral, museum, art gallery, Town Hall. Also popular with tourists is the local Botanical Garden, a center for marine life, a bird sanctuary and a zoo.
Shopping center "Bull ring". Birmingham, England
The rest of the big cities (Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester) can hardly be called megalopolises: they have about half a million inhabitants. This is explained by the historical commitment of the British to solitude and measured life.
With all this, it cannot be said that English cities do not differ from each other at all. Provincial but pretty big cities, of course, differ from the capital, while each city has something unique, a kind of "zest" that distinguishes it from all the others.
For example, many are familiar with Cambridge and Oxford, as young people from all over the world come here in the hope of enrolling in a prestigious college. will certainly be familiar to fans of football and local teams Manchester United and Manchester City.
Legendary Cambridge
Fans, without exaggeration, the great "The Beatles" go to visit the museum of the history of their favorite band. It is interesting to visit Leicester, which is considered one of the most cosmopolitan cities in England and the world. In addition to English, the local population speaks in their native languages.
If you want to see the most ancient English fortress, Lincoln must be included in the list of cities to visit.
Lincoln Cathedral of the Virgin Mary. Lincoln city
Those wishing to visit the Royal Shakespeare Theater and the playwright's house museum should go to Stratford.
You need to enjoy the architectural perfection in, the main place of which is the famous York Cathedral.
In addition, York is known for its developed network cycling routes so adherents healthy way lives can usefully spend time here.
On south coast England the cities of Brighton and Bournemouth are located, which can be visited by lovers of seafood and SPA procedures. List interesting cities would be incomplete, if not to say about Sheffield, which is one of the greenest cities. It has more than two million trees, for which it is called the largest English village.
Fans of spectacles should pay attention to the festival held in Bristol. balloons... Many events are held in beautiful Bath: a film festival, a beer festival, music and literary festivals.
Of course, here is a list of not all cities in England, but it is better to see everything with your own eyes, to reveal all the secrets of England on your own. From any London station by train or bus, you can go anywhere in the country, be it big or small cities, and in a few hours you can see a completely different, non-metropolitan life. Real life England.
Today your attention will be focused on Great Britain, which, while remaining a shining example of a parliamentary monarchy, has its own historical provinces, where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have an enviable degree of autonomy, and England is still considered the center of science to this day. Here they began to study black holes, discovered penicillin, launched a steam locomotive, created the World Wide Web and even provided the world's population with many necessary medicines... So, let's start our journey and go to the cities of England? The list of them will certainly surprise you. UK map can be downloaded
Cities with a population of over 150,000
Traveling through foggy Albion is quite interesting. Each city is filled with its own special atmosphere, which you can understand only when you find yourself face to face with its inhabitants in a small tavern. Arriving at a local pub, be prepared for the fact that ladies and gentlemen will be divorced in different rooms, this is the way tradition has developed. But to drink something stronger than beer on a day off will turn out only after 19.00. If this is your first time in the UK, you can visit the following English cities, the list of which is provided below:
London;
Birmingham;
Leeds;
Sheffield;
Manchester;
Liverpool;
Bristol;
Coventry;
Bradford;
Nottingham;
Leicester;
Newcastle upon Tyne;
Kingston upon Hull;
Plymouth;
Stoke-on-Trent;
Wolverhampton;
Derby;
Southampton;
Portsmouth;
Northepton;
Dudley;
Milton Keynes;
York;
Luton;
Peterborough;
Sunderland;
Walsall;
Bournemouth;
Telford;
Southend-on-Sea;
Brighton;
Swindon;
Oxford.
Each city has its own characteristics, for example, London is a history lover's dream. Here you can visit the Tower of London and the British Museum, Buckingham Palace and the largest Ferris wheel "London Eye". These are not all that can satisfy the interests of even the most fastidious tourist. Remember that moving from city to city, you will certainly notice that have existed in each of them for centuries.
Birmingham is known as a city of science, and the education received there is considered quite prestigious. City attractions such as the Birmingham Museum and art Gallery, Are by no means the only places that tourists want to see. Many people come here to visit the football clubs Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Musicians like Jeff Lynn, Ozzy Osbourne and Alistair Ian Campbell were born here.
Oxford is an educational center as well as a place where the traditions and customs of the country are upheld. Matthew Andrews called Oxford the City of Dreaming Spiers. Oxford University as well as Oxford Brooks are the most popular educational institutions.
Despite the similar architecture, no city in England is like its counterpart, many of them are distinguished by centuries-old traditions, others perfectly combine ultra-modern technologies with an architectural past, others skillfully weave historical monuments in magnificent natural landscapes. However, there are also such English cities where a person's foot rarely steps, and that is why a measured life still reigns here, as if in contrast to the seething whirlpool of life in large metropolitan areas.
What major cities in England do you know and what unites them?
The largest cities in England have one feature in common - the style that can be seen in each of them. By the number of population, the following are distinguished:
London;
Birmingham;
Leeds;
Sheffield;
Manchester;
Liverpool;
Bristol;
Coventry;
Leicester;
Bradford;
Nottingham;
Sunderland.
Birmingham is famous for its mechanical engineering and metallurgical industries, as well as jewelry fairs. Liverpool is the city that The Beatles made famous. This city is known to this day for its crazy nightlife.
The first association that arises when the word "Manchester" is the football team "Manchester United", but this is not the only thing the city is known for. The University of Manchester is considered the largest in terms of the number of students, with a total number of 40 thousand people.
Leeds is the fifth largest city in the UK and is known for its textile, wool and printing industries. Thanks to railroad Leeds has become the heart of England, and the legal and financial sphere makes this city the second center after London.
Sheffield became famous for its metal products and became a metallurgical center. Today it is better known as the center of the food industry, but do not forget about the natural beauty of this city.
Bristol is a port city that became so back in the XII century. Later it was recognized as a center for chocolate, as cocoa and sugar were brought here in huge quantities from Africa and Jamaica. Modern Bristol - Cultural Center and the capital of electronic music.
Below is a map of England with cities that you can use:
