Survey of the British Geography

Малахова С.А.

М 18This Britain: учебное пособие по лингвострановедению Великобритании /С.А. Малахова. – Армавир: ,

2014. – 50 с.

Предлагаемое учебное пособие рассчитано на студентов и учащихся, владеющих английским языком на среднем уровне (Intermediate). Пособие состоит из текстов для чтения о жизни, культуре, экономике, политическом устройстве и географии областей, входящих в состав Великобритании. Текты пособия снабжены комментариями. Каждый раздел содержит ссылки на дополнительную литературу и Интернет-сайты. Пособие может быть использовано в качестве материала для проведения практических занятий по курсу «Страноведение и лингвострановедение Великобритании», для самостоятельной работы студентов, а также в старших классах общеобразовательной школы как дополнительный материал к урокам английского языка.

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© Малахова С.А., 2014

CONTENT

Preface ................................................................................................................4

Survey of the British Geography......................................................................5

England ..............................................................................................................9

Etymology............................................................................................................9

National symbols ...............................................................................................10

Regions,counties and districs ............................................................................11

Geograghy..........................................................................................................12

Culture ...............................................................................................................13

Notes and meanings ...........................................................................................18

Scotland ............................................................................................................20

Etymology..........................................................................................................20

National symbols ...............................................................................................21

Administrative subdivisions ..............................................................................21

Geograghy..........................................................................................................22

Culture ...............................................................................................................24

Notes and meanings ...........................................................................................28

Wales .................................................................................................................30

Etymology..........................................................................................................31

National symbols ...............................................................................................32

Government and politics....................................................................................33

Geograghy..........................................................................................................35

Culture ...............................................................................................................39

Notes and meanings ...........................................................................................42

Northern Irland ...............................................................................................45

National symbols ...............................................................................................45

Geograghy..........................................................................................................46

Government and politics....................................................................................47

Citizenship and identity......................................................................................49

Alternative names for Northern Ireland.............................................................50

Notes and meanings ...........................................................................................53

Preface

This book attempts to present a picture of the British country and people as they are at the present period. It has been designed for Intermediate and Advanced students of English in order to help them meet the usual requirements for the examination in the subject of “Things British”. Its main objective is to convey

basic information about Great Britain.

This Britain consists of 4 parts. Each chapter of the book has a text for reading and discussion. The texts that are included in each chapter to illustrate a particular as­pect of British life may be used for either home or classwork. Most of the texts providework on the specific vocabulary of British life. The teacher maythink it advisable to take them in class, or let the students work on them independently at home. The idea is to make students use intensivlythe existing dictionaries of modern English.

ENGLAND

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental Europe. The mainland of England consists of the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic, but England also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law – the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world – developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming the country into the world's first industrialised nation.

Most of England is lowland, but there are upland regions in the north (for example, the Lake District, Pennines and Yorkshire Moors) and in the south and south west (for example, Dartmoor, the Cotswolds, and the North and South Downs). London, England's capital, is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. England's population is about 51 million, around 84% of the population of the United Kingdom, and is largely concentrated in London, the South East and conurbations in the Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire, which developed as major industrial regions during the 19th century.

Etymology

The name "England" is derived from the Old English word Englaland, which means "land of the Angles". The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in England during the Early Middle Ages. The Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of "England" to refer to the southern part of the island of Great Britain occurs in 897, and its modern spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested mention of the name occurs in the lst-century work by Tacitus, Germania, in which the Latin word Anglii is used. The etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars; it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. The name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th-century De Mundo: "Beyond the Pillars of Hercules is the ocean that flows round the earth. In it are two very large islands called Britannia; these are Albion and Ierne". The word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. It either derives from the Latin albus meaning white, a reference to the white cliffs of Dover, which is the first view of Britain from the European Continent. An alternative origin is suggested by the ancient merchant's handbook Massaliote Periplus which mentions an "island of the Albiones" Albion is now applied to England in a more poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh Lloegr, which is derived from Arthurian legend.

National symbols

The national flag of England, known as St. George's Cross, has been the national flag since the 13th century. Originally the flag was used by the maritime state the Republic of Genoa. The English monarch paid a tribute to the Doge of Genoa from 1190 onwards, so that English ships could fly the flag as a means of protection when entering the Mediterranean. A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders in the 12th and 13th centuries. It became associated with Saint George, along with countries and cities, which claimed him as their patron saint and used his cross as a banner. Since 1606 the St George's Cross has formed part of the design of the Union Flag, a Pan-British flag designed by King James I.

There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the Tudor rose, the nation's floral emblem, the White Dragon and the Three Lions featured on the nation's coat of arms. The Tudor rose was adopted as a national emblem of England around the time of the Wars of the Roses as a symbol of peace. It is a syncretic symbol in that it merged the white rose of the Yorkists and the red rose of the Lancastrians – cadet branches of the Plantagenets who went to war over control of the royal house. It is also known as the Rose of England. The oak tree is a symbol of England, representing strength and endurance. The term Royal Oak is used to denote the escape of King Charles II from the grasps of the parliamentarians after his father's execution; he hid in an oak tree to avoid detection before making it safely into exile.

The national coat of arms of England, featuring three lions dates back to its adoption by Richard the Lionheart from 1198-1340. They are described as gules, three lions passant guardant or and provide one of the most prominent symbols of England; it is similar to the traditional arms of Normandy. England does not have an official designated national anthem, as the United Kingdom as a whole has God Save the Queen. However, the following are often considered unofficial English national anthems: Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory (used for England during the 2002 Commonwealth Games) and My Country. England's National Day is St George's Day, as Saint George is the patron saint of England, it is held annually on 23 April.

Geography

Landscape and rivers

Geographically England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus such offshore islands as the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly. It is bordered by two fellow countries of the United Kingdom – to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. England is closer to the European Continent than any other part of mainland Britain. It is separated from France by a 34-kilometre (21 mi) sea gap, though the two countries are connected by the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone. As England is on an island, is it surrounded by the water of the Irish Sea, North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The most important rivers in England, because of their ports of London, Liverpool and Newcastle, are the tidal rivers Thames, Mersey and Tyne. The tides raise the level of water in their Estuaries and enable ships to enter the ports. The longest river running through England is the Severn, which is 354 kilometres long and empties into the Bristol Channel; it is also notable for the Severn Bore tidal waves which can reach 2 metres in height. However, the longest river entirely in England is the Thames, which is 346 kilometres long. There are many lakes in England but the majority are in the aptly named Lake District; the largest of which is Lake Windermere, it is known by the nickname «Queen of Lakes». The Pennines which are known as the backbone of England, are the oldest range of mountains in the country originating from the end of the Paleozoic Era around 300 million years, ago. The total length of the Pennines is 400 kilometres, peaking at Cross Fell in Cumbria. The material which they are made up of itself is mostly sandstone and limestone, but also coal. There are karst landscapes in calcite areas such as parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The Pennines landscape is high moorland in upland areas, indented by fertile valleys of the region's rivers. They contain three national parts, the Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland and the Peak District. The highest point in England is Scafell Pike in Cumbria which is 978 metres high. Straddling the border between England and Scotland are the Cheviot Hills. The English Lowlands are to the south of the Pennines, consisting of green rolling hills, including the Cotswold Hills, Chiltern Hills, North and South Downs – where they meet the sea they form white rock exposures such as the cliffs of Dover. The granitic Southwest Peninsula in the West Country provides upland moorland, such as Dartmoor and Exmoor, which flourish with a mild climate; both are national parks.

Climate

England has a temperate maritime climate meaning that it is mild with temperatures not much lower than 0 °C in winter and not much higher than 32 °C in summer. The weather is damp relatively frequently and is subject to change. The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the English coast, while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather with least rainfall are May, June, September and October. The biggest influences on the climate of England comes from the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its northern latitude and warming of the waters around the Gulf Stream. England receives quite a significant proportion of rainfall during the year, with autumn and winter being the wettest time – geographically the Lake District receives more rain than anywhere else in the country. Since weather recording records began, the highest temperature received was 38.5 °C on 10 August 2003 at Brogdale in Kent, while the lowest was – 26.1 °C on 10 January 1982 in Edgmond, Shropshire.

Culture

Architecture

Many ancient standing stone monuments were erected during the prehistoric period, amongst the best known are Stonehenge, Devil's Arrows, Rudston Monolith and Castlerigg. With the introduction of Ancient Roman architecture there was a development of basilicas, baths, amphitheaters, triumphal arches, villas, Roman temples, Roman roads, Roman forts, stockades and aqueducts. It was the Romans who founded the first cities and towns such as London, Bath, York, Chester and St Albans. Perhaps the best known example is Hadrian's Wall stretching right across northern England. Another well preserved example is the Roman Baths at Bath, Somerset. Early Medieval architecture's secular buildings were simple constructions mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Ecclesiastical architecture ranged from a synthesis of Hiberno-Saxon monasticism, to Early Christian basilica and architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings. After the Norman conquest in 1066 various Castles in England were created so law lords could uphold their authority and in the north to protect from invasion. Some of the best known medieval castles include the Tower of London, Warwick Castle, Durham Castle and Windsor Castle amongst others.

Throughout the Plantagenet era an English Gothic architecture flourished – the medieval cathedrals such as Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and York Minster are prime examples. Expanding on the Norman base there was also castles, palaces, great houses, universities and parish churches. Medieval architecture was completed with the 16th century Tudor style; the four-centred arch, now known as the Tudor arch, was a defining feature as were wattle and daub houses domestically. In the aftermath of the Renaissance a form of architecture echoing classical antiquity, synthesised with Christianity appeared – the English Baroque style, architect Christopher Wren was particularly championed. Georgian architecture followed in a more refined style, evoking a simple Palladian form; the Royal Crescent at Bath is one of the best examples of this. With the emergence of romanticism during Victorian period, a Gothic Revival was launched – in addition to this around the same time the Industrial Revolution paved the way for buildings such as The Crystal Palace. Since the 1930s various modernist forms have appeared whose reception is often controversial, though traditionalist resistance movements continue with support in influential places.

Visual Arts

The earliest known examples are the prehistoric rock and cave art pieces, most prominent in North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria, but also feature further south, for example at Creswell Crags. With the arrival of Roman culture in the 1st century, various forms of art utilising statues, busts, glasswork and mosaics were the norm. There are numerous surviving artefacts, such as those at Lullingstone and Aldborough. During the Early Middle Ages the style was sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, gold and enamel jewellery, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs such as in the Staffordshire Hoard discovered in 2009. Some of these blended Gaelic and Anglian styles, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and Vespasian Psalter. Later Gothic art was popular at Winchester and Canterbury, examples survive such as Benedictional of St. Ethelwold and Luttrell Psalter.

The Tudor era saw prominent artists as part of their court, portrait painting which would remain an enduring part of English art, was boosted by German Hans Holbein, natives such as Nicholas Hilliard built on this. Under the Stuarts, Continental artists were influential especially the Flemish, examples from the period include – Anthony van Dyck, Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller and William Dobson. The 18th century was a time of significance with the founding of the Royal Academy, a classicism based on the High Renaissance prevailed – Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds became two of England's most treasured artists. The Norwich School continued the landscape tradition, while the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with their vivid and detailed style revived the Early Renaissance style – Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais were leaders. Prominent amongst twentieth century artists was Henry Moore, regarded as the voice of British sculpture, and of British modernism in general. Contemporary painters include Lucian Freud, whose work Benefits Supervisor Sleeping in 2008 set a world record for sale value of a painting by a living artist.

Museums, libraries, and galleries

English Heritage is a governmental body with a broad remit of managing the historic sites, artefacts and environments of England. It is currently sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The charity National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty holds a contrasting role. Seventeen of the twenty-five United Kingdom UNESCO World Heritage Sites fall within England. Some of the best known of these include; Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, Tower of London, Jurassic Coast, Saltaire, Ironbridge Gorge, Studley Royal Park and various others. There are many museums in England, but the most notable is London's British Museum. Its collection of more than seven million objects is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world, sourced from every continent, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. The British Library in London is the national library and is one of the world's largest research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; including around 25 million books. The most senior art gallery is the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, which houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The Tate galleries house the national collections of British and international modern art; they also host the famously controversial Turner Prize.

Cuisine

Since the Early Modern Period the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach such as meat and two veg, honesty of flavour, and a reliance on the high quality of natural produce. During the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance period, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the Industrial Revolution with the move away from the land and increasing urbanisation of the populace. The French sometimes, referred to English people as les rosbifs, as a stereotype to suggest English food is unsophisticated or crude. The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by the food critics with some good ratings in Restaurant’s best restaurant in the world charts. An early book of English recipes is the Forme of Cury from the royal court of Richard II.

Traditional examples of English food include the Sunday roast; featuring a roasted joint, usually beef, lamb or chicken, served with assorted boiled vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Other prominent meals include fish and chips and the full English breakfast – consisting of bacon, grilled tomatoes, fried bread, black pudding, baked beans, fried mushrooms, sausages and eggs. Various meat pies are consumed such as steak and kidney pie, shepherd's pie, cottage pie, Cornish pasty and pork pie, the later of which is consumed cold. Sausages are commonly eaten, either as bangers and mash or toad in the hole. Lancashire hotpot is a well known stew. Some of the most popular cheeses are Cheddar and Wensleydale. Many Anglo-Indian hybrid dishes, curries, have been created such as chicken tikka masala and balti. Sweet English dishes include apple pie, mince pies, spotted dick, scones, Eccles cakes, custard and sticky toffee pudding. Common drinks include tea, which became far more widely drunk due to Catherine of Braganza, while alcoholic drinks include wines and English beers such as bitter, mild, stout, and brown ale.

The Sunday roast is a traditional British main meal served on Sundays (usually in the early afternoon for lunch), consisting of roasted meat, roast potato together with accompaniments, such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy. It is popular throughout the United Kingdom. Other names for this meal are Sunday dinner, Sunday lunch, Sunday Tea, Roast dinner, and Sunday joint, joint being a word that specifically refers to the joint of meat. The traditional Sunday roast has been traced back to Yorkshire, England during the Industrial Revolution.It is believed this tradition arose because bakers couldn't bake bread on a Friday, so their ovens would be used to roast meat. The meal is often comparable to a less grand version of a traditional Christmas dinner in these cultures.

The steak and kidney pie is a typical British dish with a filling of diced beef steak and beef (ox), lamb’s or pig's kidneys in a thick sauce. It is often, but not always, a one-crust pie, which means that the filling is covered but not completely enclosed by the pastry. Besides being made fresh in a kitchen or a restaurant, food processing firms offer this foodstuff frozen in a box, or canned (in a tin). Large cans even come in the size and shape of regular pie pans. The sauce typically consists of beef broth, flavoured with salt, pepper and parsley, onions, and thickened with flour, cornstarch or beurre manie. Two-crust steak and kidney pies are best made with hot water crust pastry, which is less likely to get soaked in sauce, but one-crust pies may also be made with puff pastry or shortcrust pastry.

Steak and kidney pudding is a similar dish in which the contents are placed into a pudding dish lined -and covered with suet pastry. The pudding is then steamed for several hours. In the British Armed Forces a pudding is sometimes called a Baby's Head and in certain areas of North West England primarily around Wigan and Leigh, Greater Manchester a Babby's Yead (Baby's Head). Steak and kidney pie/pudding is also sometimes colloquially known as Kate and Sidney pie/pudding, Snake and Kiddy pie/pudding or Snake and Pygmy pie/pudding.

Cottage pie, also known as shepherd's pie, refers to an English meat pie with a crust made from mashed potato and beef. The term cottage pie is known to have been in use in 1791, when potato was being introduced as an edible crop affordable for the poor (cottage meaning a modest dwelling for rural workers). In early cookery books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top. The term shepherd's pie did not appear until the 1870s, and since then it has been used synonymously with cottage pie , regardless of whether the principal ingredient was beef or mutton. There is now a popular tendency for shepherd’s pie to be used when the meat is mutton or lamb, with the suggested origin being that shepherds are concerned with sheep and not cattle, however this may be an example of folk etymology.

A pasty (the a pronounced as in cat), Cornish: Hogen; Pasti), known in (West) Cornish dialect as teddy oggy/oggin or tiddy oggy/oggin, and sometimes as pastie in the United States, is a filled pastry case, commonly associated with Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It differs from a pie as it is made by placing the filling on a flat pastry shape, usually a circle, and folding it to wrap the filling, crimping the edge to form a seal. The result is a raised semicircular package. The traditional Cornish pasty is filled with beef, sliced potato, turnip and onion, and baked. Pasties with many different fillings are made; some shops specialise in selling all sorts of pasties.

Lancashire hotpot is a dish consisting essentially of lamb or mutton, onion and potatoes left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot and on a low heat. Originating in the days of heavy industrialization in Lancashire in the north west of England, it requires a minimum of effort to prepare. It is sometimes served at parties in England, because it is easy to prepare for a large number of people and is relatively inexpensive.

Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants) commonly served with custard, and a standard part of English cuisine. Spotted refers to the dried fruit (which resemble spots) and dick may be a contraction/corruption of the word pudding (from the last syllable) or possibly a corruption of the word dough. Another explanation offered for the latter half of the name is that it comes from the German word for “thick”, in reference to the thickened suet mixture. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest documented reference is a recipe for Plum Bolster or Spotted Dick, in Alexis Soyer's The Modern Housewife of Menagere (1850). Hospital managers at Gloucestershire NHS Trust (in 2001) and the catering staff at Flintshire County Council (in 2009) renamed the pudding Spotted Richard on menus due to the use of Dick in the name, which is short for Richard , but also is used as slang. Gloucestershire NHS Trust restored the original name in 2002. Flintshire County Council reversed their renaming after a few weeks.

An Eccles cake is, a small, round cake filled with currants and made from puff pastry with butter and topped with demerara sugar. Eccles cakes are named after the English town of Eccles, in Salford. It is not known who invented the recipe, but James Birch is credited with being the first person to sell Eccles cakes on a commercial basis, which he sold from his shop at the corner of Vicarage Road and St Mary's Road (now known as Church Street) in the town centre, in 1793. Nicknames for the Eccles cake include Squashed Fly Cake, Fly Cake, Fly Pie or even a Fly's Graveyard, owing to the appearance of the currants that it contains.

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and eggs. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used, for quiches and other savoury foods. As a dessert, it is made from a combination of milk or cream, egg^Jyafics, sugar, and vanilla. Sometimes flour, corn starch, or gelatin are also added. Custard is usually cooked in a double boiler (bain-marie), microwave or heated very gently in a saucepan on a stove, though custard can also be steamed, baked in the oven with or without a hot water bath, or even cooked in a pressure cooker. Cooking until it is set without cooking it so much that it curdles is a delicate operation, because only 5-10 °F (3-6 °C) separate the two. A water bath slows heat transfer and makes it easier to remove the custard from the oven before it curdles. Depending on how much egg or thickener is used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce (creme anglaise), to a thick blancmange like that used for vanilla slice or the pastry cream used to fill eclairs. Custard is an important part of dessert recipes from many countries.

Sticky toffee pudding is a British dessert consisting of a moist sponge cake, sometimes made with finely chopped dates, covered in a toffee sauce.

NOTES AND MEANINGS

Hiberno-Saxon monasticism –is the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of the British Isles.also known as Insular art.The term derives from insula, the Latin term for “island”. Most Insular art originates from the Irish monasticism of Celtic Christianity. Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts.

Basilica – the Latin word was originally used to describe a Roman public building.The term was also applied to a large and important church that has been given special ceremonial rights by the Pope.

Creswell Crags – is a limestone gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, England. The cliffs of the ravine contain several caves that were occupied during the last ice age, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago.

The Lindisfarne Gospels – is an Illuminated manuscript gospel bookproduced around the year 700 AD in a monastery off the coast of Northumberland at Lindisfarne, which is now on display in the British Library in London.

Forme of Cury – is an extensive recipe collection of the 14th century whose author is given as “the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II”. The modern name was given to it by Samuel Pegge, who published an edition of it in 1791. This name has since come into usage for almost all versions of the original manuscript. Along with Le Viandier, it is the best-known medieval guide to cooking.

The Vespasian Psalter – is an Anglo-Saxon illuminated Psalter produced in the second or third quarter of the 8th century. It contains an interlinear gloss in Old English which is the oldest extant English translation of any portion of the Bible.

Catherine of Braganza – Catarina of Portugal (or of Braganza) was daughter of the King John IV of Portugal. Later she was the wife of King Charles II of England. Catherine introduced the custom of drinking tea in Britain. Catherine also introduced the fork to the dining tables of England.

Alexis Soyer (1810–1858) was a French chef who became the most celebrated cook in Victorian England. Soyer wrote a number of books about cooking.

NHS Trust – A National Health Service trust provides services on behalf of the English NHS and NHS Wales.

Material for farther reading:

1. Fox, Kate. Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2008.

2. Taylor, Craig. Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now--As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It. Ecco; Reprint edition, 2012.

3. Weisser, Henry. England: An Illustrated History. Hippocrene Books, 2000.

4. www.enjoyengland.com

5. www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/

6. www.picturesofengland.com/englandfacts/

SCOTLAND

Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba, the letter b is pronouncedas p) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland includes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe’s largest financial centres. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union.

The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent sovereign state before 1 May 1707, when it entered into a political union with England to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain. This union resulted from the Treaty of Union agreed in 1706 and enacted by the twin Acts of Union passed by the Parliaments of both countries, despite widespread protest across Scotland. Scotland's legal system continues to be separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in public and in private law.

The continued existence of legal, educational and religious institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the Union. In 1999 the Scottish Parliament, was founded with authority over many areas of home affairs following a successful referendum in 1997. In 2011 the Scottish National Party (SNP) won an overall majority in the parliament and intend to hold a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom towards the end of the current parliamentary term.

Etymology

Scotland is derived from the Latin Scoti, the term applied to Gaels, people from what is now Scotland and Ireland, and the Dál Riata who have been thought previously to have originated from Ireland and migrated to western Scotland. However, a more recent historical interpretation views Dál Riata as the peoples who lived on the islands and lands on either side of the Northern Channel, the Irish Sea, rather than a migration of people from one side to the other, although there is proof that the irish monks did build 13 monasteries in western Scotland prior to Roman intervention. Accordingly, the Late Latin word Scotia (land of the Gaels) was initially used to refer to Ireland. However, by the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to (Gaelic-speaking) Scotland north of the river Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, both derived from the Gaelic Alba. The use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages.

National symbols

The national flag of Scotland, known as the Saltire or St. Andrew's Cross, dates from the 9th century, and is thus the oldest national flag still in use. Since 1606 the Saltire has also formed part of the design of the Union Flag. There are numerous other symbols and symbolic artefacts, both official and unofficial, including the thistle, the nation's floral emblem, 6 April 1320 statement of political independence the Declaration of Arbroath, the textile pattern tartan that often signifies a particular Scottish clan, and the Lion Rampant flag. Highlanders can thank James Graham, 3rd Duke of Montrose, for the repeal in 1782 of the Act of 1747 prohibiting the wearing of tartans.

Although there is no official National anthem of Scotland, Flower of Scotland is played on special occasions and sporting events such as football and rugby matches involving the Scotland national teams and as of 2010 is also played at the Commonwealth Games after it was voted the overwhelming favourite by participating Scottish athletes. Other less popular candidates for the National Anthem of Scotland include Scotland the Brave, Highland Cathedral, and A Man's A Man for A’ That.

St Andrew’s Day, 30 November, is the national day, although Burns' Night tends to be more widely observed, particularly outside Scotland. Tartan Dayis a recent innovation from Canada. In 2006, the Scottish Parliament passed the St. Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007, designating the day to be an official bank holiday.

Administrative subdivisions

Historical types subdivisions of Scotland include the mormaerdom, stewartry, earldom, burgh, parish, county and regions and districts. The names of these areas are still sometimes used as geographical descriptors.

Modern Scotland is subdivided in various ways depending on the purpose. For local government, there have been 32 council areas since 1996, whose councils are unitary authorities responsible for the provision of all local government services. Community councilsare informal organisations that represent specific sub-divisions of a council area. For the Scottish Parliament, there are 73 constituencies and eight regions. For the Parliament of the United Kingdom, there are 59constituencies. The Scottish fire brigades and police forces are still based on the system of regions introduced in 1975. For healthcare and postal districts, and a number of other governmental and non-governmental organisations such as the churches, there are other long-standing methods of subdividing Scotland for the purposes of administration.

City status in the United Kingdom is determined by letters patent. There are six cities in Scotland: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, most recently Inverness, and Stirling.

Geography

The mainland of Scotland comprises the northern third of the land mass of the island of Great Britain, which lies off the northwest coast of Continental Europe. The total area is 78,772 km², comparable to the size of the Czech Republic. Scotland's only land border is with England, and runs for 96 kilometres between the basin of the River Tweed on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The Atlantic Ocean borders the west coast and the North Sea is to the east. The island of Ireland lies only 30 kilometres from the southwestern peninsula of Kintyre; Norway is 305 kilometres to the east and the Faroes, 270 kilometres to the north.

The territorial extent of Scotland is generally that established by the 1237 Treaty of York between Scotland and the Kingdom of England and the 1266 Treaty of Perth between Scotland and Norway. Important exceptions include the Isle of Man, which having been lost to England in the 14th century is now a crown dependency outside of the United Kingdom; the island groups Orkney and Shetland, which were acquired from Norway in 1472; and Berwick-upon-Tweed, lost to England in 1482.

The geographical centre of Scotland lies a few miles from the village of Newtonmore in Badenoch. Rising to 1,344 metres above sea level, Scotland's highest point is the summit of Ben Nevis, in Lochaber, while Scotland's longest river, the River Tay, flows for a distance of 190 kilometres.

Highlands and islands

The Highlands and Islands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland largely comprises ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian, which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. It is interspersed with igneousintrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and Skye Cuillins.

A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstones found principally along the Moray Firth coast. The Highlands are generally mountainous and the highest elevations in the British Isles are found here. Scotland has over 790 islands, which are divided into four main groups: Shetland, Orkney, and the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. There are numerous bodies of freshwater including Loch Lomond and Loch Ness. Some parts of the coastline consist of machair, a low lying dune pasture land.

Central lowlands

The Central Lowlands is a rift valley mainly comprising Paleozoic formations. Many of these sediments have economic significance for it is here that the coal and iron bearing rocks that fuelled Scotland’s industrial revolution are to be found. This area has also experienced intense volcanism, Arthur’s Seatin Edinburgh being the remnant of a once much larger volcano. This area is relatively low-lying, although even here hills such as the Ochils and Campsie Fells are rarely far from view.

Southern uplands

The Southern Uplands are a range of hills almost 200 kilometres long, interspersed with broad valleys. They lie south of a second fault line (the Southern Uplands fault) that runs from Girvan to Dunbar. The geological foundations largely comprise Silurian deposits laid down some 4–500 million years ago. The high point of the Southern Uplands is Merrick with an elevation of 843 m. The Southern Uplands is home to the UK’s highest village, Wanlockhead (430 m above sea level).

Climate

The climate of Scotland is temperate and oceanic, and tends to be very changeable. It is warmed by the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic, and as such has much milder winters (but cooler, wetter summers) than areas on similar latitudes, for example Labrador, Canada, Moscow, or the Kamchatka Peninsula on the opposite side of Eurasia. However, temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the UK, with the coldest ever UK temperature of -27.2 °C recorded at Braemar in the Grampian Mountains, on 11 February 1895. Winter maximums average 6°C in the lowlands, with summer maximums averaging 18C . The highest temperature recorded was 32.9 °C at Greycrook, Scottish Borders on 9 August 2003.

In general, the west of Scotland is usually warmer than the east, owing to the influence of Atlantic ocean currents and the colder surface temperatures of the North Sea. Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides, is one of the sunniest places in the country: it had more than 300 hours of sunshine in May 1975. Rainfall varies widely across Scotland. The western highlands of Scotland are the wettest place, with annual rainfall exceeding 3,000 mm. In comparison, much of lowland Scotland receives less than 800 mm annually. Heavy snowfall is not common in the lowlands, but becomes more common with altitude. Braemar experiences an average of 59 snow days per year, while many coastal areas average fewer than 10 days of lying snow per annum.

Flora and fauna

Scotland’s wildlife is typical of the north west of Europe, although several of the larger mammals such as the Lynx, Brown Bear, Wolf, Elk and Walrus were hunted to extinction in historic times. There are important populations of seals and internationally significant nesting grounds for a variety of seabirds such as Gannets. The Golden Eagle is something of a national icon.

On the high mountain tops species including Ptarmigan, Mountain Hare and Stoat can be seen in their white colour phase during winter months. Remnants of the native Scots Pine forest exist and within these areas the Scottish Crossbill, the UK’s only endemic bird species and vertebrate, can be found alongside Capercaillie, Wildcat, Red Squirrel and Pine Marten. In recent years various animals have been re-introduced, including the White-tailed Sea Eagle in 1975, the Red Kite in the 1980s, and more recently there have been experimental projects involving the Beaver and Wild Boar.

The flora of the country is varied incorporating both deciduous and coniferous woodland and moorland and tundra species. However, large scale commercial tree planting and the management of upland moorland habitat for the grazing of sheep and commercial field sport activities impacts upon the distribution of indigenous plants and animals. The UK’s tallest tree is a Grand Fir planted beside Loch Fyne, Argyll in the 1870s , and the Fortingall Yew may be 5,000 years old and is probably the oldest living thing in Europe. Although the number of nativevascular plants is low by world standards, Scotland's substantial bryophyte flora is of global importance.

Culture

Scottish music is a significant aspect of the nation's culture, with both traditional and modern influences. A famous traditional Scottish instrument is the Great Highland Bagpipe, a wind instrument consisting of three drones and a melody pipe (called the chanter), which are fed continuously by a reservoir of air in a bag. Bagpipe bands, featuring bagpipes and various types of drums, and showcasing Scottish music styles while creating new ones, have spread throughout the world. The clàrsach (harp), fiddle and accordion are also traditional Scottish instruments, the latter two heavily featured in Scottish country dance bands. Today, there are many successful Scottish bands and individual artists in varying styles including Runrig, Boards of Canada, Cocteau Twins, Franz Ferdinand and Texas.

Scotland has a literary heritage dating back to the early Middle Ages. The earliest extant literature composed in what is now Scotland was in Brythonic speech in the 6th century, but is preserved as part of Welsh literature. Later medieval literature included works in Latin, Gaelic, Old English and French. The first surviving major text in Early Scots is the 14th century poet John Barbour's epic Brus, focusing on the life of Robert I, and was soon followed by a series of vernacular romances and prose works. In the 16th century the crown's patronage helped the development of Scots drama and poetry, but the accession of James VI to the English throne removed a major centre of literary patronage and Scots was sidelined as a literary language. Interest in Scots literature was revived in the 18th century by figures including James Macpherson, whose Ossian Cycle made him the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation and was a major influence on the European Enlightenment. It was also a major influence on Robert Burns, considered by many to be the national poet, and Walter Scott, whose Waverley Novels did much to define Scottish identity in the 19th century. Towards the end of the Victorian era a number of Scottish-born authors achieved international reputations as writers in English, including Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J. M. Barrie and George MacDonald. In the 20th century the Scottish Renaissance saw a surge of literary activity and attempts to reclaim the Scots language as a medium for serious literature. Members of the movement were followed by a new generation of post-war poets including Edwin Morgan, who would be appointed the first Scots Makar by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004. From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, particularly associated with a group of writers including Irvine Welsh. Scottish poets who emerged in the same period included Carol Ann Duffy, who was named as the first Scot to be UK Poet Laureate in May 2009.

Scottish theatre has for many years played an important role in Scottish society, from the music hall variety of Sir Harry Lauder and his contemporaries to the more serious plays put on at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and many other theatres throughout Scotland.

Television in Scotland is largely the same as UK-wide broadcasts, however the national broadcaster is BBC Scotland, a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It runs three national television stations, and the national radio stations, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, amongst others. Scotland also has some programming in the Gaelic language. BBC Alba is the national Gaelic-language channel. The main Scottish commercial television station is STV. National newspapers such as the Daily Record, The Herald, and The Scotsman are all produced in Scotland. Important regional dailies include the Evening News in Edinburgh The Courier in Dundee in the east, and The Press and Journal serving Aberdeen and the north. Scotland is represented at the Celtic Media Festival, which showcases film and television from the Celtic countries. Scottish entrants have won many awards since the festival began in 1980.

As one of the Celtic nations, Scotland and Scottish culture is represented at interceltic events at home and over the world. Scotland hosts several music festivals including Celtic Connections (Glasgow), and the Hebridean Celtic Festival (Stornoway). Festivals celebrating Celtic culture, such as Festival Interceltique de Lorient(Brittany), the Pan Celtic Festival (Ireland), and the National Celtic Festival (Portarlington, Australia), feature elements of Scottish culture such as language, music and dance.

Scottish cuisine

Scottish cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with Scotland. It has distinctive attributes and recipes of its own, but shares much with wider European cuisine as a result of foreign and local influences both ancient and modern. Traditional Scottish dishes exist alongside international foodstuffs brought about by migration. Scotland's natural larder of game, dairy, fish, fruit, and vegetables is the integral factor in traditional Scots cooking, with a high reliance on simplicity and a lack of spices from abroad, which were often very expensive. While many inveterate dishes such as Scotch broth are considered healthy, many common dishes are rich in fat, and may contribute to the high rates of heart disease and obesity in the country. In recent times greater importance has been placed on the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables, but many Scots, particularly those of low incomes, continue to have poor diets, which contributes to Scotland's relatively high mortality rate from coronary heart disease. Scottish cuisine is enjoying a renaissance. As of 2009, fourteen restaurants with Michelin stars served traditional or fusion cuisine made with local ingredients (15 Michelin stars in total). In most towns, Chinese and Indian take-away restaurants exist along with traditional fish and chip shops. Larger towns and cities offer cuisine ranging from Thai and Japanese to Mexican, Pakistani, Polish and Turkish.

Scotland, with its temperate climate and abundance of indigenous game species, has provided a cornucopia of food for its inhabitants for millennia. The wealth of seafood available on and off the coasts provided the earliest settlers with their sustenance. Agriculture was introduced, with primitive oats quickly becoming the staple.In common with many medieval European neighbours, Scotland was a feudal state for a greater part of the second millennium. This put certain restrictions on what one was allowed to hunt, therefore to eat. In the halls of the great men of the realm, one could expect venison, boar, various fowl and songbirds, expensive spices (pepper, cloves, cinnamon, etc.), as well as the meats of domesticated species. From the journeyman down to the lowest cottar, meat was an expensive commodity, and would be consumed rarely. For the lower echelons of Medieval Scots, it was the products of their animals rather than the beasts themselves which provided nourishment. This is evident today in traditional Scots fare, with its emphasis on dairy produce. It would appear that the average meal would consist of a pottage of herbs and roots (and when available some meat or stock for flavouring), with bread and cheese when possible.

Before Sir Walter Raleigh's introduction of the potato to the British Isles, the Scots' main source of carbohydrate was bread made from oats or barley. Wheat was generally difficult to grow because of the damp climate. Food thrift was evident from the earliest times, with excavated middens displaying little evidence of anything but the toughest bones. All parts of an animal were used.

The mobile nature of Scots society in the past required food that should not spoil quickly. It was common to carry a small bag of oatmeal that could be transformed into a basic porridgeor oatcakes using a girdle (griddle). It is thought that Scotland's national dish, haggis, originated in a similar way: A small amount of offal or low-quality meat, carried in the most inexpensive bag available, a sheep or pig’s stomach. It has also been suggested that this dish was introduced by Norse invaders who were attempting to preserve their food during the long journey from Scandinavia.

During the Late Middle Ages and early modern era, French cuisine played a role in Scottish cookery due to cultural exchanges brought about by the “Auld Alliance”, especially during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary, on her return to Scotland, brought an entourage of French staff who are considered responsible for revolutionising Scots cooking and for some of Scotland's unique food terminology.

Scotland, in common with the other parts of the United Kingdom, suffered during the 20th century. Rationing during the two World Wars, as well as large scale industrial agriculture, limited the diversity of food available to the public. Imports from the British Empire and beyond did, however, introduce new foods to the Scottish public. But processed foods have become more and more popular, particularly among the youth. The schoolchildren of Glasgow, for example, have been reported as consuming a large amount of processed foods. During the 19th and 20th centuries there was large scale immigration to Scotland from Italy, and later from the Middle East, Pakistan and India. These cultures have influenced Scots cooking dramatically. The Italians reintroduced the standard of fresh produce, and the later comers introduced spice. With the enlargement of the European Union in the early years of the 21st century, there has been an increase in the population of Eastern European descent, from Poland in particular. A number of speciality restaurants and delicatessens catering for the various new immigrants have opened in the larger towns and cities.

NOTES AND MEANINGS

Declaration of Arbroath is a declaration of Scottish independence, made in 1320. It is in the form of a letter submitted to Pope John XXII, dated 6 April 1320, intended to confirm Scotland's status as an independent, sovereign stateand defending Scotland's right to use military action when unjustly attacked. Generally believed to have been written in the Arbroath Abbey.

Dál Riata – was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland.

The Lion Rampant flag– the flag used by the King of Scots. A «lion rampant» is depicted in profile standing erect with forepaws raised.

Michelin stars – in 1933 André Michelin and his brother Édouard Michelin introduced the first countrywide French restaurant listings and introduced the Michelin star system for ranking food, later extended to the rest of the world. The guide awards one to three stars to a small number of restaurants of outstanding quality. One star indicates a «very good cuisine in its category».

Walter Raleigh – (1554 – 29 October 1618) was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England.

Cocteau Twins – were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals.

Runrig –a Scottish Celtic rock group formed in Skye

Boards of Canada (commonly abbreviated BoC) – a Scottish electronic music duo

Franz Ferdinand –a Scottish band formed in Glasgow in 2002.

Texas –a Scottish pop band from Glasgow, Scotland.

Early Scots –describes the emerging literary language of the Northern Middle English speaking parts of Scotland in the period before 1450.

Ossian –the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson rom 1760.

Waverley Novels –a long series of books by Sir Walter Scott. For nearly a century they were among the most popular and widely-read novels in all of Europe.

Makar –a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as royal court poet, although the term can be more generally applied.

Sir Henry Lauder –(4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950), known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, Music hall comedian & singer

Material for farther reading:

1. Bumsted, J.M.. “Scots”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2012.

2.Devine, T.M. The Scottish Nation .London:Penguin. 2010.

3. Pope, R. Religion and National Identity: Wales and Scotland, University of Wales Press, 2011.

4. MacLeod, W. Divided Gaels: Gaelic Cultural Identities in Scotland and Ireland:. Oxford University Press. 2004.

5. www.visitscotland.com

6. www.scotland.org

7. www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

8. www.rampantscotland.com

9.www.britannica.com

WALES

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km². Wales has over 1,200 km of coastline, including its offshore islands; the largest, Anglesey, is also the largest island in the Irish Sea. Wales is largely mountainous, with its highest peaks in the north and central areas, especially in Snowdonia, which contains Snowdon, its highest summit.

During the Iron Age and early medieval period, Wales was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. A distinct Welsh national identity emerged in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations today. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was recognised as King of Wales in 1057. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales. The castles and town walls erected to ensure its permanence are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Wales was subsequently annexed by England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 since when, excluding those matters now devolved to Wales, English law has been the legal system of Wales and England. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century; Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and The Welsh Language Society in 1962. The National Assembly for Wales, created in 1999 following a referendum, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters.

Wales lies within the north temperate zone, its changeable, maritime climate making it one of the wettest countries in Europe. It was an agricultural society for most of its early history, the country's terrain making arable farming secondary to pastoral farming, the primary source of Wales’ wealth. In the 18th century, the introduction of the slate and metallurgical industries, at