Geographical positionan

dcomposition of the country

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What is the British Isles?

The British Isles is a geographical term which includes Great Britain, the whole of Ireland and all the offshore islands, lying off the north-western coastline of Europe.

What is the British Isles?

The British Isles is a geographical term which includes Great Britain, the whole of Ireland and all the offshore islands, lying off the north-western coastline of Europe.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated

on the British Isles.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated

on the British Isles.

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A diagram clarifying the terminology: geographic-only locations; political entities (may also be geographic terms).

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The Islands in the British Isles

The British Isles consists of the following islands: • Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales); • Ireland (the Republic of Ireland) - a country west of England across the Irish Sea

(not part of the United Kingdom);• Northern Ireland ( part of the United Kingdom);• The Orkney and Shetland Islands - islands off the northeast coast of Scotland;• The Isle of Man - an island in the Irish Sea;• Hebrides (including the Inner Hebrides, Outer Hebrides and Small Isles) All are

islands off the northwest coast of Scotland;• The Isle of Wight - an island off the southern coast of England;• Isles of Scilly - an island off the southwest coast of England;• Lundy Island - an island off the southwest coast of England;• The Channel Islands - a group of small islands in the English Channel, off the coast

of Normandy, France. The principal islands of the group include Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark;

• Plus many other offshore islands.

Click on the name of the island to get more information.

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The United Kingdom

The UK is situated north-west of the European continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea.

It has a total land area of 244,100 square kilometres, of which nearly 99% is land and the remainder inland water. From north to south it is about 1,000 kilometres long.

The official name of the UK is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The UK is part of Europe and a member of the European Union (EU).

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The UK is bordered by four seas:

• to the south by the English Channel and the Strait of Dover, which separate it from continental Europe;

• to the east by the North Sea;• to the west by the Irish Sea and the

Atlantic Ocean.

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The English Channel , also known as La Manche (French ‘the sleeve’ from its shape) is a narrow arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating the southern coast of England from the northern coast of France and tapering eastward to its junction with the North Sea at the Strait of Dover. With an area of some 75,000 square kilometres, it is the smallest of the shallow seas covering the continental shelf of Europe.

The English Channel back

The Strait of Dover (French: Pas de Calais)

The Strait of Dover is a narrow water passage separating England (northwest) from France (southeast) and connecting the English Channel (southwest) with the North Sea (northeast).

It is just 33 kilometers wide between Dover and Calais, and is considered to be the busiest shipping lane in the world.

The Channel Tunnel passes under it.back

The North Sea

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The Irish Sea

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What is Great Britain?

Great Britain is the official name given to the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the principality of Wales. It is an island lying off the western coast of Europe, comprising the main territory of the United Kingdom.

Great Britain is made up of: • England - The capital is London; • Scotland - The capital is Edinburgh;• Wales - The capital is Cardiff.

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It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales.

It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 52 km sea gap.

The Channel Tunnel directly links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel.

England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain.

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Scotland is a nation in northwest Europe and one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom.

It occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shares a land border to the south with England. It 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. Apart from the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790 islands.

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Wales is located on a peninsula in central-west Great Britain.

It is about 274 km (170 miles) north-south and 97 km (60 miles) east-west.

Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in the other three directions: the Bristol Channel to the south, St. George's Channel to the west, and the Irish Sea to the north. Altogether, Wales has over 1,200 km (750 miles) of coastline.

There are several islands off the Welsh mainland, the largest being Anglesey in the northwest.

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The Isle of ManThe Isle of Man

The Isle of Man is part of the British Isles, an archipelago off the north western coast of mainland Europe. The island is located geographically in the middle of the Irish Sea, approximately between England, Scotland and Ireland.

How big is the Isle of Man? Approximately 32 miles (48 km) long and between 8 and 15 miles (13 and 24 km) wide.

More than 40% of the Island is uninhabited.

What makes the Isle of Man different from anywhere else in the British Isles?

The Island is a unique self-governing kingdom - a Crown dependency which belongs to neither the UK nor the European Union. It has its own parliament,

laws, traditions, culture, cuisine and postage stamps.

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Ireland (Irish: Éire) is the third largest island in Europe; the twentieth-largest island in the world; It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by

hundreds of islands and islets. It is bound to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the northeast by the North Channel. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain;

Politically, the Republic of Ireland (also known officially as Ireland)

covers five-sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, covering the remainder in the north-east;

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Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland (Irish: Ulster) is a constituent country of the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering about a sixth of the island's total area.

It is separated from the island of Great Britain by the North Channel.

Northern Ireland consists of six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster.

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The Orkney and Shetland Islands

Orkney (also known as the Orkney Islands) is an island group in northern Scotland. Orkney comprises over 70 islands; around 20 are inhabited. The largest island, known as “the Mainland” is the sixth-largest Scottish island and the ninth-largest island surrounding the island of Great Britain.

Shetland is an archipelago off the northeast coast of mainland Scotland.

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The Isle of Wight is an English island and county in the English Channel three miles from the south coast of Great Britain.

Isle of Wight is approximately diamond in shape and covers an area of 380 km². and has 92 km of coastline. The landscape of the Island is remarkably diverse, leading to its oft-quoted description of "England in Miniature".

The West Wight is predominantly rural, with dramatic coastlines dominated by the famous chalk ridges, running across the whole Island and ending in The Needles.

The Isle of Wight

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The Needlesa row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western coast. A lighthouse designed by Scottish civil engineer James Walker has stood

at the western end of the formation since 1859.

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The Channel Tunnel Location: Beneath the English Channel

(Strait of Dover);

Status: Active;

Start: Folkestone, Kent, England;

End: Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais, France;

Opened: 6 May 1994;

Description: The tunnel consists of three parallel tunnels. There are two rail tunnels, which carry trains north-west and south-east. Between the rail tunnels there is a service tunnel served by narrow rubber-tyred vehicles. It gives maintenance workers access to the rail tunnels and provides a route for escape during emergencies;

Statistics: The Channel Tunnel is 50.450 km long, of which 37.9 km are undersea. The average depth is 45.7 m underneath the seabed, and the deepest is 60 m. The undersea section, at 37.9 km, is the longest undersea tunnel in the world.

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The Mainland

The Mainland is the main island of Orkney, ScotlandThe Mainland is the main island of Orkney, Scotlandback

AngleseyAnglesey is a predominantly Welsh-speaking island off the northwest coast of Wales. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges spanning the fifteen mile long Menai Strait: the original Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826; and the newer reconstructed Britannia Bridge originally designed by Robert Stephenson.

Anglesey is also a county which includes Holy Island and other nearby small islands.

With an area of 276 square miles (715 km²), Anglesey is the largest Welsh island, and the fifth largest surrounding Britain.

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Aerial view of the Menai Straitand the bridges.

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Menai Suspension Bridge

The Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it is one of the first modern suspension bridges in the world.

The Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it is one of the first modern suspension bridges in the world.

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Britannia Bridge

Britannia Bridge is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales, originally a tubular bridge, and now a two level steel truss arch bridge carrying both trains and road traffic.

The present day bridge has a much different appearance than the original. This is because it has been reconstructed after a disastrous fire in 1970. A group of teenagers looking for bats in the dark tubes accidentally dropped the burning paper they were using as a torch. This eventually started a fire through the whole tubular structure that caused much damage to the tubes.

Britannia Bridge is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales, originally a tubular bridge, and now a two level steel truss arch bridge carrying both trains and road traffic.

The present day bridge has a much different appearance than the original. This is because it has been reconstructed after a disastrous fire in 1970. A group of teenagers looking for bats in the dark tubes accidentally dropped the burning paper they were using as a torch. This eventually started a fire through the whole tubular structure that caused much damage to the tubes.

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Hebrides The Hebrides comprise an

archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, and in geological terms are composed of the oldest rocks in the British Isles.

They can be divided into two main groups: Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. The Hebrides as a whole are sometimes referred to as the Western Isles, but this term is more accurately applied just to the Outer Hebrides, which were once known as The Long Island.

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The Inner Hebrides

The Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides. Traditionally, the Inner Hebrides have been subdivided into two groups: northern and southern.

The Isle of Skye, commonly known as Skye, is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Skye is linked to the mainland by the Skye Bridge.

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The Outer Hebrides

They form part of the Hebrides, separated from the Scottish mainland and from the Inner Hebrides by the stormy stretch of water known as the Minch and the Little Minch.

The Outer Hebrides are situated approximately 30 miles off the West Coast of Scotland. There are 11 inhabited Islands in the archipelago which is over 200km long. The island of Barra is at the southern end and Lewis at the northern end.

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Lewis and Harris

Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides make up the largest island in Scotland. It has an area of 841 square miles (2,180 km²) - slightly under one per cent of the area of Great Britain.

The northern part of the island is called Lewis, the southern is Harris and both are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands.

Lewis was first settled in the Iron Age - people who left their mark in the countless Neolithic sites which scatter the island.

Callanish stone circle

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The Isle of Skye

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The Skye Bridge

London

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London /lʌndən/ is the capital and largest urban area of England and the United Kingdom.

London /lʌndən/ is the capital and largest urban area of England and the United Kingdom.

Edinburgh

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Edinburgh /ɛdɪnb(ə)rə/ is the capital of Scotland, the seventh-largest city in the United Kingdom.

Edinburgh /ɛdɪnb(ə)rə/ is the capital of Scotland, the seventh-largest city in the United Kingdom.

Cardiff

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Cardiff is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff is the capital and largest city of Wales.

location of the city of Cardiff (light green) within the Principality of Wales (dark green)

location of the city of Cardiff (light green) within the Principality of Wales (dark green)

Belfast

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Belfast (from the Irish: meaning "Sandy ford at river mouth") is the capital of Northern Ireland. It is the largest urban area in Northern Ireland and the province of Ulster and the second-largest city on the island of Ireland.

Belfast (from the Irish: meaning "Sandy ford at river mouth") is the capital of Northern Ireland. It is the largest urban area in Northern Ireland and the province of Ulster and the second-largest city on the island of Ireland.

DublinDublin Dublin /dʌblɨn/ (meaning Town

of the Hurdled Ford) is both the largest city and the capital of Ireland.

It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region.

It is an economic, administrative and cultural centre for the island of Ireland.

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