Despite its relatively small size, the United Kingdom is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth, peopled by four main ‘native’ nationalities, plus later arrivals from all over the world. The United Kingdom consists of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), plus the six counties of Northern Ireland. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (principally Jersey and Guernsey) are also parts of the British Isles, but somewhat confusingly not officially part of the UK.
Topographically, the British mainland is broadly divisible into two main regions: the relatively
low-lying south and the highland regions of the north and west. Scotland, Wales, and the northern areas of England occupy the latter, which are in general much more sparsely populated than the more prosperous southeast of England.
London is perennially the principal British attraction for overseas visitors, with its historic landmarks such as the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London. They also flock to the many West End theaters and the shopping areas of Knightsbridge, Oxford Street and Regent Street.
Within easy day-trip distance of London are the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, the picturesque Cotswolds with their many pretty villages, Stratford-upon-Avon (home of William Shakespeare), the cathedral at Canterbury and the seaside attractions of Brighton.
Further afield lie delights like Cornwall (to the southwest), Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria (a large part of which constitutes the Lake District).
Wales adjoins England to the west, and offers, in addition to its populous southern cities, a diverse range of historic castles, spectacular coastline and impressive mountain landscapes.
The majority of Scotland’s population lives in the busy central belt, a lowland region in which the main centers of Glasgow, Stirling, and the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, lie. But equally as popular as the cities is the dramatic scenery of the Highlands to the north and west, location of Britain’s highest mountains and a bewildering array of offshore islands, notably Skye, Orkney and Shetland.
Halfway to Ireland in the Irish Sea sits the Isle of Man, a scenic island with Norse traditions. And west again is Northern Ireland, whose vibrant capital Belfast is a lively option for the visitor. North of the city are the spectacular Antrim Glens, while to the west is the lush ‘lakeland’ of Fermanagh.
The Channel Islands are closer to France than England, situated a short distance off the Normandy coastline.
GeographyThe British landscape can be divided roughly into two kinds of terrain – highland and lowland. The highland area comprises the mountainous regions of Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and North Wales. The English Lake District in the northwest contains lakes and fells. The lowland area is broken up by sandstone and limestone hills, long valleys and basins such as the Wash on the east coast. In the southeast, the North and South Downs culminate in the White Cliffs of Dover. The coastline includes fjord-like inlets in the northwest of Scotland, spectacular cliffs and wild sandy beaches on the east coast and, further south, beaches of rock, shale and sand sometimes backed by dunes, and large areas of fenland in East Anglia.
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