Water Bodies

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 370.

Relief

Extremities

Land's End – a peninsula in Cornwall, the furthermost extremity of south-west England. It comprises a granite mass which rises 61 m from the sea. From Land's End to John O'Groats in Scotland is the longest overland distance in the British Isles: it measures 1,406 km.

John O'Groats is a village in north-eastern Scotland. It has fewer than 50 residents. Its major claims to fame are being the most northerly point of mainland Great Britain, and the furthest from Land's End in Cornwall (taken as the south-westerly extreme). It was named after a Dutchman, Jan de Groat, who established a ferry service with the Orkney Islands in 1496.

The UK consists of 4 parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. England, Scotland and Wales occupy the largest island – Great Britain. Northern Ireland is situated in the north-western part of Ireland. Southern Ireland is an independent state – the Republic of Ireland (or Eire) with its capital Dublin.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Scotland

The northern part of the island of Great Britain together with the Orkneys, the Shetlands and the Hebrides forms the kingdom of Scotland.

Capital - Edinburgh

Symbol - the thistle

Patron saint - St Andrew

Flag - the white diagonal cross on a blue background

The Roman name for Scotland is “Caledonia”.

Scotland can be divided into 3 regions: the Highlands, the Central Lowlands and the Southern Uplands.

In the north of the country we find the Highlands. They are in many ways the wildest, the loneliest and the most beautiful part of the country. The Highlands are divided into the North-West Highlands and the Grampian Mountains or the Grampians. The Grampians are the principal mountain system of Scotland. This division is formed by a great fault in the earth's crust, the Great Glen or Glen More. In the Grampians we find the UK's highest peak which is Ben Nevis (1,343 m).

To the south of the Highlands lie the Central Lowlands, a narrow belt comprising only about one-tenth of the area of Scotland, but containing three-quarters of the country's population.

The Southern Uplands is an agricultural area, and the hills here are lower than in the Highlands. The Southern Uplands consist largely of a moorland plateau with rolling valleys and mountainous outcrops. Only a few summits in the Southern Uplands exceed 762 m in elevation.

A region near the border with England is known as the Border Country. The Border region is the land of broad valleys and hills. The main river of the Scottish Borders area is the Tweed. It rises in the Southern Uplands and runs eastward, forming part of the border with England. The valleys of the Tweed and its many tributaries are areas of fertile farmland.

Scotland is characterized by an abundance of rivers, streams, and lakes (lochs). Notable among the lakes, which are especially numerous in the Central Lowlands and Highland regions, are Loch Lomond (the largest), Loch Ness, Loch Tay, and Loch Katrine.

Loch Ness is probably Scotland's best known lake, due to the Loch Ness monster that might live in its waters. Though this fact is not scientifically proved. However there exists a popular nickname for the creature – Nessie.

But Loch Ness is not the largest lake in Scotland. That is Loch Lomond which is also the largest lake in the whole of Britain.

Loch Ness and a number of other lakes run down the Great Glen, north-east to south-west, and are joined by the Caledonian Canal to provide a waterway which links the Atlantic Ocean with the North Sea. Thus the Caledonian Canal is an artificial waterway and it is in total about 96 km in length.

Many of the rivers of Scotland, in particular those in the west, are short, torrential streams, generally of little commercial importance. The longest river of Scotland is the Tay. The Clyde, however, is the principal commercial river. Other important rivers include the Forth, the Tweed, the Dee, the Spey and the Forth. Most of the rivers flow into the North Sea, but for the Clyde which flows into the North Channel.

The most important cities in Scotland are Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee. The capital of Scotland stands at the estuary of the river Forth (The Firth of Forth).