The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) is the official name of the state which is situated on the British Isles. Thus, «Great Britain» is often the same as «Britain», or «the United Kingdom», or just «UK». It consists of four countries which are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can see them on the map. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. The UK is an island state. The two main islands are Great Britain (where England, Scotland and Wales are situated) and Ireland. Northern Ireland and the independent Irish Republic are there. The two islands are separated by the Irish Sea. The UK is separated from the continent by the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. Once the British Isles used to be a part of the continent. The nearest point to Europe is the Strait of Dover. The UK is also washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the North Sea in the east. Everyone who was born in Britain is British. People from England are English. People from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland are not English. They are Scottish or the Scots; Welsh and Irish. People from Scotland and Wales don’t like it when they are called English. More than 56 million people live in Britain. Many of them live in big industrial cities like London. Manchester and Liverpool, for example, are big industrial cities in the centre of England. But foreigners are often surprised by the fact that much of land in Britain is open country. There are many lonely hills, quiet rivers, deep lakes and just farmlands especially in the south of the country. Everyone in Britain speaks English. But in some parts of Scotland and Wales people speak different languages as well. The Welsh are especially proud of their language. They like to speak Welsh, to sing songs in Welsh and when you travel you can see road signs in Welsh all over Wales. Everyone in the UK speaks English but they all speak it differently. A Scottish person has to listen carefully if he wants to understand a Londoner or a Welsh person. As you know, the flag of the United Kingdom is known as the Union Jack. It is made up of three crosses: the cross of St. George (the patron saint of England), the cross of St. Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) and the cross of St. Patrick (the patron saint of Ireland).

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