British Isles Geography PDF

## HERE ARE THE BRITISH ISLES **location** island coastline estuary Greenwich **A. Discussion points** - Why do you think the key terms and ideas mentioned above are important to the topic of the lesson? - What other things come to your mind when you think of Britain? **B. The British Isles. Name...

## HERE ARE THE BRITISH ISLES **location** island coastline estuary Greenwich **A. Discussion points** - Why do you think the key terms and ideas mentioned above are important to the topic of the lesson? - What other things come to your mind when you think of Britain? **B. The British Isles. Name and Location** 1. **Read the text below and identify the places mentioned on the map.** - The British Isles are situated off the north west coast of Europe. - They are represented by a large island called Great Britain and a smaller island called Ireland (whose Southern part is politically independent). - The British Isles also include a few hundred small islands, lying at varying distances from the coasts in the surrounding waters. - The British Isles are situated off the north west coast of Europe. - They are represented by a large island called Great Britain and a smaller island called Ireland (whose Southern part is politically independent). - The British Isles also include a few hundred small islands, lying at varying distances from the coasts in the surrounding waters. 2. **Work in pairs to fill in the table on the right with the latitude and the longitude of the two main islands mentioned above.** | Latitude | Longitude | |---|---| | | | - Notice the 0º longitude (Zero Meridian or Prime Meridian) which passes through the International Time Measure of Greenwich, east of London. The local time is the standard time for Britain, from which most other world times are calculated. **b. Give the boundaries of the British Isles. Fill in the table below.** | North | South | East | West | |---|---|---|---| | | | | | - Great Britain is the name of the island, part of the British Isles, which is made up of _ and _. ### The United Kingdom - The term "Britain" is normally used to describe the whole country. - Britain's full title for constitutional and international affairs is THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND (the UK). - It is part of the British Isles. - The countries belong to the same kingdom and the people's nationality is British. ### Great Britain ## The Coasts of Britain - Types and Processes **4. Read the following text to find out the main types of coastline in Britain.** - Britain's coastline is very irregular. There are many indentations around the British coastline. **The most typical types of coastlines are:** - **Estuary** = a funnel-shaped river mouth which results from flooding of tidal areas. Some of them contain ports such as London, Liverpool and Glasgow. - **Firth (fjord)** = a drowned glaciated valley formed mostly in Scotland after the Ice Age. - **Ria** = a river valley drowned by the post-glacial rise in sea-level. - **Peninsula** = a tract of land, large or small, projecting into a body of water, having water on three sides. They are common in Cornwall, Devon and Wales. - **Straits and Channels** = narrow stretches of water, which separate two bodies of land (e.g. the Strait of Dover, the English Channel). - The seas around the coasts are quite shallow because Britain lies on the Continental Shelf. ## What processes affect the coasts of the UK? - The coastline is constantly changing because of the work of the sea. - Some parts are eroding to form cliffs while others are building up to form beaches. - Consequently, most places in Britain are less than 75 miles (120 km) from the sea. - The sea-level around the coast is always changing for another reason. - The rise and fall of the sea produces the tides. There are high-tides and low-tides every twelve and half hours. This is due to the attraction of the Moon on the Earth. **6. Using an atlas map of Britain:** - a) Identify and name the types of coast located at the letters from A to F on the map from fig. 1.4. - b) Name the islands numbered from 1 to 5 on the outline map above using the information from fig. 1.1. **7. Match the names of the places mentioned below with their respective locations** - • The Wash is an inlet situated on the western Coast of Scotland • Liverpool Bay is an island situated in the Irish Sea • Strait of Dover is a bay in the North-East of Wales • St. George's Channel is a stretch of water separating Britain from France • Isle of Man is a channel that separates Wales from Ireland • Firth of Clyde is a bay situated on the east Coast of Britain • Cornwall Devon is a peninsula situated in the South-West of England **Fill in the gaps in the passage below to summarise the lesson.** - The British Isles is the geographical name of the _ (the Isle of Man, the Orkneys etc.). The _ called Great Britain, Ireland and a multitude of other smaller islands _ . The _ Meridian passes through the eastern part of London. Britain's _ is indented, varied and under constant change due to its geographical _. ## PRACTICE AND CONSOLIDATION 1. **Work in pairs to make a list of the things you have learned about Britain. Start by filling in the gapped text below.** - The British Isles are situated ____ of Europe. - The ____ or ____ which is now one of London's suburbs. - Great Britain includes ____. - The whole name of the country is: _____. Britain's coastline is very irregular with many ____, ____, and ____, like: ____. 2. **Read the following statements. Some of them contain errors. Rewrite them to make correct statements.** - The British Isles are situated off the north-west coast of mainland Europe. - Great Britain also includes Northern Ireland. - The North Sea and the Irish Sea are very deep along Britain's coast. - The English Channel borders England to the South. - The Scottish firths are narrow channels of the sea. 3. **Define the following terms: indentation, cliff, shallow. Use the terms in sentences to describe types of coasts found in your country.** 4. **a. Write the word family of 'coast' and include each of the words in sentences of your own. b Using the glossary tell the difference between 'bay', 'firth', 'estuary'. c. Choose the correct form in the context (check with the glossary):** - 1. The British Isles (lay/lie) off the coast of Europe. - 2. St. George's (Channel/canal) separates Wales from Ireland. - 3. The (Island/Isle) of Man is a member of the Commonwealth. - 4. The (Strait/Straight) of Dover is only 30 km wide. - d. Replace the underlined words with a suitable synonym. - 1. Northern Ireland is situated North of the Republic of Ireland. - 2. The border between England and Wales is very regular. - 3. The Greenwich Meridian is the Prime Meridian of the Earth. 5. **Work on the World map (in your Atlas). Find which major cities mentioned below are close to the same line of latitude as London: Bucharest, Paris, Warsaw, Prague, Berlin, New York, Calcutta, Vancouver.** 6. **Knowing that Great Britain is 500 km wide and nearly 1,000 km long how long would it take a plane, travelling at 750 kilometres per hour, to fly over Great Britain from the far north (John O'Groats) to the south coast (Land's End) ?** 7. **Fill in the chart with the missing information to find out information on the UK.** | Country | Area (sq.km) | Population (thousands) | Capital | |---|---|---|---| | The UK | 243,610 | 58,837 | | | England | 130,433 | 49,181 | | | Scotland | 78,822 | | Edinburgh | | Wales | | 2,903 | Cardiff | | Northern Ireland | 13,576 | 1,689 | | ## ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - The term Great Britain is used to differentiate Britain from Brittany (French for Bretagne). The word Great helps to distinguish between the two: Grande Bretagne = Great Britain, Bretagne = Brittany. - Islands like the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Channel Islands off the French Coast are not part of the UK although they are members of the Commonwealth. They are self-governing Crown dependencies with a common historical relationship but with different legal, legislative and administrative systems. However the British Government is responsible for their defence and international relations. - The Ice Age - already mentioned when presenting the formation of firths in Scotland - was a prolonged period of colder climatic conditions, during which snow and ice covered large areas of the Earth, including Britain. There have been several ice ages in the past, the most recent began about 2 million years ago, often referred to as the Ice Age. ### GREEN SPOT - Walking along the coast, on a fine summer day offers you many pleasures but you must also follow the coast code: - If possible use foot-path and beach-path rather than roads. - Enjoy the view of arches, stacks and cliffs. - Include a visit to a Nature Reserve. - Return home by a different route. ### DID YOU KNOW? - The UK's coastline is 12,430 km long. The British people can own land along the coast, but not under the sea. - The straight line between London and New York is 5,530 km. - There are over two thousand small islands belonging to the UK. ### THINK GREEN - Scientists predict that sea levels will rise as the burning of fossil fuels (wood, coal, oil) warms up the atmosphere. The process is known under the name of global warming. This could lead to the melting of the polar ice caps and a gradual rise in the sea level - a rise of up to one metre in the next 100 years is predicted. As a result, many coastal beaches and estuaries around the world would be drowned. - a. Describe the effects of global warming on British coasts. - b. Describe the effects of global warming on the Romanian Black Sea coast.