1) Geography of the UK

The United Kingdom, also called the U.K., consists of a group of islands off the northwest coast of
Europe. It is a unique country made up of four nations: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
England, Wales, and Scotland also make up Great Britain.

Much of the north and west of the U.K. is covered in high ground, knife-edged mountain ridges
separated by deep valleys. This terrain was shaped in the last Ice Age, when thick glaciers covered the
land.

In the south of England, the countryside is mostly rolling hills.

In northwest England and the Scottish Highlands are dozens of lakes, called lochs. These were left behind
when the Ice Age glaciers melted. They tend to be long and narrow, and some are very deep. Legends
say that a giant monster called Nessie lives in Loch Ness in Scotland.

Facts

The capital of England is London. Sometimes referred to the capital of Britain. London is built along the
River Thames

Three quarters of the land in Britain is used for farming.

Nine out of ten people live in towns and cities.

The highest mountains are in Scotland and Wales.

More than two-thirds of people own their own homes.

2) Indigenous languages in the UK

There are 14 different indigenous languages used across the UK. English has the most number of
speakers while Cornish, a language used in Cornwall, probably has the least – only about 500 people
speak it fluently. Here are some of the major indigenous languages still alive in the UK.

English

Some people are surprised to learn that English isn’t the official language of the United Kingdom. But it is
the de-facto language of the UK because it’s the main language of around 92% of the population. There
are lots of different dialects of English in the UK, but everyone can more or less understand each other.
Welsh

Welsh is the only language listed as an official language in any part of the UK – About a million people
speak Welsh; they mainly live in Wales but they do live in other parts of the UK too. Welsh is a Celtic
language and English is Germanic, so the languages are definitely not mutually intelligible – actually,
they’re very, very different!.
Scots

Scots is the second most spoken language in the UK with around 1.5 million speakers in Scotland. Some
people think Scots is a dialect of English, but it is counted as a separate language in surveys. Most people
who speak Scots learnt it as a second language and it’s seen as an important way to keep Scottish culture
alive.

3) Henry VIII

Henry's interest in foreign policy was focused on Western Europe, which was a shifting pattern of
alliances centred round the kings of Spain and France, and the Holy Roman Emperor. (Henry was related
by marriage to all three - his wife Katherine was Ferdinand of Aragon's daughter, his sister Mary married
Louis IX of France in 1514, and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was Katherine's nephew.

Henry also invested in the navy, and increased its size from 5 to 53 ships.

Henry had married his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon, in 1509. Catherine had produced only one
surviving child - a girl, Princess Mary, born in 1516.
By the end of the 1520s, Henry's wife was in her forties and he was desperate for a son.

Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon were Roman Catholic, and the Church forbade divorce. As time went
on without a male heir), Henry began looking for a new wife who could bear healthy sons. Young and
sophisticated Anne Boleyn caught his eye.

Since divorce was out of the question, Henry petitioned Pope Clement VII in Rome for an annulment —
which essentially declares that the marriage never existed. If the marriage never existed, then there
could be no divorce. Catherine refused to accept this arrangement.

Pope Clement denied an annulment for several reasons, one being that Catherine's nephew, Emperor
Charles V of Spain, had laid siege to Rome and essentially was holding the Pope as prisoner.

Henry broke away from the Roman Catholic Church by naming himself the Supreme Head of the Church
of England (thereby rejecting the Pope's authority), divorced Catherine, and married Anne Boleyn. Anne
failed to produce a male heir and was beheaded after three years of marriage. She was queen for just
1,000 days.

4) Queen Elizabeth I of England

Queen elizabeth was born in 1533 to Henry VIII and his second wife, she was Queen of England from
1558 to her death in 1603. She inherited the throne after the death of her half-sister, Queen "Bloody"
Mary Tudor. Her reign is often called the Elizabethan or "Golden Age" because it was a time period of
great advancement and achievement in England. She has been called an outstanding politician, orator,
tactician, and musician.

Elizabeth's reign was marked by her effective use of Parliament and the Privy Council, a small advisory
body of the important state officials, and by the development of legal institutions in English counties.

During her reign, Elizabeth unified a Protestant England against the Catholic Spanish and defeated the
Spanish armada in 1588. She was responsible for English exploration of the New World and the
flourishing of the economy, making England a world power. Her reign was also noted for the English
Renaissance, an outpouring of poetry and drama. 3) Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819, and
ruled Britain for over 60 years

5) The legacy of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria's legacy and her name became synonymous with the many positive events that took
place at the time. Artists, writers, and poets flourished, many social, religious, and political movements
started, and there was a move on border expansion and political reforms. It was at that point that many
people started to consider the era something of a second renaissance age. Life during the Victorian era
was also met with positive change. Fertility rates soared, while mortality rates decreased. Indeed, it was
a time where the population exploded into the 30 million mark. For the first time in Britain's history, no
major epidemic occurred, thanks to the improvement of health and environmental standards, and the
discoveries and advancements made in nutrition and medicine.

6) Abdication of Edward VIII

Lots of countries were once ruled by Britain. It was called the British Empire. When these countries
started to become independent, they still had a link to the United Kingdom.

The countries still wanted to remain friends, so this is how the Commonwealth started. The
Commonwealth first started in 1926.

This is when it changed from the British Empire to the Commonwealth. It was at a conference where it
was agreed that certain countries would still have the Queen as their Head of State, however the United
Kingdom did not rule over them. This was when they changed the British Empire to the ‘British
Commonwealth of Nations’. It’s not just us in the Commonwealth. Around one third of the world is a
part of it! There are around 2.5 billion people in Commonwealth countries.

There are 54 countries in the Commonwealth. The Queen was the Head of the Commonwealth until her
death in 2022. She had been for over 60 years. Now, Charles is King and he’s not just the King of the UK…
He is the King of some of the countries listed above. These countries include Australia and Canada!

7) The Commonwealth
The East India Company was an English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and
Southeast Asia and India. Incorporated by royal charter on December 31, 1600, it was started as a
monopolistic trading body so that England could participate in the East Indian spice trade. It also traded
cotton, silk, indigo, saltpeter, and tea and transported slaves. It became involved in politics and acted as
an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century. From the
late 18th century it gradually lost both commercial and political control. In 1873 it ceased to exist as a
legal entity.

8) What was the East India Company?

After ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate
the throne. He chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England
condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. On the evening of
December 11, he gave a radio address in which he explained, “I have found it impossible to carry on the
heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the
help and support of the woman I love.” On December 12, his younger brother, the duke of York, was
proclaimed King George VI.

9) Winston Churchill
From a young age, Winston Churchill was an independent thinker. As an excellent communicator, a bold
risk-taker, and an opportunist, Winston Churchill is thought to be one of the most important Prime
Ministers of the United Kingdom, and a leading force in the Allied victory in World War II. Churchill’s
ability to make bold decisions and learn from his failures is a large part of what sets him apart as a
historic leader. As Prime Minister, he understood the need to make forthright decisions that would not
sit well with everyone but that he could predict would do the best for his country, and ultimately, the
world. For this reason, Winston Churchill was a brave model of decision making.

10) Modern Britain

Between 1945 and 2007, Britain transformed in many different areas. The welfare state was introduced,
immigration increased, and class divisions ceased to exist as they once had. The power and position of
Britain also shifted drastically during this period; Britain's Imperial rule declined with the independence
of many colonies and on the other end of its foreign relations, it entered into union with Europe.
Economically, Britain shifted from manufacturing with deindustrialisation to providing services, and
although the country continually faced inflation and recessions, the general living standard was much
higher by the end of the period. Let's find out how all this happened.