British Cultural Studies

Introduction to British:
Geography
History
Education
System of Government
Traditions
Culture
Lifestyle
Union Jack
Textbooks:
What is Britain? – Week 1
 General Overview:
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;
capital – London;
• Great Britain = England, Scotland and Wales;
• Smaller islands – Anglesey, the Isle of Wight, the Orkneys,
the Shetlands, Hebrides and Isles of Scilly;
• 1707 – Acts of Union (England + Scotland);
• 1801 – Act of Union (GB + Ireland); 1921 – Ireland’s
independence;
• National identity - being “British”, what is “Britain”;
• 1998-9 – Scottish Parliament, Assemblies in Cardiff and
Belfast;
• Localism – counties; cities and towns; villages;
Leeds Castle in Kent
 Physical Features:
• The question of the countryside;
 Countryside Alliance;
 Objections to destruction and pollution,
concreting the rural land, decrease in rural
services, ignorance of country life;
 Rural v. urban communities;
• Size and population – 242,842 km2;
67,081,000 people;
 England – 129,634 km2; 56,286,961;
 Scotland – 77,179 km2; 5,463,300;
 Wales – 20,637 km2; 3,153,000;
 Northern Ireland – 13,438 km2; 1,893,700;
 955x483 km
Scottish Highlands
Dover beach
Giant’s Causeway
• Geological and weathering changes;
• Major rivers:
 Clyde;
 Tyne, Trent, Severn, Thames;
 Bann and Lagan;
• The British coastline – loss of land, houses and
farms;
• Separation from the mainland of Europe during
the Ice Age; Dover, Calais;
• Physical relief – Highlands and lowlands;
• England;
 Lowland countryside; highland areas in the north
and south-west;
• Wales;
 Highland country; moorland plateau; hills and
mountains with deep rivers and valleys;
 Cardiff, Swansea, Newport;
• Scotland;
 Northwest and Central Highlands;
 Central Lowlands;
 Southern Uplands;
 Ben Nevis (1,343);
 Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee;
• Northern Ireland;
 Rocky coastline; plains and mountaneous areas;
Snowdonia National Park
 Climate;
• No extreme contrasts in
temperature;
• Colder in the north;
• Not a very sunny country;
 Attitudes to the Environment;
• Green movement (1980s)
• Global warming;
• Summer droughts; winter floods;
• Rising seas; heat waves;
 Snapshots of Britain
• Core v. periphery
• North-south divide
 Wages, unemployment,
health, education, crime
levels;
 Attempts to rejuvenate;
• Cities, towns and villages
 Commuter culture;
 Living in the countryside;
 Tourism’s effect;
• Rich and poor
 Symbols:
 England
 Scotland
 Wales
 Northern Ireland