CIVILISATION GB

21/09/09

Tips for the exam

Gaffe aux questions de geo des gdes villes et des régions (plus ou moins)
L'examen se composera d'un texte ressemblant à ceux étudié en TD avec des questions sur différents aspects du texte.
Exemple : Culture générale
Vocabulaire
Connaissances du C.M.
Compréhension du texte

The British Isles and the United Kingdom – General points

A few definitions and symbols

British Isles : Geographical denomination. No other purpose than geographical (not politic for example).
It includes : England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland
As well as a great number of small islands (5000 in total)
Including :The channel islands (Jersey, Guernsey)
The Isle of Wight
The Scilly isles
The isle of Man
The Western isles = the Hebrides
Archipelagos off Scotland
The Orkneys
The Shetlands

Great Britain : composed of England, Wales and Scotland.

United Kingdom : composed of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Full name : The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The UK was created officially in 1800. The last country to join was Northern Ireland.

There are different economic, social and political systems depending on the nation.
In the 20th c. these differences tended to disappear. They became blurred but they didn't totally disappear and now they have re-emerged with the process of devolution (from 97, then 99 and so on..).
What's always been true is that the Welsh, the Irish and the Scots feel their identity very strongly and they are attached to specific symbols (as seen in the polycopié).

05/10/09

Good reason for mistaking England and the UK is because of the domination of England. The country is even dominated from a demographic point of view. 84% of the population lives in England.
There's this particular domination from the part of England.
This domination is also reflected in the banks for example. The National bank is named the National Bank of England (never been a