Civilisation en anglais

Introduction to contemporary Britain.

Is the United Kingdom becoming a « divided realm »?
Britain is today a crowded island and has a population of almost 61.8 millions. Because of its geographical status, Britain has always been a multi ethnic nation; immigrants arrived for diverse reasons such as religious persecution or economic reasons. More recently, immigration ahs become a hotpolitical issue.
To start with, we are going to deal with a series of definitions.
What is Great Britain? Which countries are in Great Britain? What is the United Kingdom ? Where does the name U.K come from? What countries make up the U.K? What is the difference between England, GB and UK? What do we mean by the British Isles? The Commonwealth? The British Empire?

I/ The British isles
The BritishIsles is the name of collection of about 4000 islands, including Great Britain and Ireland. The name, British Isles, is usually only seen on maps.
Great Britain, know as Britain or GB, is the name for the largest of the islands. It includes England, Scotland and Wales, but it doesn’t include Northern Island or the Republic of Ireland.
The British Isles is a geographic term that refers to GB, thewhole of Ireland, the channels islands and all the offshore islands, most notably the Isle of Man.
The UK doesn’t include the Isle of Man (which lies between GB and the island of Ireland) and the channels islands (which lies off the North cost of France). The Isle of Man otherwise known simply as Mann is a self governing British Crown Dependency.

The head of state is Queen Elisabeth II, whoholds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann which is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The island is not part of the UK, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the K Government.
It’s important to remember that Southern Island, also called Eire, is completely independent. The UK is a political rather than is a geographical way. The UK is a political term, whichincludes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. All of these countries are represented is parliament in London. Today, Scotland and Wales have their own local parliaments with power to make decisions about their countries. The UK is a member of the European Union. The Isle of Man maintains free-trade agreements with the EU, but isn’t a member.

Everybody from the UK is British, but onlypeople from England are English, people from Wales think themselves as Welsh, people from Scotland as Scottish, people from Northern Ireland as either British or Irish. GB is the term used for the island containing the contiguous nations of England, Scotland and Wales. Great Britain is used to distinguish Britain from Brittany (Bretagne) in France.

England, Scotland and Wales together with theprovince of Northern Ireland, from the country officially known as “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” or simply the United Kingdom. The UK came into being in 1801 following the Irish Union, although the greater part of Ireland gained independence in 1921 to form the Irish Republic (Eire). The majority of the people in Northern Ireland have wished to remain part of the UKalthough a minority wanted unification with the Irish Republic.

England is part of an island called Great Britain, the largest island called Great Britain, the largest island in Europe. GB is the official name given to the 2 kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the principality of Wales. Great Britain is made up of England with London as a capital, Scotland with Edinburgh and Wales with Cardiff.
GBis divided into counties. The word county describes an area with its own local government. County councils are elected to run current affairs such an education, housing, town, planning and rubbish disposal. They look after roads, libraries and swimming pools. Many counties, like Yorkshire, Berkshire and Lancashire, contain the word shire, which is an old word for county.
The Commonwealth is an...