El reino unido

THE FOUR NATIONS

Introduction

In the north-west coast of Europe there are two large islands ans several smaller ones. This group of islands is known as “The British Isles”, and the main ones are Great Britain and Ireland.
The isles are ruled by two states: The Republic of Ireland, which governs most of the island from which gets the name; and The United Kingdom of Great Britainand Northern Ireland, which governs the northeastern part of Ireland and the whole Great Britain.
The United Kindom is divided into four nations: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, which are the main subject of this writing.

England

The area now called England has been settled by people of various cultures for about 35,000 years, but it takes its name from theAnglo-Saxons, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. Historically, English originated from several dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to the eastern coast of the island of Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers. English was further influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders.
As regards religion, we can say that Christianity isthe most widely practiced and declared religion in England. The Anglican Church is the established church, holding a special constitutional position for the United Kingdom. After Christianity, religions with the most adherents are Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, the Bahá'í Faith, the Rastafari movement and Neopaganism. There are also organisations which promote irreligion, atheisthumanism, and secularism.
The Education System of England is overseen by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. At a local level, the local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools. Besides, full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16.
TheEnglish law system, which is called “common law", functions on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions, and it’s the foundation of many other legal systems. Despite now being part of the United Kingdom, the legal system of the Courts of England and Wales continued separately from the one used in Scotland. The general essence of English law is thatit is made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge of legal precedent to the facts before them.
Finaly, England is distinguished from the other nations because of many cultural items. One of them is, for example, literature. The most famos English writer from all times is William Shakespeare, who wrote a number of very well-known plays, as “Midsummer Night’sDream”, “Merchant of Venice”, and the world-wide famous tragic love story, “Romeo & Juliet”, among others. Other items are the national symbols, which are the color white; the Cross of Saint George, which is in the English flag; the rose, which is the national flower; and Saint George’s Day, which is celebrated on 23 April.

Northern Ireland

The island of Ireland was originally inhabitated bythe Celts, who were once an empire that stretched all across Europe. The variety of languages spoken in this country is due to the number of invasions that Ireland suffered all through history, form the Celts, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings. It is true that almost 100% of the population speak English as a first language, it is also true that Irish is the native language of the island, and manypeople are proud of being able to speak Irish.
In Northern Ireland, the main religion is Christianity, though the country also has small Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish communities. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest single church though there is a greater number of Protestants and Anglicans overall. The Presbyterian Church, closely linked to the Church of Scotland in terms of...