Britain Industry

Britain includes Great Britain (comprising England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland, and lies off the northwest coast of mainland Europe. It is 500 Km wide and nearly 1,000 km long. Its closest continental neighbors France and Belgium. It lies between latitudes 50o North and 60o North. London, the capital is close to the same of latitude as Berlin, Vancouver and Warsaw. Great Britain is the largest island in Europe and the eight largest in the world. It is about the same size as Honshu the biggest of the island that make up Japan, and about twice size of Iceland of Cuba.
   
Although it is as closer to the North Pole as eastern Siberia or Hudson Bay Britain has a warmer climate. While the British climate is very changeable, temperatures rarely fall below –10o or go above 32o. Rainfall is fairly well distributed throughout the year. The wettest parts are the mountainous areas of the West Coast. Britain is a densely populated and industrialized nation, but much of the country is cultivated and around 10% of the land is covered by legally protected National Parks.

PEOPLE
   
English is the official language, but many people know more than one language. Around 20% of the people Wales speak Welsh and children learn it in schools. About 80,000 people in Scotland speak Gaelic. For centuries people from overseas have settled in Britain to escape persecution or in search of a better standard of living. They have brought with them their languages, cultures and religions. The most widely spoken minority languages today are from the Asian sub-continent but other languages include Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish and Chinese. Ethnic minority communities make up about 5 % of the total population.