ASCC Ms. Ghezzal.
LMD 1-G01-G02
2024/2025
LECTURE ONE United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
1.1 Introduction
A language sums up the civilization of a given people in any given country. To know a people is first of
all to speak its language. Conversely, to learn a language is to learn about a people, about its history,
its achievements, its struggles, its weaknesses, and its hopes.
1.2. Geography and Borders
The United Kingdom is an island country located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe. The
United Kingdom forms an archipelago that comprises the whole of the island of Great Britain which
contains England, Wales, and Scotland-as well as the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The
name Britain is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. Collectively, the group of
islands is known as the British Isles.
The only land border of Britain is with the Irish Republic. The United Kingdom is surrounded by the
sea like the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Irish Sea. The geography is
mainly rocky hills and low mountains. At its broadest, the United Kingdom is 500 km across. From the
northern tip of Scotland to the southern coast of England, it is about 1,000 km. No part is more than
120 km from the sea. The capital, London, is situated on the tidal River Thames in southeastern
England.
The capital London is among the world’s leading commercial, financial, and cultural centers. Other
major cities include Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester in England, Belfast and Londonderry in
Northern Ireland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Swansea and Cardiff in Wales.
1.3. Politics
The government is a constitutional monarchy and a commonwealth. The chief of the state is the
queen and the head of the government is the prime minister. Politically speaking, there are two
states in the British Isles. One of them is the Republic of Ireland which took its independence in 1922.
Its capital is Dublin. The second state in the British Isles is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland. This state governs the remaining isles (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, England,
and most of the smaller islands) and its capital is London.
1.4. Ethnicity and Religion
For centuries people have migrated to the British Isles from many parts of the world, some to avoid
political or religious persecution, others to find a better way of life or to escape poverty. In historic
times migrants from the European mainland joined the Celtic indigenous population of Britain during
the Roman Empire and the invasions of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans. The Irish
have long made homes in Great Britain.
Many Jews arrived in Britain toward the end of the 19th century and in the 1930s. Christianity with
its diverse branches is the dominant religion in UK, 59 per cent. Nevertheless, other religions co-exist
together in the country like Islam 4, 4 percent, Hindu 1, 3 percent, and others, like non-religious
people exist in the UK.
1.5 Languages
Some earliest languages still survive in the two forms of Celtic: the first is Goidelic, from which Irish,
Manx, and Scottish Gaelic are derived. The second one is Brythonic, from which the old Cornish
language and modern Welsh have developed. Among the contemporary Celtic languages, Welsh one
is the strongest and still spoken in Wales. Modern English is derived mainly from the Germanic
dialects spoken by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (whom all arrived in Britain in the 5th century AD.
[1]) and heavily influenced by the language of the Danes (Vikings), who began raiding the British Isles
about 790 and subsequently colonized parts of northern and eastern England.
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[1] Anno Domini: Standardized under the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the system spread
throughout Europe and the Christian world during the centuries that followed. AD stands for Anno
Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord”, while BC stands for “before Christ”.
