Great Britain and Northern Ireland makes up the United Kingdom. There are four different countries in the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland. The capital city is London. London is the capital of England, Edimburg is the capital of Scotland, Cardiff is the capital of Wales and Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. Britain is divided into counties.

Britain is one of the most urbanized countries in the world and London, its capital, is an important metropolis.

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of the state, but it is the Prime Minister and the cabinet of ministers who govern Britain. The British parliament has two chambers: the House os Commons and the House of Lords. The monarch is also the Head of the Church of England. The currency is the Pound sterling.

The British isles is the geographical name of a se of island situated in the northwest of the European continent. The main island is Great Britain, the second island is Ireland. Other islands are the Shertlands and the Hebrides

The Uk has a population of nearly 60 million inhabitants. English is the main language, but also Welsh, Galeic and Irish are spoken.

Part of its population is formed by immigrants from old colonies in Asia, The West Indies and Africa.

Britain´s history and its strong national sense have been shaped by the fact that it is an island.

The Celts came to Britain around the year 700 BC. They are the ancestors of many of the people in highlands Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Cornwall today.
Celtic languages are still spoken as in the case of Gaelic.

From the first century to the fifth century, the Romans established a Roman-British culture across the Southern half of Britain. They left roads and important towns which were the bais of Roman administration and civilization.

In the fifth century AD, the Saxons began to raid Britain and started to settle. The invaders came from Germanic tribes, the Saxons, Angles and Jutes.
The influence of Anglo-Saxon culture and language was very important. Latin disappeared when these tribes invaded Britain.

By the end of eight century, the vikings started to raid Britain. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms could not keep them out, and soon the Vikings conquered Britain and started to settle. Viking rule was recognized in the east and north of England.

In 1066, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxon king Harold in the battle of Hastings. At that time, the story of Robin Hood was very popular.

In 1275, Edward I created what later became the House of Commons, containing a mixture of gentry made up of knights, merchants and healthy freemen.
The late Middle Ages was a period of war. England had to maintain control over Ireland and Wales.

The Tudor century is the most glorious period in English history. Henry VII built the foundations of a wealthy nation. He based royal power on good business sense, avoiding quarrels and making an important trade agreement with the Netherlands.

Henry VIII was cruel and ambitious. He had six wives and executed two of them, as well as several of his ministers and leading churchmen: his Lord Chancellor, Thomas Moore and Thomas Cromwell. In 1531, the king persuaded the bishops to make him head of the Church of England.

Elizabeth I carried out the same foreign policy as her grandfather, Henry VII. Spain was her maim trade rival and enemy. The queen encouraged English traders to settle abroad and create colonies. This policy led to the Britain colonial empire in the 17th century, and thus the expansion of the English language.

The Stuart monarchs, from James I onwards, were less successful than the Tudor. During the 17th century, economic power moved into the hands of the merchants and landowners. King Charles I quarreled with the Parliament and the result was the Civil War.

In 1707, Scotland and England completed their union by Act of Parliament.

In the 18th century, the industrial revolution turned Britain into the most advanced economic force in the world.

In the 19th century, Britain was the workshop of the world. The empire gave the British a feeling of their own importance. The extent of Britain´s colonial possessions doubled during this century.
The first great victory for the Irish was when Catholics were allowed to become Members of the Parliament in 1829. Then Ireland suffer a great disaster, the potato crop failed. Many Irish citizens left the country, most settled in the USA.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain was the greatest world power, but by the end of the 1970´s it had lost it all. Britain tried to hold onto its international position through its Commonwealth.

In 1998, the Prime Minister, signed a historical treaty for the Peacification in Northern Ireland.

English literature definitely entered the Modern Age in the 18th century. The urban middle class increased its power little by little. For the first time, the common man was the protagonist of the books: Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver...

The writers in the 20th century weren´t brimming with Victorian self-confidence. Eventos of the First World War and the disappearance of the British EMpire led to dramatic changes. James Joyse create a new style of writing in Ulysses.

Literacy increased during the 16th century. Shakespeare´s plays were popular. Many of his plays were about English history.

During the Norman period, language changed a great deal and had a lot of Norman French borrowings. It was called Middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest poet at that time.

Pubs: People meet in pubs to talk, eat and drink. Pub names come often from the 13th and 14th centuries.

Living accomodation: most people in Britain live in houses; terraced or town houses, semi-detached and detached.

Food and drink: The English breakfast, pancakes, roastbeef, Yorkshire pudding, fish and chips, tea.

Attitude towards life: the British are known for their love of animals and hobbies.

Ist society has been formed by different nations and cultures. People of European origin make up the large majority of the population

At first, the colonies accepted the British rule, but in 1765, Britain raised the money to pay the defence of the colonies. British and American went to war. On July 4th, 1776, America declared for Independence. The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington was the first president

In 1861, With Abraham Lincoln as president, the USA began a civil war between the North and the South.

At the end of 19th century, the USA was mainly a farming country, but American industries grew rapidly.

At the end of the 18th century, settlers move deeper into the continent. People who had a frontier way of life grew up with a special spirit: first, they had to be independent, second they had to cooperate believing that people are equal.

The USA´s international stats meant that it could not remain outside Europe´s affairs in World War I. Their entry brought an allied victory.

By the year 1733, the English had thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast.

The prosperity of the 1920s came to an end in 1929 when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. Full recovery was never achieved until World War II. The allied victoty rendered the USA leader of the Western world.

In 1620, a group of English men and women sailed across the Atlantic ocean. They were called pilgrims. Their ship was the Mayflower. Before arriving in Playmouth they wrote an agreement to work together for the good of all.

Nowadays, the USA is still the first economical and military power

Spaniards reach Florida in 1513, French explorers reachedthe site of the present-day city of Montreal. The British were the most successful of all the colonizers

The second decade of the 21st century was ruled by the first afroamerican president in the history of the USA, Barack Obama.