The British Isles is a traditional term used to identify the group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe consisting of two large islands - Great Britain and Ireland, and the many smaller

The British Isles is a traditional term used to identify the group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe consisting of two large islands - Great Britain and Ireland, and the many smaller adjacent islands. These islands form an archipelago. The Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales and doesn't include Northern Ireland.

The British Isles also include three dependencies of the British Crown: the Isle of Man and, by tradition, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, although the latter are not physically a part of the archipelago.

The North Sea and the English Channel separate the British Isles from European continent. The Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea wash the western coast of Great Britain.

The seas round the British Isles are shallow. This shallowness is in some way some advantage. Shallow water is warmer than deep water and helps to keep the shores from extreme cold.

The mountains, the Atlantic Ocean and the warm waters of Gulf Stream influence the climate of the British Isles. The climate of Britain is temperate, and although variations are noticeable, the country does not usually experience any extremes of heat or cold. The British never know what their weather is going to be like for two days running. Winter weather can be cloudy, damp and warm, sunny with frost and snow, or frosty and foggy. Summer weather can be chilly and damp, or hot and sticky, or, on a few glorious days each year, brilliantly sunny and warm with a flawless blue sky.

Ireland is the second largest of the British Isles. The island is divided into two major political units—Northern Ireland, which is joined with Great Britain in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland.

The Hebrides comprise a widespread archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides, separated from one another by The Minch to the north and the Sea of the Hebrides to the south. The Inner Hebrides lie closer to mainland Scotland and include Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Raasay, Staffa and the Small Isles. There are 36 inhabited islands in this group. The Outer Hebrides are a chain of more than 100 islands and small skerries located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of mainland Scotland. There are 15 inhabited islands in this archipelago. The main islands include Barra, Benbecula, Berneray, Harris, Lewis, North Uist, South Uist, and St Kilda.

In the past the Outer Hebrides were often referred to as the Long. Today, they are also known as the Western Isles although this phrase can also be used to refer to the Hebrides in general.

The Hebrides are probably the best-known group of Scottish islands, but other groups include the islands of the Firth of Clyde, Islands of the Forth and the Northern Isles. The islands in the Clyde, especially Arran, are sometimes mistakenly called "Hebrides" too.

Shetland is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland, off the northeast coast. The islands lie to the northeast of Orkney, and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. Administratively, Shetland is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland for which the now-archaic spelling Zetland was used until 1970. The islands' administrative centre and only burgh (город с самоуправлением) is Lerwick.

Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in northern Scotland. Orkney comprises approximately 70 islands of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, known as the "Mainland" has an area of more than 500 square kilometres making it the sixth largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. The largest settlement and administrative centre is Kirkwall.

The Isle of Man, otherwise known simply as Mann, is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The island is not part of the United Kingdom, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the UK Government.

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