Contents

1. Geographical position of the british isles............................................................ 2

TERRITORY AND STRUCTURE................................................................................. 2

SURROUNDING SEAS AND COASTLINE................................................................. 3

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE AND RELIEF...................................................................... 4

Highland Britain........................................................................................................... 4

England..................................................................................................................................................... 5

Wales......................................................................................................................................................... 5

Scotland.................................................................................................................................................... 6

Ireland....................................................................................................................................................... 7

Lowland Britain........................................................................................................... 7

RIVERS AND LAKES................................................................................................... 7

CLIMATE AND WEATHER.......................................................................................... 8

VEGETATION............................................................................................................. 10

MINERAL RESOURCES............................................................................................. 10

Coal............................................................................................................................ 11

Oil and Gas................................................................................................................ 11

Iron Ore...................................................................................................................... 12

Non-Metallic Minerals................................................................................................ 13

Water.......................................................................................................................... 14

2. Historical Outline.................................................................................................... 14

ANCIENT BRITAIN.................................................................................................... 14

The Roman Conquest and Occupation....................................................................... 15

The Growth of Feudalism in Britain. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest, the Struggle against the Danes.................................................................................................................... 15

The Norman Conquest and the Establishment of Feudalism in England.................... 17

ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES (11th—15th CENTURIES)............................... 19

The Economic and Social Development of the State.................................................. 19

The Development of Culture in Feudal England......................................................... 22

The Wars of the Roses, the Development of Absolutism in the 15th Century........... 24

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLAND IN THE 16th CENTURY.............................. 25

The Reformation. Anglo-Spanish Rivalry. Colonial Expansion................................. 25

The Renaissance. The Literature and Culture of Tudor England................................ 27

THE ENGLISH BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION OF THE 17^th CENTURY................... 29

The Economic and Social Development of the Country on the Eve of the Revolution.................................................................................................................. 29

The Restoration Period. The Compromise of 1688 and the Gradual Formation of Constitutional Monarchy........................................................................................... 34

Cultural Developments in the 17th Century............................................................... 37

THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY IN THE 18th CENTURY........................................................................................................... 39

Constitutional Monarchy........................................................................................... 39

Colonial Expansion and the Formation of the Colonial Empire................................. 40

The Industrial Revolution of the 18th — 19th Centuries and Its Consequences........ 43

The War of Independence and Its Effect on Britain.................................................... 44

England and the French Bourgeois Revolution of 1789............................................. 47

The National Liberation Movement in Ireland. The Act of Union (1801)................... 48

Science and Culture in the 18th Century.................................................................... 48

ENGLAND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 19th CENTURY. THE PERIOD OF NAPOLEONIC WARS................................................................................................. 52

ENGLAND IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY..................................... 54

The Economic and Political Development of Britain after the Napoleonic Wars. The Period of Reaction...................................................................................................... 54

The Struggle for Parliamentary Reform. The Reform Act of 1832............................. 55

Post-Reform England................................................................................................. 58

Chartism and its Main Trends. The Historical Significance of Chartism.................... 59

BRITAIN IN THE FIFTIES-SIXTIES OF THE 19th CENTURY................................ 62

Britain — the 'Workshop of the World'..................................................................... 62

The Struggle of the Working Class for Its Rights....................................................... 65

English Science and Culture in the 19th Century....................................................... 66

GREAT BRITAIN AT THE END OF THE 19th AND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20th CENTURY........................................................................................................... 70

British Colonial Imperialism...................................................................................... 70

The Labour Movement............................................................................................... 72

World War I............................................................................................................... 73

BRITAIN IN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD................................................................... 74

BRITAIN AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR........................................................... 79

POSTWAR BRITAIN................................................................................................... 81

CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN..................................................................................... 83

3. Population................................................................................................................ 89

4. State system............................................................................................................ 93

GREAT BRITAIN - A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY........................................ 93

PARLIAMENT AND ELECTIONS.............................................................................. 94

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT....................................................................................... 95

LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS.................................................................................. 98

POLITICAL PARTIES AND TRADE UNIONS......................................................... 100

GOVERNMENT......................................................................................................... 104

5. National economy................................................................................................. 105

THE PLACE OF BRITAIN IN THE WORLD ECONOMY....................................... 105

CHIEF INDUSTRIES................................................................................................. 106

AGRICULTURE......................................................................................................... 108

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS............................................................... 110

OVERSEAS TRADE.................................................................................................. 112

THE MAIN ECONOMIC REGIONS.......................................................................... 113

The South Industrial and Agricultural Region.......................................................... 113

The Midlands........................................................................................................... 116

Lancashire and Yorkshire......................................................................................... 117

North England.......................................................................................................... 119

Wales........................................................................................................................ 120

Scotland................................................................................................................... 121

Northern Ireland....................................................................................................... 123

6. The press, television and radio......................................................................... 125

7. Educational system.............................................................................................. 128

SCHOOL EDUCATION............................................................................................. 128

FURTHER EDUCATION........................................................................................... 132

UNIVERSITY EDUCATION..................................................................................... 132

8. British culture and arts in the 20^th century...................................................... 134

LITERATURE............................................................................................................ 134

THEATRE.................................................................................................................. 137

CINEMA..................................................................................................................... 138

MUSIC........................................................................................................................ 138

ARTS.......................................................................................................................... 139

MUSEUMS................................................................................................................. 140

9. British character................................................................................................... 141

MAKING OF A CHARACTER.................................................................................. 141

PUBS AND CLUBS................................................................................................... 144

LEISURE AND SPORTS........................................................................................... 145

APPENDIX.................................................................................................................. 147

CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE................................................................................. 147

KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND FROM ALFRED......................................... 149

BRITISH PRIME MINISTERS AND GOVERNMENTS........................................... 150

Дата добавления: 2015-08-21