The Probert Encyclopaedia of Places of the World

GREAT BRITAIN

Great Britain is the name for the mainland and outlying islands belonging to the countries of England, Wales and Scotland. Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with their connected islands, form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The name Great Britain was first given in 1604 to England, Wales and Scotland collectively by King James I who styled himself King of Great Britain. The name Britain, originates in the Phoenician Baratanic meaning country of tin, and the Greeks also referred to Britain as the tin islands.

The British Islands form a kind of archipelago in the north-west of Europe. The principal islands are Great Britain and Ireland, separated from each other by the Irish Sea, which, near the centre, attains its greatest width of about 130 miles; but between Holyhead in Wales and Howth Head in Ireland is not wider than 60 miles; while the distance between the Mull of Cantyre in Scotland and Fair Head in Ireland is only about 12 miles. Great Britain is the largest island in Europe, and the seventh largest in the world. Its nearest approach to the continent of Europe is at its south-east extremity, where the Strait of Dover, separating it from France, is only 21 miles broad. Its length, measured on a line bearing north by west from Rye to Dunnet Head, is 608 miles. The breadth varies exceedingly; between St. David's Head, in Pembrokeshire, and the Naze, in Essex, it is 280 miles; between the Clyde at Dumbarton and the Forth at Alloa it is only 32 miles.

The British Isles rise from a submarine plateau connecting them geologically with the rest of Europe, of which at a remote period they must have actually formed a part. This is evidenced too by the similarity of the British fauna and flora to the continental.

The northern part of Britain is, for the most part, rugged, mountainous, and barren, this being the character of much of Scotland. To the north of a line drawn from the Firth of Clyde on the west to Stonehaven on the east coast is the region generally known as the Highlands, divided into a northern and a southern portion by the great hollow of Glenmore through which runs the Caledonian Canal. The chief feature of the southern portion is the mountain mass of the Grampians, the culminating points of which, Ben Nevis and Benmacdhui, are the highest British summits.

South of the Highlands lies the plain of the Forth and Clyde, a region of coal and iron, in which the chief manufacturing industries of Scotland are carried on. South of this again is the elevated region of the Southern Highlands or Southern Uplands, less rugged and more pastoral than the Highlands proper. Towards the south-east are the Cheviot Hills, on the borders of England and Scotland. Here commences the long Pennine chain running south into England, branching off into the mountains of Cumberland and the Lake district (Cumbrian Mountains), and terminating beyond the Peak of Derby, in the heart of England. The highest summit of the English mountains is in the north-west (Lake district), namely, Scawfell. Further south and west is the Cambrian range, spread over the greater part of Wales, and containing, among others, the highest mountain of southern Britain - Snowdon. Over great parts of England the elevations are mostly insignificant, and the general character of the country is that of undulating plains.

The mountains which constitute the principal watersheds of Great Britain being generally at no great distance from the west coast, the rivers which descend from them in that direction have generally a short course, and are comparatively unimportant. The two great exceptions to this rule are the Clyde and the Severn, which owe both their volume and the length of their course to a series of longitudinal valleys, which, instead of opening. directly to the coast, take a somewhat parallel direction. The chief rivers entering the sea on the east coast, proceeding from north to south, are the Spey, Don, Dee, Tay, Forth, Tweed, Tyne, Ouse, Trent, and Thames.

The lakes of the British Isles are distinguished for beauty rather than size; the largest, but among the least interesting, is Lough Neagh, in the north of Ireland. While both Great Britain and Ireland are provided with numerous streams, which are either themselves navigable or act as the feeders of canals, the coasts supply a number of excellent harbours invaluable to the commerce of the country.

Their maritime situation has a favourable effect on the climate of the British Isles, making it milder and more equable than that of continental countries in the same latitude. The temperature of the Atlantic, raised by the influx of the gulf-stream, is communicated to the winds and vapours which are wafted along its surface, and the prevailing winds in Britain being from the south-west, the country is kept constantly at a relatively high temperature. The south-west winds, too, are charged with vapour, and often bring rain, thus supplying the country with abundant moisture. Ireland, from its more westerly position, has these characteristics in the most marked degree, the warmth and moisture of the west winds making it markedly a 'green isle.' For the same reason the western shores of the islands have a milder and more equable temperature than the eastern shores, the former being on an average one or two degrees cooler in summer and several degrees warmer in winter.
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