Chapter One: General Background
Life in The United Kingdom: The Land and The People
Author: David William
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: New Africa Press (13 October 2010)
ISBN-13: 9789987160174
General Background
THE United Kingdom is one of the smallest countries in the world. But it's also one of the most densely populated and is the fourth most populous country in Europe.
It has the third-largest population in the European Union (EU), surpassed only by German and France, and the fifth-largest in the Commonwealth, what was once known as the British Commonwealth, an association of former British colonies led by Great Britain. The country's population also is the twenty-first largest in the world.
Its official name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But it's often and erroneously known as Britain or Great Britain, or simply as the United Kingdom or the UK.
Technically, there is a difference between Britain or Great Britain and the United Kingdom or the UK.
Britain is composed of England and Wales. Great Britain comprises England, Wales, and Scotland. The United Kingdom is composed of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which is the northeastern part of the island of Ireland. It's only one-sixth of the area of the island of Ireland.
And the British Isles refers to England, Scotland, Wales and the entire island of Ireland which is composed of the Republic of Ireland (or the Irish Republic) and Northern Ireland.
Citizens of Great Britain are called Britons.
In this book, we're going to call island nation the United Kingdom, or the UK, just as most people do, including the British themselves. And the name Great Britain has been chosen as the title for the book because Great Britain – England, Scotland and Wales – constitutes the largest part of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom is located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. And Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland.
The United Kingdom also has many smaller islands. Great Britain is the largest island in the United Kingdom. It's also the largest island in Europe and the eighth-largest in the world. It's also the third most populous island in the world after Java in Indonesia and Honshū in Japan.
Great Britain is 94,226 square miles and has a population of more than 60 million. It's separated from France by the English Channel which is 22 miles wide. But it's also linked to France by the Channel Tunnel. Also known as the Eurotunnel, it's an undersea rail tunnel running beneath the English Channel, connecting England with northern France. It's 31.4 miles.
The climate of Great Britain is greatly influenced by currents from the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Gulf Stream, resulting in winters and summers with mild temperatures. It gets cold in winter and hot in summer but neither has extreme temperatures. And most of the land is suitable for farming and other agricultural activities.
One of the most prominent features of the United Kingdom, especially Britain, is its cultural diversity. Migration within the British Isles has been going on for a very long time. Foreign influences have also played a significant role in shaping British society, with many immigrants coming from other parts of Europe and beyond.
Some of the biggest waves of migration have come from Ireland, with many poor Irish seeking better life in Great Britain since the 1700s. Great Britain has always had a better and more developed economy than that of Ireland.
Census figures from 1841 show that a significant number of Irish people have settled in England, Scotland and Wales through the years, with England being the prime destination because of its developed economy.
It's the most developed part of the United Kingdom which has also attracted many immigrants from Scotland and Wales.
Because of all these migrations within the British Isles themselves, most of the British people are a product of mixed ancestries traced to all the four nations of these islands. The nations are England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, all of which were once independent countries.
Britain also absorbed refugees and displaced people from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Baltic countries before and after the Second World War. Some prisoners of war were also allowed to stay in Britain.
And there were other immigrants who settled in Britain during the same period. They were mostly immigrants of European ancestry born in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and East Africa. A significant number of Greeks and Turks from Cyprus also immigrated to Britain.
After World War II, non-white immigrants also migrated to Britain in large numbers. They came mostly from the former British colonies in Africa, Asia and the West Indies or Caribbean.
Some of the biggest sources of these immigrants were the countries of Guyana, formerly British Guyana; Jamaica and other island nations in the Caribbean; India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. A significant number of immigrants to Britain also came from Hong Kong (they were Chinese) and Singapore.
And as a nation the United Kingdom also has a long history.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence when the Kingdom of England united with the Kingdom of Scotland in May 1707. During that period, the Kingdom of England included the principality of Wales which was once an independent nation.
Before the political union between England and Scotland in 1707, there had been a personal union between the two kingdoms since 1603 when James VI, who was then king of Scotland, inherited the throne of the Kingdom of England and became King James I of England. He moved from Edinburgh, capital of Scotland, to London, capital of England.
Great Britain is not only the largest part of the UK, with Northern Ireland constituting only a small part of this island nation located northwest of Europe; it's basically what constitutes the nation. Even when many people talk about the UK, they're usually talking about Great Britain, not Northern Ireland although it's also part of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom is actually a union of four countries, not just provinces or regions although that's what they are now after they became constituent parts of the union and surrendered their sovereignties to a higher authority: the United Kingdom.
The countries, or former countries, are England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland which is really not a country but part of the country of Ireland. Northern Ireland became part of the United Kingdom in 1922.
The Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Channel Islands in the English Channel are not part of the United Kingdom. But together with the UK, they constitute one nation. They are dependencies of the Crown and they have their own systems of government.
The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy. Its seat of government is London. The parliament also is based in London.
The United Kingdom is also a constitutional monarchy, and Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Great Britain was the most powerful country in the world. It was also the leading imperial power with colonies all over the world.
At its height the British Empire occupied about a quarter of the world's land surface. It was during those days when the British, with jingoistic pride, used to say, “The sun never sets on the British Empire,” until nationalists in Asia and then in Africa sent them packing especially after the end of World War II.
It was the largest empire in history.
Great Britain – minus Northern Ireland – is surrounded by more than1,000 smaller islands and islets.
England is the most populous part of the United Kingdom and has about 84 per cent of the entire population of the UK. In 2006, its population was estimated to be 51 million, more than two thirds of the entire population of the country. It's one of the most densely populated parts of the world.
And all of Great Britain – England, Scotland and Wales – has been ruled by the union government based in London which is in England since the union was formed.
About 25 per cent of the entire population of the United Kingdom lives in the southeastern part of England which is also the most prosperous and predominantly urban and suburban. And more than 7 million people live in London alone. London itself is located in this part of England.
England constitutes just over half of the total area of the United Kingdom. It's 50,350 square miles.
Scotland covers about one third of the total area of the United Kingdom and is the second-largest part of the UK. It has an area of 30,410 square miles and had a population of more than 5 million in 2006.
Wales had about 3 million people and Northern Ireland about 1.8 million.
Wales constitutes less than one tenth of the total area of the United Kingdom. It's 8,010 square miles. And most of the people live in South Wales. That's also where the main cities are located. The cities are Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. The capital of Wales is Cardiff.
And Northern Ireland is the smallest part of the United Kingdom. It's mostly hilly and covers an area of 5,470 square miles. It also has the largest body of water in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The body of water is Lough Neagh and it's 150 square miles.
London is not only the capital of the United Kingdom; it's also the nation's largest city and one of the largest in the world. London also is the largest urban zone in the European Union.
The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh. It's also the political centre of Scotland. But the largest city in Scotland is Glasgow.
Scotland also has about 800 islands, mainly west and north of the mainland. But only the more accessible and larger islands have people. Currently, fewer than 90 are inhabited.
Great Britain today has large numbers of immigrants from all parts of the world. They have, in fact, been migrating to the UK for decades. But the British who are native to the country still constitute the largest segment of the population.
Those of English descent are the largest group. They constitute 77 per cent of the entire population of Great Britain. The Scottish are the second-largest group. They make up 8 per cent. The Welsh constitute about 4.5 per cent, and those of Irish descent, about 2.7 per cent.
About 92 per cent of the people in the UK identify themselves as white. The rest are members of minority groups. A significant number of them are also of mixed race.
One of the most prominent features of Britain's demographic composition is its ethnic diversity. It varies in many significant ways across the UK. According to the Office for National Statistics in 2008, about 30.5 per cent of London's population was estimated to be non-white as of June 2005. And about 37.5 per cent of the population of Leicester was also non-white during the same period and according to the same report.
That was in sharp contrast with the demographic composition of northeast and southwest England as well as Wales where less than 5 per cent of the people living in those areas were ethnic minorities.
The largest number of non-whites who have immigrated to Britain have come from the former British colonies in Asia, Africa, and the West Indies (Caribbean). They have immigrated to Britain in varying numbers through the years.
This immigration trend started especially after the end of World War II and has continued since then, although the British government has now and then imposed restrictions on the number of people allowed into the UK.
The country's demographic composition has undergone major changes since the seventies in terms of ethnic and racial diversity when people from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan, Africa, China and other parts of the world began immigrating to Britain in even larger numbers. In the first decade of the 21st century, these groups accounted for more than 5 per cent of the total population of the United Kingdom.
According to official statistics, the majority of new citizens come from Asia and Africa. In the case of Africa, this trend has accelerated since the 1990s, with many Africans seeking entry into the UK and applying for permanent residence or citizenship.
The majority are economic refugees. Also a very large number of them from countries such as Zimbabwe have fled their home countries because of civil unrest including civil wars in some cases such as Somalia, and Sierra Leone where the civil war devastated the country throughout the nineties before it was brought to an end after more than 10 years of conflict.
The island nations of the Caribbean such as Jamaica have also been a source of large numbers of immigrants for many years. And among African countries, large numbers of immigrants have come from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and other former British colonies before civil conflicts in different parts of the African continent in the 1990s triggered new waves of migration even from countries which don't have historical ties with Britain.
Also a large number of people from Eastern Europe have sought and obtained entry into the UK – mostly Britain – since the nineties after the collapse of the communism and the end of the Cold War. Some of the largest numbers of these immigrants have come from Poland after the country joined the European Union, enabling its citizens to go to Britain and other parts of Western Europe without hindrance.
Many other immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe have also obtained entry into Western Europe, which is the most developed part of the continent, including a significant number of illegal immigrants. A significant number of them have entered Britain.
But the migratory trend among the Poles reversed in 2008 and many Poles in different parts of Western Europe started going back to Poland. Included are those who immigrated to Britain.
And all these immigrants are bound by a common language besides their common desire to live in Britain. They all speak, learn or strive to learn English. It's the universal language of Britain.
But even among those who are native to Britain, there are a number of people who also speak their own languages. These are the Welsh and the Scots. About 25 per cent of the Welsh natives in Wales speak Welsh, and about 60,000 Scots in Scotland speak the the Scottish form of Gaelic.
There's also Irish Gaelic spoken mostly in Ireland, including Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom (UK).
Although the people of the United Kingdom are bound by a common language, English, there are clear linguistic differences associated with cultural and regional identities, making it possible to identify people's geographic origins and cultural backgrounds and sometimes even educational and socioeconomic status.
There are even significant differences in speech patterns of people from different cities and counties. Sometimes the differences can be between people in neighbouring counties.
The linguistic differences are taken very seriously by many people as a badge of identity. And they reinforce regional and local loyalties as well as strengthen “kinship” ties between people who come from the same place, be it a city with its own pattern of speech, a county, or a region – for example southeastern, western, or central.
Even non-English languages reinforce the identities of the native speakers of those languages.
The languages are also used as cultural and political symbols. And they include the languages not only of non-white immigrants from different parts of the world and of white immigrants from other parts of Europe but also of the people indigenous to the British Isles: Irish, Welsh, Cornish, and Scot Gaelic all of which are collectively known as Celtic languages. And there are others:
“There is also the Old Norse language of the Northern Isles (Orkney and especially Shetland) and the Norman French patois of the Channel Islands.
In Wales, 80 percent of the people speak English as their first or only language and those who speak Welsh as their first language are bilingual.
In Scotland, Gaelic is not a national symbol because it was never spoken in some parts of that country.
People in the Northern Isles are bilingual in English and an unwritten creolized form of Old Norse; in the Channel Islands, the Norman French patois is nearly extinct; and in Cornwall, there are no natural speakers of Cornish, although the language has been reconstructed.
In Northern Ireland, the Irish language has been reintroduced as a means of revitalizing Celtic pride among Belfast Catholics.” - (“Culture of United Kingdom: History and Ethnic Relations”. See also Sharon Macdonald, Reimagining Culture: Histories, Identities, and the Gaelic Renaissance, 1997; Peter Radcliffe, Ethnicity in the 1991 Census, vol. 3, 1996; Gerd Baumann, Contesting Culture: Discourses of Identity in Multi-Ethnic London, 1996; George Gmelch, Double Passage: The Lives of Caribbean Migrants at Home and Abroad, 1992; John Goldthorpe, Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain, 2nd ed., 1987; Anthony Cohen, editor, Belonging: Identity and Social Organisation in British Rural Cultures, 1982; Anthony Sampson, The Changing Anatomy of Britain, 1982; Review of Scottish Culture, annual editions.)
One of the most distinguishing features of British society is its social stratification which often transcends ethnicity. That's in remarkable contrast with countries such as the United States where race is paramount in many areas of national life and as a badge of identity.
Race and ethnicity are definitely also factors in British national life but are often eclipsed by social class in many cases.
This is also a society of aristocrats, the upper layer whose existence very much shapes attitudes in general and even defines the values and manners of the lower classes whose members are sometimes tempted or try to behave and even live like aristocrats even when they're poor or have very limited means to do so.
There is also a tendency among a significant number of people to ape the consumption proclivities of upper-class members, depending on where one is in the social hierarchy. For example, people in the working class may try to live and act like members of the middle class, and people in the middle class may try to act and live as if they're members of the upper class.
Because of the significance of class identity in British society, many people identify themselves on the basis of class – working class, middle class and so on – which is not the case in the United States where blacks, for example, identify themselves collectively on the basis of race because of the long history of racial discrimination against them in a society where such discrimination has been practised against them in blatant ways since slavery and even after the civil rights movement.
People in Britain also enjoy religious freedom which is inextricably linked with one's moral values and social beliefs. Religious faith also reinforces individual and collective identities including kinship ties, although is some cases there has been an erosion of such ties because of contemporary social values which undermine the traditional way of life. But the church has always played an important role as a moral guide and as a cohesive force for its members. And it continues to play this role.
Yet, in spite of all that, a large number of people in Great Britain are not affiliated with any kind of formal religion. And the number of those who practise religion has fallen dramatically through the years since the fifties.
Religion also is not used as a political force or weapon in Britain the way it is in the United States where conservatives work closely with fundamentalist preachers and Christians in pursuit of a political agenda including electing national leaders as happened in the case of President Ronald Reagan when the Moral Majority under the leadership of Reverend Jerry Falwell threw its weight behind him, helping him to win the presidential election in 1980 and in 1984.
In the United Kingdom, it's only in Northern Ireland where religion has been politicised and where it's strongly identified with political aspirations; Catholic versus Protestant.
There are three dominant churches in different parts of the United Kingdom.
The Church of England, which is also known as the Anglican Church, is the main and officially established church in England. And the monarch, who is Queen Elizabeth II today, is the supreme governor of the church. And the largest number of Britons are members of the Anglican Church.
The main church in Scotland is the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Church of England was also dominant in Wales but it lost that status when it was disestablished there in 1914.
The second largest religious group in Britain is Roman Catholic. There are also other Christians who belong to different denominations, and smaller groups of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Buddhists and others.
Most of the non-Christians such as Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs are immigrants or children and grandchildren of immigrants. Jews have lived in Britain much longer than these immigrants. Many of them are native to Britain. For example, British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was a Jew.
All these people belonging to different religious faiths and ethnic as well as racial backgrounds are a product of different cultures and societies in terms of origin. But they collectively constitute a nation whose most important characteristic is diversity in terms of unity.
The people of Great Britain also share many characteristics in terms of manners as members of the British society.
People in Britain and in other parts of the UK and the entire British Isles are usually reserved and diffident in public. They politely ignore strangers. They are usually not loud in public and quietly mind their own business and highly value privacy. And they expect other people to act and behave the same way.
This is in sharp contrast with what can roughly be described as the American character.
Americans are more outgoing and more outspoken – in fact some of them may be too loud in public and even in front of total strangers – and many of them don't mind asking strangers questions about things which people in other cultures may consider to be personal matters. They are inquisitive and sometimes “too friendly.”
Other people, of course, say the British are “too reserved.”
The standard of living in Britain and in the entire United Kingdom is high because the country is very developed.
The economy of Britain is both agricultural and industrial. Arable land constitutes 25 of Britain's land area and almost 50 per cent of it is suitable for meadows and pastures.
Great Britain is one of the most developed countries in the world and its agriculture is highly mechanised and extremely productive. Only about 2 per cent of the nation's labour force produces 60 per cent of the food that's consumed in Great Britain.
The main crops are barley, wheat, potatoes, rapeseed, beets, sugar, fruits and vegetables. And the country's robust dairy industry produces plenty of milk, eggs and cheese. It's also well-established in many parts of the country.
Beef cattle, large numbers of sheep, as well as poultry and pigs are raised in most part of Great Britain. And there's a large fishing industry which thrives on the abundance of fish found in the ocean.
Although Great Britain does not have most of the raw materials it needs, it has been able to develop and achieve distinction as one of the world's most industrialised nations. And despite the fact that it produces a lot of food, it still must import 40 per cent of the food to meet its needs.
Therefore it has been able to thrive by exporting manufactured goods in exchange for raw materials and food supplies. And it continues to improve its industrial capacity in order to remain competitive in the global economy and maintain its high standard of living.
The largest industries and industrial products in its manufacturing sector include machine tools, railroad equipment, ships, aircraft, electrical equipment, motor vehicles and parts; electronic and communication equipment; metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum as well as petroleum products; foods and food processing, clothing and textile manufacturing.
There has also been a significant shift in the industrial sector from manufacturing to services. About 80 per cent of the labour force is service-oriented. Banking, insurance, business services and other service industries account for at least 75 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).
The biggest beneficiaries of this industrial shift in Britain's economic base are the southeastern, southwestern parts and Midland regions of the country. The northern part of England and Northern Ireland have been hardest hit by these changes in the economy.
The main industrial and commercial areas are the great conurbations where about 33 per cent of the people in Britain live.
The administrative and financial centre of Great Britain is London. It's also the nation's most important port. The city also has a variety of industries and in many respects is the nation's economic hub. London also is Europe’s financial capital.
In fact, London – not New York – is the world's largest financial centre. Even the service sector of the United Kingdom is dominated by financial services, especially in banking and insurance.
Among the world's financial heavyweights based in the city of London are the London Stock Exchange, the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, and the world-renowned insurance company, Lloyd's of London.
The city of London has the largest concentration of foreign bank branches in the world. And many multinational companies and corporations which are not primarily based in the United Kingdom have chosen London as the headquarters for their operations in Europe and other parts of the world.
London is a major centre for international business and commerce and is the leader of the three “command centres” for the global economy together with New York City and Tokyo. And the United Kingdom is the fifth-largest economy in the world and the second-largest in Europe after Germany.
Great Britain also has the second- and sixth-largest pharmaceutical firms in the world.
It's also the sixth major tourist destination in the world. About 30 million tourists visit Great Britain every year.
Great Britain also has small but significant supplies of coal, oil, and natural gas. Production of oil from offshore wells in the North Sea began in 1975, and the country is self-sufficient in petroleum. It also has other minerals.
The country’s chief exports are manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals, food and beverages, and tobacco. The chief imports are manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, and foodstuffs.
Since the early 1970s, Great Britain’s trade focus has shifted from the United States to the European Union which now accounts for over 50 per cent of its trade.
The main trading partners are the United States, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Commonwealth countries are also important trading partners.
Great Britain also has some of the best institutions of higher learning in the world. The most renowned institutions are in England. They are Oxford University, Cambridge University and the University of London.. They are consistently ranked among the top 20 in the world.
The two main political parties in Great Britain are the Labour Party – now also known as New Labour – and the Conservative Party.
There's a third party, the Liberal Democrats. But it's weak. It was formed when the Liberal party and the Social Democratic party merged.
Both Scotland and Wales have nationalist parties whose goal is the attainment of sovereign status for those regions or countries. But it's highly unlikely that they will ever become sovereign entities; at least not in the near future. The majority of the people in both Wales and Scotland don't support such a move. They want to remain in the United Kingdom but with more devolution of power to their countries.
Life in The United Kingdom: The Land and The People
Author: David William
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: New Africa Press (13 October 2010)
ISBN-13: 9789987160174