BRITISH CULTURE 1
Chapter 3:
Geography
Instructor: Đỗ Thảo Nhi
OVERVIEW
01 02 03
Climate, The Environment Geography
Land, & & Pollution Of Main
Settlement Regions
01
CLIMATE, LAND,
AND
SETTLEMENT
CLIMATE
● The climate in Britain is similar to that of
the north-western European mainland
● There is usually more rain in the west
● The weather there is known for its
changeability
LAND AND SETTLEMENT
● Britain's landscape lacks its grandeur but
greatly varies
● Britain has a great proportion of grassland
● Human influence on the landscape has been
extensive
○ Enclosure of fields and hedgerows
LAND AND SETTLEMENT
● Britain's landscape lacks its grandeur but
greatly varies
● Britain has a great proportion of grassland
● Human influence on the landscape has been
extensive
○ Enclosure of fields and hedgerows
LAND AND SETTLEMENT
● Much of the land is used for human habitation
○ Britain is densely populated
○ People’s concern for privacy
○ People’s love of the countryside
● Cities are built outwards rather than upwards
02
THE ENVIRONMENT
AND POLLUTION
THE ENVIRONMENT &
POLLUTION
• Britain is the first country to suffer air pollution
• “pea-soupers” and “smog”
• The situation in London reached the worst point
in 1952
• 4000 – 8000 deaths
THE ENVIRONMENT & POLLUTION
• Water pollution was severe in the 1960s
• In the 1960s and 1970s, home heating with open
coal fires was banned
• The Thames was declared safe again 1970s
• Environmental problems caused by the
increase in the use of cars
THE ENVIRONMENT & POLLUTION
• Energy consumption has become a national
issue
• Green energy sources are now favored
• Wind power, tidal & wave power, solar power
• Nuclear power stations have been built
GEOGRAPHY OF MAIN
03 REGIONS
London
Southern England
The Midlands of England
Northern England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
LONDON
● A fifth of the UK’s total population lives in London
● London is the headquarters of:
○ Government departments & legal institutions
○ Parliament & The monarch
○ Business & banking centres
○ Transport network
CENTRAL LONDON
● The City ("The square mile"): financial
organizations
● The Westminster: Parliament & royal court
● The West End: theatres, cinemas, luxurious shops
● The East End: poorer residential area, immigrant
groups, home of the Cockney
LONDON
● Central London is only a small part of Greater
London
● The majority of Londoners live in the suburbs and
commute to the centre to work
● London is known for being very cosmopolitan
LONDON
● More than 300 languages are spoken in London
● Restaurants offer cuisine from more than 120
countries (2022)
● Diversity of cultures and social classes
SOUTHERN LONDON
● Commuter land
● Area of services and light manufacturing
● The county of Kent:
○ The “Garden of England”
○ fruit and vegetables
SOUTHERN LONDON
● The Downs
○ series of hills in a horseshoe shape
○ sheep farming
○ retired people live there
● The West County
○ rural beauty & dairy produce
SOUTHERN LONDON
● South-west peninsula
○ rocky coast & wild moorlands
○ Cornwall: low-lying land with palm trees
● East Anglia
○ uniformly flat land
○ wheat & arable crops
● Northfolk Broads: waterways
THE MIDLANDS OF ENGLAND
● Black Country
○ Birmingham + some north-west areas
○ major engineering centre
● The Potteries
○ factories of china
● Grimsby: fishing ports + fish processing centre
THE MIDLANDS OF ENGLAND
● Stratford-upon-Avon
○ Shakespeare’s birthplace
● Nottingham
○ legend of Robin Hood
NORTHERN ENGLAND
● Leading industrial sites
○ Large deposits of coal & iron ore
○ Manchester: cotton goods
○ Bradfords & Leeds: woollen goods
○ Sheffield: steel goods
○ Newcastle: shipbuilding
NORTHERN ENGLAND
● In the 20th century, the decline of heavy industry
in Europe hit Northern England hard
○ unemployment
○ noisy, dirty factories
○ “civic pride”
● Industrial and rural landscape interlock
● Lake District & National Park
SCOTLAND
● Southern uplands
○ small towns with sheep farming
● Central plain
○ 80% of Scotland’s population
○ North Sea oil industry
● Highlands
○ mountains & deep valleys
○ numerous small islands off the west coast
○ tourism and production of whiskey
SCOTLAND
● Glasgow
○ heavy industry
○ worst housing conditions in Britain
○ artistic heritage (European City of Culture 1990)
● Edinburgh
○ capital of Scotland
○ associated with scholarship, law, and
administration
○ “The Athens of the north”
WALES
● Heavily populated area
○ coal-mining (no longer now)
○ industrial villages
● Mountainous areas with no large cities
NORTHERN IRELAND
● Belfast
○ manufacture of linen
● Large agricultural land
● Giant’s Causeway
THANK YOU
