Britain: An official handbook > 1977

1 The Land and the
People
THE PHYSICAL BACKGROUND
Britain, formally known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, constitutes the greater part of the British Isles, a group of islands
lying off the north-west coast of Europe. The largest islands are Great Britain
(comprising the mainlands of England, Wales and Scotland) and Ireland (com¬
prising Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic). Off the southern coast of
England is the Isle of Wight and off the extreme south-west are the Isles of
Scilly; off north Wales is Anglesey. Western Scotland is fringed by numerous
islands and to the far north are the Orkneys and Shetlands. All these have
administrative ties with the mainland, but the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea
and the Channel Islands between Great Britain and France have a large
measure of administrative autonomy and are not part of England, Wales,
Scotland or Northern Ireland.
TABLE 1: Area of the United Kingdom
Total Land Inland water
(excluding tidal
water)
square square square square square square
miles km miles km miles km
United Kingdom
Great Britain
England
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
94,222
88,770
50,338
8,018
30,414
5,452
244,035
229,915
130,375
20,766
78,774
14,120
93,048
87,842
50,077
7,969
29,796
5,206
240,994
227,511
129,700
20,641
77,171
13,483
1,174
928
261
48
619
246
3,041
2,404
675
125
1,604
637
Source: Annual Abstract of Statistics igj5.
Discrepancies between totals and their constituent parts are due to rounding.
When studying British statistics it should be noted whether they refer to
England, to England and Wales (considered together for many administrative
and other purposes), to Great Britain, which comprises England, Wales and
Scotland, or to the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland) as
a whole. United Kingdom statistics and other data sometimes include the
Isle of Man, 227 square miles (588 sq km), and the Channel Islands, 75 square
miles (194 sq km), which are dependencies of the Crown, but not part of the
United Kingdom.
The latitude of 50° North cuts across the southernmost part of the British
mainland (the Lizard Peninsula) and latitude 6o° North passes through the
Shetland Islands. The northernmost point of the Scottish mainland, Dunnet
Head, near John o’ Groats, is in latitude 58° 40'. The prime meridian of o°