The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland lies at the northwestern edge of Europe, separated from the European mainland by the \TEnglish Channel\t, the \TNorth Sea\t, and the narrow Strait of Dover (see \TDover, Strait of\t). It consists of the formerly separate kingdoms of \TEngland\t and \TScotland\t, the principality of \TWales\t--which are collectively referred to as \TGreat Britain\t--and six counties of \TNorthern Ireland\t, which elected to remain within the United Kingdom in 1921 when southern Ireland withdrew to form the Irish Free State (after 1949, the Republic of Ireland, or Eire). The loss of Ireland and its withdrawal from the \TCommonwealth of Nations\t in 1949 rendered politically obsolete the use of the collective term British Isles. Other integral parts of the United Kingdom are the outlying \THebrides\t, \TOrkney Islands\t, and \TShetland Islands\t, off the coast of Scotland; Anglesey (see \TGwynedd\t), off the coast of Wales; and the \TIsle of Wight\t and the \TScilly Islands\t, off the southwest coast of England. Separate from the kingdom but administered by the crown, each with its own laws and systems of taxation, are the \TIsle of Man\t, located in the Irish Sea; and the \TChannel Islands\t, located off the northwest coast of France. England is the largest and most populous unit in the kingdom, with an area of 130,439 sq km (50,363 sq mi) and a population (1988 est.) of 47,536,300. Wales, located to the west and separated from England by a boundary dating back to the Middle Ages, has an area of 20,768 sq km (8,018 sq mi) and 2,857,000 inhabitants; it became part of the English kingdom in 1282 but continues to maintain a separate language and national identity. Scotland--with an area of 78,772 sq km (30,414 sq mi) and 5,094,000 inhabitants--lies to the north, separated from England by a boundary that extends from Solway Firth (estuary) on the west, across the sparsely populated Cheviot Hills, to north of Berwick upon Tweed. Scotland and England were ruled by the same monarchs after 1603 and were united in 1707 to form the kingdom of Great Britain. Ireland was made an integral part of the kingdom in 1801, changing the official name to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The present name was adopted after the partition of Ireland in 1921. Northern Ireland has an area of 14,121 sq km (5,452 sq mi) and a population of 1,578,100. Commonly described as "in Europe but not of it," Great Britain and Ireland remained relatively isolated from world events until the 15th century when the Age of Discovery placed them on the world's newly charted sea-lanes and trading routes. Increasingly, the island nation looked away from Europe in later centuries and across the seas to the Americas, India, the Far East, southern and interior Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Overseas colonies were established, forming an enormous \TBritish Empire\t. Many of these colonies chose to retain trade and other ties to Britain when granted independence and are today part of the Commonwealth; because of these ties, however, the United Kingdom's entry into the \TEuropean Economic Community\t (EEC) in 1973 was preceded by lengthy negotiations and dispute. The \TIndustrial Revolution\t began in the United Kingdom, which in the 19th century became the preeminent industrial and trading nation in the world. In the 20th century, however, competition from more recently industrialized countries and the loss of its colonies (which had provided raw materials for Britain's industries and markets for their finished products) brought an economic decline. Since the 1960s severe labor disputes, unprecedented inflation, and declining exports have contributed to a series of economic crises. During the Industrial Revolution the country became rapidly urbanized, and today more than 70% of the total population is concentrated in cities occupying 10% of the total land area. To protect the remaining countryside, national planning legislation has established ten national parks in the most scenic areas, including \TDartmoor\t, the \TLake District\t, the Pennines, Snowdonia, the Pembrokeshire coast, North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, Northumbria, Exmoor, and the Brecon Beacons. Other areas are also protected as Areas of Outstanding Naturfp Beauty. LAND AND RESOURCES Despite its small size, variety of scene is the main characteristic of the United Kingdom. Lowland England The largest area of flat plain occurs in The \TFens\t, located on the east coast around The WASH. Before they were drained to produce a rich agricultural landscape similar to the polders in the Netherlands, The Fens were an area of marshland. Smaller flat areas are found along the \THumber River\t estuary farther north on the east coast; along the Thames below London; and in Romney Marsh, in the southeastern county of Kent. Elsewhere, lowland England in the south and east is rolling country with a variety of landforms reflecting differences in underlying rock types. Especially prominent are the low hills and scarps developed on chalk rocks of Cretaceous age (135 million to 65 million years ago). They occur in the North and South Downs to the south of London, where the scarps face south and north, respectively, into The Weald; in Salisbury Plain, where the downs converge at their western end; and in the low hills that continue westward through the southern counties of Wiltshire and Dorset and swing eastward through the Isle of Wight. Northwestward from Salisbury Plain, the chalk hills form the prominent Chiltern Hills to the northwest of London; fall to lower elevations in the hills of East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk counties); and farther north form the Lincoln and York Wolds on either side of the Humber estuary. To the west, separated from the chalk hills by an intervening lowland developed mainly on clays, rise a northeast-trending series of uplands developed on limestones of Jurassic age (190 million to 135 million years ago). They extend from the southern county of Dorset to the North York moors on England's northeast coast, and include the Cotswolds, which form a scarped edge overlooking the River Severn valley and rise to a high point of 314 m (1,031 ft) in Cleeve Cloud, near Cheltenham. Also prominent in lowland England are the Mendip Hills, which rise to 326 m (1,068 ft) in Black Down, in the southwest near Bristol; Exmoor, which rises to 520 m (1,707 ft) in Dunkery Beacon farther west; Dartmoor, a granite-formed upland that rises to 621 m (2,039 ft) in High Willhays in the southwestern peninsula; and the Malvern Hills, which exceed 300 m (1,000 ft) between \TGloucester\t and \TWorcester\t. Glacial deposits greatly modify topography and landforms north of an irregular line joining the River Thames and the Bristol Channel; often burying the underlying rock to considerable depths, the mantle of glacial deposits create differing soil and drainage conditions from field to field. Upland England Uplands predominate in northern and western England. The most extensive uplands are the \TPennines\t, which rise to 893 m (2,930 ft) in Cross Fell. Underlain mainly by limestones and grits of Carboniferous age (345 million to 280 million years ago), the Pennines are bordered on both sides by discontinuous coalfields, and the open moorlands of the Pennines contrast starkly with the sprawling industrial cities near the coal deposits. Numerous broad river valleys, known locally as dales, drain eastward across the mountains into the Vale of York, a north-south extension of lowland England that serves as the main route northward into Scotland. West of the Pennines are the Lancashire and Cheshire Plains and farther north England's scenic Lake District, which rises to a high point of 978 m (3,210 ft) in Scafell Pike, England's highest peak. Wales and Scotland Unlike England, the topography of Wales and Scotland is dominated more by mountains and uplands than by lowlands. The highest mountain in Wales is Snowdon, which rises to 1,085 m (3,560 ft) in the northwest. In South Wales the Brecon Beacons rise to 886 m (2,907 ft) and, as in the Pennines, the barren, windswept uplands contrast with the deep and generally narrow coal-mining valleys farther south. The principal lowlands in Wales are on the island of Anglesey and along the western coasts of Caernarvon and Cardigan bays. Southern Scotland is dominated by low ranges of the Southern Uplands, which rise to elevations exceeding 610 m (2,000 ft) in parts of the Tweedsmuir Hills. To the north of the Southern Uplands are the geologically complex, down-faulted Scottish Central Lowlands that extend northeastward across the country from the Firth of Clyde on the west coast to the firths (estuaries) of Tay and Forth on the east coast. The lowlands are interpenetrated by uplands, including the Pentlands, Campsies, Ochils, and Sidlaws; all rise over 300 m (1,000 ft), with peaks reaching over 610 m (2,000 ft) in the Ochils. North and west of the Central Lowlands are the \THighlands\t, a large upland region divided by the Glen More (Great Glen), a deep depression that extends from Fort William to Inverness and is occupied in part by Loch (lake) \TNess\t. Narrow lowlands border the Highlands in the east. The western Highlands are rugged and mountainous and include \TBen Nevis\t, the highest point in the United Kingdom. Numerous other peaks reach over 1,200 m (4,000 ft) in the Cairngorm Mountains, the most extensive area of mountainous terrain in the Highlands. On the western island of \TSkye\t, the scenic Cuillin Hills rise to more than 900 m (3,000 ft) in places, with lower, moorland-covered peaks common on the other islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides. Northern Ireland The structural depression forming the Scottish Central Lowlands extends southwestward across the Irish Sea to form the lowlands surrounding Lough (lake) \TNeagh\t to the west of Belfast in Northern Ireland. Scenic mountains of low elevation border the lowland on all sides. To the northeast rise the Antrim Mountains, which reach a high point of 554 m (1,817 ft); formed on basaltic rocks of Eocene age (54 million to 38 million years ago), the mountains reach the sea on the north coast in the famous steps of the \TGiant's Causeway\t. The Sperrin Mountains form the northwestern edge of the depression and reach a high point of 683 m (2,240 ft) in Mount Sawel. Forming parts of the southern edge of the depression in part are the Mourne Mountains, which are located south of Belfast and rise to 852 m (2,796 ft) in Slieve Donard, Northern Ireland's highest point. Soils The richest soils include the reclaimed alluvial deposits in The Fens, alluvial soils along the Mersey River and west coast, and brick earths and other deep soils used for fruit and vegetable cultivation in the London basin. Elsewhere, soil fertility varies greatly because of underlying rock differences, but modern methods of fertilization make natural fertility less important than such other conditions as soil texture, drainage, climate, and slope. In general terms, soils in the drier east and south are used mainly for crops, and soils in the more humid west and north and in some clay areas are used mainly for dairying. Sheep are grazed generally on poorer soils in moorland and upland areas. Climate The United Kingdom has a highly variable temperate marine west-coast type of climate. Relatively few periods of continuously dry weather occur; they are usually caused by anticyclonic systems and are associated with unusually warm days in summer and cold periods in winter. Much more common is the variable weather that occurs as cyclonic depressions sweep in from the Atlantic Ocean, bringing high winds and abundant rainfall to the west in winter and lower amounts of rainfall in summer. Mountainous west coast areas generally receive more than 2,540 mm (100 in) of rain a year, but rainfall amounts diminish rapidly eastward; the Cairngorm Mountains receive only about 1,000-1,270 mm (40-50 in) a year, and most lowlands in the west, between approximately 500 and 750 mm (20 and 30 in). The driest areas surround the Thames estuary in southeastern England, where less than 500 mm (20 in) of rain falls each year. In the wetter western areas, 2 out of 3 days are usually rainy; in the drier east, rain falls on almost one out of every two days. No permanent snows exist, but snow may lie on the ground for 2 months or more in the Cairngorm Mountains and other parts of the Highlands. In winter, temperatures are colder in the east than in the west; snow covers the ground for about 18 days in Aberdeen, an average of 6 days in London, and hardly at all along the entire southern coast or the west coast as far north as Glasgow. In summer, a more normal decrease in temperature from south to north occurs; average July temperatures range from about 17 deg C (63 deg F) on the southern coast and in London, to 12 deg C (54 deg F) in the north of Scotland. Drainage The \TSevern\t and \TThames\t are the longest rivers. Other major rivers are the \TAvon\t, \TClyde\t, \TFORTH\t, \TMersey\t, \TTay\t, \TTrent\t, \Ttweed\t, Ouse, Tees, and Tyne. These and other rivers are all used either for shipping, water supplies, or hydroelectric power; their flow is, accordingly, highly regulated. Many of the rivers are canalized and are linked with other river systems in an intricate, and now largely abandoned, canal system dating from the early Industrial Revolution. Drinking water is derived from subsurface supplies and from numerous reservoirs in the Pennines, in the Welsh mountains, and in Scotland. Untreated sewage effluent no longer enters the major rivers, and even the Irwell--which runs through Manchester and was once described as the "hardest-worked river in the world" (and certainly the filthiest)--is now clean enough for fishing. Vegetation and Animal Life Although forests cover only 7% of the land area, the British landscape presents a characteristically wooded appearance. This impression stems mainly from the presence of many trees in hedgerows and pastures, coverts planted for game birds, shelter belts planted beside farmhouses and exposed fields, and ornamental plantings on great estates. Little remains of the original oak and birch forest cover, and most of today's forests consist of pines and other conifers planted in reforestation programs in depopulated areas of Scotland and Wales. The largest forests in England occur in the Breckland to the northeast of Cambridge; in Kielder Forest in Northumberland; and as the remnants of the historic Forest of Dean (in Gloucestershire) and Sherwood Forest (in Nottinghamshire); and the New Forest (in Hampshire), a former royal hunting preserve. More extensive than forests are the expanses of treeless moorland that cover much of the Pennines, Highlands, and other exposed upland areas; on the drier moors heather predominates, and on the wetter moors, various grasses and mosses. Extensive areas of alpine flora occur at high elevations in the Cairngorms and other parts of the Highlands. Game birds include grouse, on the moors, and pheasants. Deer are hunted with horses and hounds on Exmoor; deer stalking (on foot) is preferred in the Scottish Highlands. Foxes are hunted in rural areas. Resources The United Kingdom has long been rich in energy resources but deficient in food and industrial raw materials. Extensive coal deposits occur around the eastern and western edges of the Pennines, in South Wales, in the western \TMidlands\t (Birmingham area), and in the Scottish Central Lowland. Easily accessible coal seams are, however, largely exhausted. Fortunately for the energy-hungry British economy, large deposits of petroleum and natural gas under the North Sea came into commercial production in 1975; by the end of the 1980s the United Kingdom is expected to be self-sufficient in petroleum. Other mineral deposits are of small importance. They include tin, mined in small amounts in Cornwall; low-grade iron ores in the Jurassic rocks of Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire in the eastern Midlands, used in steel mills at Scunthorpe and Corby; kaolinite (china clay), mined in parts of Cornwall; and sands and gravels, quarried for road-building materials. Of the total land area about 30% is used for crops and 50% for pasture; agricultural productivity has been greatly improved since World War II, and only half of all food needs are now imported, compared with two-thirds before the war. PEOPLE Except in the case of recent immigrants, the British population tends to classify itself more in terms of national and regional origins than by racial or ethnic criteria. About 83% of the total population live in England, 9% in Scotland, 5% in Wales, and 3% in Northern Ireland. More than 2% are, or are descended from, non-Caucasian immigrants who came to the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s from the British West Indies, Pakistan, India, and other Commonwealth or former Commonwealth countries. Earlier efforts to recognize in the nonimmigrant population various Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean racial strains are now questioned, and the most that can be said with authority is that the population is primarily descended from a mixture of Europeans that have at different times invaded and occupied the islands. Traces of early settlement go back to the Paleolithic era, but the first main occupation was by \TCelts\t, who came by direct migration from continental Europe and also as travelers along the western sea routes linking Brittany to Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland, and the Orkney and Shetland islands. The Roman occupation began in AD 43. Most of the English Lowland was eventually romanized, but outlying areas of Wales, the Pennines, the Lake District, and Scotland remained a nonpacified zone from which Celtic marauders might unexpectedly attack. \TAnglo-Saxons\t came after the decline of Roman Britain and colonized most of the English lowland after the 5th century; they failed, like the Romans, to colonize the north and west, and the division between an Anglo-Saxon south and east and a predominantly Celtic north and west has persisted to this day. Danes settled alongside the Anglo-Saxons in the 9th century and briefly controlled northeastern and central parts of the English lowland as the \TDanelaw\t. The Danish invasions were part of large-scale \TViking\t movements from the 9th to 11th centuries. Other Vikings (Norse) sailed the western sea routes and settled in the Orkney and Shetland islands, along the west coasts of Scotland, in Ireland, in the Lake District, and in western coastal areas as far south as the Isle of Man. \TNormans\t conquered England in 1066. Anglo-Normans had conquered Wales by 1284 but did not anglicize the population much beyond the towns and castles they established along the lowland fringes of North and South Wales; they were also unable to subdue the Scots. Added to this early ethnic mixture were later refugees from continental Europe, such as the French \THuguenots\t; many Irish migrants in the 18th and 19th centuries; Poles and other displaced persons during and after World War II; and in the 1960s and 1970s more than 1.3 million Asian, West Indian, and other nonwhite immigrants. Historically, most immigrants have in time been absorbed into British society following an initial period of tension. Languages The official language is English. Other languages include the \TCeltic languages\t Welsh, the national language of Wales, and Scottish Gaelic, so named to distinguish it from Irish Gaelic, the national language of Ireland. According to the 1971 census, Welsh was spoken by 542,000 people, or about 20% of the total Welsh population, down from 715,000 in 1951. Most Welsh speakers are concentrated in the rural northern and western counties of Wales, where they constitute about 75% of the total population; all but 3,000 are also recorded as English speaking. Welsh nationalism has been strongly linked with encouraging the wider use of Welsh, and since the Welsh Language Act of 1967, the language has enjoyed parity with English in governmental and legal matters throughout Wales. Scottish Gaelic was spoken by 88,753 people in 1971, down from 95,500 in 1951; it is used primarily in the western Highlands and on the islands. The Scottish nationalist movement is less concerned with promoting Gaelic as a national language for Scotland than with improving economic and social conditions by diverting a greater share of North Sea oil profits to Scotland in the future. Cornish, once used in the southwestern peninsula, and Manx, used on the Isle of Man, are virtually extinct. Religion The Anglican Church of England (see \TEngland, Church of\t) and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland (see \TScotland, Church of\t) are established national churches, but neither is subsidized by the state. Wales has no established church, nor has Northern Ireland, which is approximately two-thirds Protestant and one-third Roman Catholic. The Church of England has the nominal, if not the practical, support of about 60% of the English; about 40% of all Scots support the Church of Scotland. Roman Catholicism is heavily represented in Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and other large industrial cities with large numbers of Irish and continental European immigrant workers. Methodist, Baptist, and United Reform (Presbyterian and Congregational) churches are found almost everywhere in England and Wales; in Scotland the Episcopal (Anglican) church has small numbers of adherents in most towns and a few villages. Other Christian groups include the Society of Friends (Quakers) and the Salvation Army. About 450,000 Jews live mainly in the London area. In addition, recent immigrants have established Islamic mosques and Hindu and Sikh temples in some of the major cities. Demography The birthrate is 13.1 per 1,000 inhabitants and the death rate 11.8. This is a marked change from the situation in the mid-1970s, when birth and death rates are virtually balanced at 11.7 per 1,000 inhabitants, giving the nation a near-zero rate of population growth. It is not yet clear whether this is part of a permanent trend toward larger families, however, and assuming that the death rate declines in the future but the birthrate remains the same or increases slightly, experts predict a population of 58 million for the year 2001. The population is highly urbanized, and the United Kingdom is the fourth most densely populated nation in Europe (after the Netherlands, Belgium, and West Germany). The most densely populated part of the United Kingdom is England, with 354 persons per sq km (918 per sq mi); Scotland has a density of 65 per sq km (168 per sq mi); Wales, 134 per sq km (347 per sq mi); and Northern Ireland, 110 per sq km (284 per sq mi). About 30% of the total population is concentrated in the Greater London area and seven other conurbations (continuously built-up urban areas)--central Clydeside (based on Glasgow), Tyne and Wear (based on the central cities of \TNewcastle upon Tyne\t and Sunderland), Merseyside (\TLiverpool\t and environs), Greater \TManchester\t, West Yorkshire (based on \TLeeds\t and \TBradford\t), South Yorkshire (based on \TSheffield\t), and the West Midlands (\TBirmingham\t and the Black Country). Another 30% of the population is urbanized in smaller towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants, including the environs of \TBelfast\t, \TCardiff\t, and \TGlasgow\t. The most sparsely populated areas are the Highlands of Scotland, upland areas of Wales, and the Pennines. Areas of most rapid population growth are in outer London, where several of the post-1945 \Tnew towns\t (designed to relieve urban congestion) are located, such as Crawley, Bracknell, Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Harlow, and Basildon; in the western Midlands; and in the eastern Midlands around \TDerby\t and \TNottingham\t. By contrast, the old textile and other industrial towns of the Pennines--such as \TBolton\t, Oldham, Burnley, Blackburn, and Manchester for cotton and Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield for woolens--are declining, and stagnation is also seen in the industrialized northeast of England and in most of Scotland. The greatest losses of population are occurring in the mining valleys of South Wales and in inner-city areas of Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow. Government planning is a major influence in the redistribution of population as the economy changes and in the creation of communities providing higher standards of urban life for the working class as well as for the more affluent. Education and Health Education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 16. Nursery schools are also provided for children under 5, but the supply of such schools does not meet the demand. In most cases children in the \TBritish education\t system move from a junior to a senior school at age 11, with some local authorities choosing to transfer children at age 12 or 13. Current educational policy is for comprehensive schools to educate all children up to age 16. A minority stay on in school until 18 or 19 and join a sixth form (upper class level) in the school that prepares them for entrance to university or other forms of higher education. In some areas special sixth form colleges are provided. The majority of the school population, however, leave school at 16 and either go to work or continue education in colleges of further education, technical schools, or colleges offering vocational training on either a full-time, part-time, or evening basis. Evening school classes enroll large numbers of adults in a wide range of academic and recreational classes. The old grammar schools are now almost completely merged into the comprehensive system of education, although some have chosen to become independent. As independent schools, they, like such prestigious "public" (private) schools as \TEton College\t, \TRugby School\t, and \TWinchester College\t, no longer receive state aid but are required to maintain the same standards of staffing and equipment as the state schools; like them, too, they are subject to periodic inspection. Higher education is provided at 34 universities in England including the prestigious universities of \TCambridge\t, \TLondon\t, and \TOxford\t; at 8 in Scotland; and at 2 in Northern Ireland. In addition, 7 university colleges and medical and technological institutions are allied with the University of Wales, and the \TOpen University\t provides instruction and degrees for home-based students via national television channels. Medical care is provided free or for a small charge to most of the population through the National Health Service. In addition, a small minority financially able to do so choose to remain outside the system and be private, fee-paying patients of hospitals, physicians, and dentists. Under the National Health Service, small charges are made for prescriptions (except for children and senior citizens), for dental treatment, and for optical and other special services. Normally, no costs are incurred by the patient for routine medical care, including visits to the doctor's office, house calls, or hospitalization as a patient or outpatient. Life expectancy is 69 years for men and 75 for women. The principal causes of death are heart and circulatory diseases and cancer. Infant mortality is 12.9 per 1,000 live births. The Arts More than 35,000 books are published annually in the United Kingdom, including paperback editions. The best-known university presses are at Oxford and Cambridge, but most other publishers maintain their headquarters in London and, for the Scottish presses, in Edinburgh and Glasgow. For the nation's vast literary heritage see separate entries on \TEnglish literature\t, \TScottish literature\t, and \TWelsh literature\t. Foremost painters include William \THogarth\t, Thomas \TGainsborough\t, Joseph M. W. \TTurner\t, John \TConstable\t, and William \TBlake\t (see \TEnglish art and architecture\t). The works of these and other painters are maintained in London at the \TNational Gallery\t, \TTate Gallery\t, and other galleries and in some larger cities outside London. Special art exhibitions by the Royal Academy in London attract large crowds every year. Leading composers of \TEnglish music\t include Henry \TPurcell\t, Edward \TElgar\t, Ralph \LVaugh\ln Williams, and Benjamin \TBritten\t. The Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall are important concert centers in London, and first-class orchestras are maintained in London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham and by the \TBBC\t (British Broadcasting Corporation). The \TGlyndebourne Opera Festival\t, \TRoyal Ballet\t, Royal Opera, and English National Opera (formerly Sadler's Wells Opera) are all internationally famous. In Wales eisteddfods, festivals of music (especially choral music) and art, are held throughout the year, the most famous being the Royal National Eisteddfod. In Scotland the major event in the arts is the 3-week annual Edinburgh International Festival of Music, Drama, and Art at the end of the summer. Other important cultural events in Britain are the Chichester Festival, the Shakespearean plays at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon, and local music and drama festivals. The main source of government support for music and drama is the Arts Council. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY In the 14th and 15th centuries, England developed a flourishing wool trade with the Continent and a cottage-based textile industry in sheep-raising areas of the Cotswolds, Pennines, East Anglia (Norwich area), and the southwest. In the 18th century the invention of power-driven textile machinery revolutionized this earlier industry, and spinning and weaving operations moved out of the home and into factories. Early factories were powered by running water, and the abundance of this waterpower (and of soft water for the wool-washing processes) concentrated the early textile industry in the Pennines. Steam engines, fueled by coal, replaced water power after the 1780s, and the coalfields developed as major industrial centers. Lancashire (west Pennines) developed as a cotton textile center; Yorkshire (east Pennines), as the center of woolen manufactures; Birmingham and the Black Country (West Midlands), as a center for the manufacture of machinery and precision equipment; and the Glasgow area, as a shipbuilding and metallurgical center. By 1851 the United Kingdom was the world's leading industrial nation. It lost this industrial preeminence after the 1920s as other nations began to industrialize. It experimented with nationalization of steel and other key industries in the 1940s and, despite widespread opposition, joined the EEC in 1973. Manufacturing Workers directly engaged in manufacturing number approximately 6 million, or about 23% of the total labor force. Of these, about 29% are engaged in the metallurgical and engineering industries, about 5% in chemical industries, about 10% in food processing, and 6% in textile manufacturing. About 10% work in vehicle manufacture, and 8% work in the paper, printing, and publishing industries. Increasing efficiency of production and elimination of uneconomic plants continue to reduce the numbers working in manufacturing. The main centers of industry are on the coalfields of northern England and Scotland, in the western Midlands, and around the major ports, including London. Mining Only about 1.5% of the labor force is engaged in mining. Petroleum is the principal mineral produced, with production rapidly approaching the self-sufficiency level of 2 million barrels a day in the early 1980s and proven reserves under the North Sea estimated at 14.8 billion barrels in 1982. Natural gas is produced in association with petroleum. Coal is also mined, but employment in the coal industry has dropped from more than 1 million in 1913 to about 275,000 today, mainly because of loss of export markets, increasing use of petroleum and other fuels, and exhaustion of easily worked coal seams in the coalfields. Coal production has also declined by about half from a peak of about 291 million metric tons (321 million U.S. tons) in 1913 to 130 million metric tons (143 million U.S. tons) in 1980. Sands and gravels are of considerable economic significance; iron ores, tin, and kaolinite (china clay) are of lesser importance. Power In 1980 the United Kingdom ranked second in Europe, after West Germany, in electricity production, with an output of 281 billion kW h. About 65% of all coal mined is used to generate electricity; in addition, large oil-powered generating stations are located near London, Southampton, and other ports. Hydroelectricity contributed about 5,249,000,000 kW h of the total; most of it is produced in the Scottish Highlands and in southwestern Scotland, with smaller amounts produced in northwestern Wales. Approximately 12% of all electricity is derived from nuclear power. An estimated 21.5% of the nation's total fuel supply is derived from natural gas, which is mined in increasing amounts from under the North Sea; over half of the gas is used for industrial and commercial purposes. Coal supplies 36.9%; oil, 37%; nuclear energy, 4.0%; and hydropower, 0.6%. Agriculture Approximately three-fourths of all the land area of England and Wales is used for farming, excluding moorlands used for grazing; in Scotland less than one-fourth of the total area is farmed. The main crops are wheat, barley, oats, peas, beans, vegetables, sugar beets, and green fodder crops; most are grown in the east and south of England, on the east coast of Scotland, and on the Lancashire and Cheshire plains. Livestock farming, mainly for beef and dairy products, prevails in lowland areas elsewhere, with sheep farming predominant on higher ground. Truck farming (called market gardening in the United Kingdom) is important near London and other large cities and on the south coast. Flowers and early potatoes are a specialty in mild and sheltered areas of Cornwall and the Scilly Islands. Less than 2% of the total labor force is engaged in agriculture, and the number of people working the land has declined steadily since 1945 in the face of increased mechanization and greater agricultural efficiency. Forestry and Fishing Forestry is of minor national importance but has given useful employment in remote districts that have been reforested. In some areas the state-owned forests are also open for visitors and have become economically important as tourist attractions; in other areas, including the Lake District, reforestation is opposed for fear that it would spoil open mountain views and thereby damage a thriving tourist industry. Fishing has long been a major activity, and large fishing ports include Lerwick (in the Shetland Islands), Aberdeen, Grimsby, Hull, Lowestoft on the east coast, North Shields, and Yarmouth, and Fleetwood and Milford Haven on the west coast. Major fish-processing industries are located in Aberdeen, Grimsby, Hull, and Yarmouth. In 1980, 710,500 metric tons (783,192 U.S. tons) of fish were landed, but international tensions over access to fishing grounds in the North Atlantic and Arctic threaten the industry. Transportation More than 2,400 km (1,490 mi) of high-speed motorway supplement the United Kingdom's older and slower highway system based on 13,161 km (8,178 mi) of trunk roads radiating out from London with "bypasses" around major cities to lessen congestion. Railroads were nationalized in 1947, and service was reduced and modernized by British Railways (BR), which operates about 18,000 km (11,200 mi) of track in England, Scotland, and Wales. More than 320 km(200 mi) of wide-gauge track is operated by Northern Ireland Railways (NIR). Many rail lines are currently or are scheduled to be electrified, including a number of commuter routes into London and the well-traveled routes between London and Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Except for the Manchester Ship Canal, which links Manchester and Merseyside, canals and canalized rivers, important before 1800, carry little freight today but are important recreational assets. Major ports are London, Milford Haven, Tees and Hartlepool, Forth, Grimsby and Immingham, Southampton, Shetland (Sullom Voe), Medway, Orkney (Flotta), Liverpool, and Manchester. Trade Imports generally exceed exports by value, but the difference is usually balanced by income from worldwide financial, insurance, and transport services and from an increasingly successful tourist industry. In 1981 imports totaled $101.9 billion, and exports, $102.8 billion. More than half of all exports consist of electrical equipment, aircraft and aircraft engines, road vehicles and tractors, scientific instruments, and other metallurgical and engineering products. Other leading exports are chemical products, which have increased in recent years, and textiles, which have declined. The four main groups of imports are semimanufactured goods; manufactured articles; petroleum and other raw materials; and food, drink, and tobacco. The main trading partners are the Netherlands, France, West Germany, and other members of the EEC; the Commonwealth countries; and the United States. A small but increasing trade is conducted with Eastern Europe. GOVERNMENT The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of government. The ruling sovereign (since 1952) is Queen \TElizabeth II\t; the heir apparent is Prince \TCharles\t, who by tradition as the eldest son of the monarch is Prince of Wales. As head of state the sovereign ceremonially opens each new session of Parliament and entrusts executive authority to the prime minister (since 1990, John \TMajor\t) and the cabinet. Legislative authority rests with a bicameral Parliament, but effective power lies more with the directly elected House of Commons (lower house) than with the House of Lords (upper house), consisting of hereditary and life peers. The prime minister is appointed by the sovereign as the leader of the majority party or coalition of parties in the House of Commons. The maximum term of Parliament is 5 years, but elections may be called earlier if the government loses the support of the Commons or if it chooses. The principal political parties are the \TConservative\t PARTY, led by John Major, and the \TLabour party\t, led by Neil \TKinnock\t. Other parties include the Social and Liberal Democrats, formed in 1988 by a merger of the \LLiberal part\ly and the Social Democratic party; the Communist party; and the locally important Ulster Unionist party, the Scottish National party, and the Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalist party). Of the 650 members in the Commons, 523 represent England, 38 represent Wales, 72 represent Scotland, and 17 represent Northern Ireland. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have separate local assemblies and are self-governing. Plans to provide devolution (home rule) to Scotland and Wales ended in 1979, when voters in Wales rejected a plan to establish a Welsh assembly in Cardiff, and voters in Scotland approved, but with less than the necessary majority, establishment of a separate assembly for Scotland in Edinburgh. Home rule had been in effect for Northern Ireland (since 1921) but was ended in 1972 because of continuing Protestant-Catholic hostilities; government of Northern Ireland now rests with the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, who is answerable to the Parliament in London. Local government in England underwent major reorganization in 1974. Local administration is now managed through 6 metropolitan counties; 39 nonmetropolitan counties; and Greater London, which has a central council for overall planning and local councils for the administration of the 32 boroughs and the City of London. The 6 metropolitan counties are the conurbations of Tyne and Wear, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and the West Midlands. The 39 nonmetropolitan counties are subdivided into 296 districts. Wales is divided into 8 counties, subdivided into 37 districts; Scotland is divided into 9 regions and 3 "island districts"--Shetland, Orkney, and the Western Isles--and subdivided into 53 districts. British dependencies overseas include Gibraltar, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Hong Kong, the British Indian Ocean Territory, St. Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, and the Pitcairn Islands. Thomas W. Freeman Bibliography: \TGeneral\t: Blythe, Ronald, Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village (1969); Churchill, Winston L. S., The Island Race (1964); Fleure, Herbert J., and Davies, M., A Natural History of Man in Britain, rev. ed. (1970); Freeman, Thomas W., Geography and Planning, 4th ed. (1974), and Geography and Regional Administration: England and Wales: 1830-1968 (1968); Graves, Norman, and White, John, Geography of the British Isles (1971); Halsey, Albert H., Change in British Society (1978); Irwin, John, Modern Britain: An Introduction (1976); Mauger, Peter, and Smith, Leslie, The British People, 1902-1968 (1972); Riddell, Peter, The Thatcher Decade: Britain in the 1980s (1990); Sampson, Anthony, The Changing Anatomy of Britain (1983); Theroux, Paul, The Kingdom by the Sea (1983). \Tculture\t: Armes, Roy, A Critical History of British Cinema (1978); Betts, Ernest, The Film Business: A History of British Cinema, 1896-1972 (1973); Cox, C. B., and Dyson, A. E., eds., The Twentieth Century Mind: History, Ideas, and Literature in Britain, 3 vols. (1972); Lambert, Jack W., Drama in Britain, 1964-1973 (1974); Glancey, Jonathan, New British Architecture (1990); Sunderland, J., Painting in Britain, 1525-1975 (1976); Young, P. M., A History of British Music (1967). \Teconomy\t: Alt, James, The Politics of Economic Decline (1979); Barr, Nicholas, The Economics of the Welfare State (1987); Dornbusch, Rudiger, and Layard, Richard, eds., The Performance of the British Economy (1988); Elbaum, Bernard, and Lazonick, William, The Decline of the British Economy (1985); Harris, R.I., The Growth and Structure of the U.K. Regional Economy (1989); Murphy, Brian, A History of the British Economy, 2 vols. (1973); Vickers, John, and Yarrow, George, Privatization: An Economic Analysis (1988). \Tgovernment\t AND \LPolitic\ls: Bromhead, Peter, Britain's Developing Constitution (1974); Jordan, Grant, and Richardson, J., Government and Pressure Groups in Britain (1987); Kavanaugh, Dennis, British Politics: Continuities and Change, 2d ed. (1990); Rose, Richard, Politics in England, 5th ed. (1989). \Thistory\t: Childs, David, Britain since 1945 (1980); Kearney, Hugh, The British Isles: A History of Four Nations (1989); Lloyd, T.O., The British Empire, 1558 to 1983 (1984); Mowat, C. F., Great Britain since 1914 (1971); Norman, Edward, A History of Modern Ireland (1971); Riley, P. W., The Union of England and Scotland (1979); Thompson, F.M., The Cambridge Social History of Britain, 3 vols. (1990). See also: \TGreat Britain, history of\t; separate articles on all counties and major cities and land features in the United Kingdom.