Facts About Great Britain

Facts About Great Britain

Great Britain is a part of the United Kingdom. Britain lies towards the northwest of Continental Europe. It is a big island encircled by around 1,000 small islands. It is located only 35 km from France. It includes Scotland, Wales and England. England is the largest of all of these. Tyne, Thames, Severn and Humber are significant rivers flowing through the country. It is the native land of great minds like Darwin, Shakespeare, Newton and the Beatles. It is also home to the world’s biggest foreign exchange market, the inventor of the hovercraft, JK Rowling - the author of the Harry Potter books and the world’s richest football club - Manchester United. Continue reading for some more fascinating, interesting and fun facts about Great Britain.

Interesting & Fun Facts About Great Britain 

• The official name of Great Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• England, Scotland, and Wales, together make up Great Britain.
• It is the largest island in the European continent and the ninth largest in the world.
• The capital and the largest city of Britain is London, while the capitals of the three countries forming Britain are London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff, of England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively.
• Christianity is the major religion practiced in Great Britain with over 5 million believers across the entire island, divided into 4.5 million in England and Wales, and 750,000 in Scotland.
• The official language of Britain is English.
• The currency used in Great Britain is pound sterling.
• Ben Navis, at 1,344 m (4,409 ft), is the highest point in Great Britain in Scotland, while the lowest point is the Fenlands which is 4 m below sea level.
• Interestingly, with a population of 60 million people, Great Britain is the third most populous island in the world, after Java and Honshû.
• Though the island has been named ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’, it includes only England, Wales, Scotland, and many other small outlying islands, namely, Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland. However, it does not include Northern Ireland.
• The word British is used to refer the people belonging to the entire Great Britain, Britain for short. However, they are referred to as Welsh, Scottish, and English in their respective nations.
• The longest river is The Severn, measuring 322 km long, that rises in central Wales and flows through Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Gloucester in England into the Bristol Channel.
• The official name for the British flag is Union Jack, while the English flag is called the Flag of St. George, the Scottish is called the Flag of St. Andrew, and the Welsh flag is called the Flag of St. David.
• Did you know that the world-famous pop music band ‘The Beatles’ that changed the music scene across the globe are from England?
• Britain is the only country in the world that does not have the country’s name on its postage stamps.
• Surprisingly, there are more chickens than humans in England.
• Of all the mammal species found in Great Britain, rodents constitute 40% which include squirrels, mice, voles, rats, and the European beaver. Others comprise of rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, shrews, moles, and several bats species.
• The deer is the largest land-based wild animal found in Great Britain. The largest species is the red deer, followed by roe deer and fallow deer.