Edinburgh (438,700) has been long recognized as the capital of Scotland, in spite of being second in size to Glasgow. The latter began to overtake Edinburgh in population with the Industrial Revolution. While Glasgow led the development of heavy industry, Edinburgh remained the country’s political and cultural centre. Picturesque surface features and the annual International Festival in the late summer have made Edinburgh the outstanding centre of tourism in Scotland. It also has a number of important industries: textile manufacture, brewing, flour milling, and biscuit manufacture. Other imports are timber and dairy produce. Paper manufacture, printing and publishing are important because Edinburgh is a university city, closely associated with education, as well as administration, banking and insurance.
North Sea oil has affected life on the Orkneys and the Shetland Islands. Oil terminals have been constructed on Orkney (Flotta) and Shetland (Sullom Voe), receiving petroleum by pipeline from the North Sea fields. This has involved the population into new occupations connected with oil production.
The natural conditions of Scotland have extensively affected agriculture. The Highlands are among the most severe in Britain and it has had important effects on the pattern of farming. This s particularly true of the traditional type of farming-clothing-which is still practiced in the remote areas of northern and western Scotland and on the surrounding islands. In the eastern part of the region, where there are Lowland with richer soils than the Highlands a much grater proportion of the land is tilled. Farming here is best described as mixed. On the arable land oats, turnips, and potatoes are cultivated and part of the area is improved grassland in rotation. Barley is often grown here for the production of malt whisky.
The Central Lowlands are best situated for farming. Types of farming change from west to east under the influence of climate. The western lowlands have a great deal of land under grass, and form Scotland’s main dairy farming area.
2. Wales.
Wales is the predominantly mountainous country, with large areas of land over six hundred meters in height, and for the past two hundred years, these upland areas have lost population. South Wales is the main area of industrial activity, because it was coal that first gave life to industry. The nineteenth century saw a tenfold increase in the population of the South west coalfield region. Large-scale expunction of coal mining did not take lace till the second half of the nineteenth century. Merchant navies, railways and works all required increasing amounts of coal. On the coast Cardiff and Newport handled the coal that came down by the valley railway.
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By the 1930s coal exports were already declining, causing economic depression and unemployment. The overseas trade disappeared in World War II, and only partly and temporally revived in place time. Important consumers were now turning to oil, and the reduced demand led to the closure to many pits and again unemployment. From about 200 pits as the end of World War II the number was reduced to less that 50. The number of working miners fell by about two-thirds and the industry lost its position as the leading employer in South Wales. All this has created immense social problems, particularly in the valleys where the dependence on mining valleys is the Rhonadda, its population, however, is steadily falling due to coal production decline.
Like coal mining, the iron and steel industry is long established in the south. For much of the nineteenth century South Wales was the leading producer in Britain. The prosperity was based on the availability of basic raw materials-coking coal and iron ore. As the iron ores were exhausted, and foreign ores had to be imported, the iron and steel works were moved to sites near the coast. The major integrated steel works is situated at Port Talbot, where a new harbor was opened in 1970 to accommodate the largest ore carries. However, by the end of the 1970s the steel industry faced widespread recession and steel production was drastically reduced.
Other material industry in south Wales, notably the manufacture of tinplate is in the Swansea district, South Wales is an important centre for the manufacture of non-ferrous metals. Its main centre is Swansea. Industrial recession has also affected this industry. Efforts have been made to attract new engineering industries; however, they haven’t solved the serious social problems caused be the decline of the traditional industries.
Cardiff (280,000) is the largest city in industrial South Wales, and is also the national capital and main business centre. It rose to importance with the coal mining and iron industries. Today the cargoes it handles are mainly imports, to be distributed throughout south Wales. On imported grain flour milling developed as well as other food processing. Swansea and Newport shared coal exports too. However, later they suffered the same decline like Cardiff. The main port of Wales today is Milford Hayed (situated in the very southwest) because of its oil tanker traffic. It is one of the leading oil terminals of Britain. Refineries grew up on opposite shores and Milford Hayed became an important refining centre. A pipeline takes petroleum to a refinery near Swansea.
North Wales is mountainous. In the north-west is the district known as Snowdonia, where the Snowdonia National Park is situated and where the Snowdon the highest peak in Wales (1085m), towers over its mountain group. Sheep rising is the main occupation of the population.
In addition to the river valleys and the narrow coastal plain, North Wales has some Lowland areas, including those on the island of Anglesey. At these lower altitudes the climate is much more favorable. Here the farmers concentrate on cattle rather than sheep. They raise both dairy and buff cattle, the former providing
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milk for English industrial districts as well as the towns of North Wales. Oats root crops are drown here mainly for fodder.
Despite the small coalfield, industrialization has had little effect on North Wales. Recently two nuclear power stations were built: one in V, the other in Anglesey. They both supply power to the national grid system. Tourism is mainly concentrated in the northern coastal strip. On holy Island, which lies off the coast of Anglesey, is Holyhead, terminus of road and rail routs from London and chief ferry port, for services to the Irish public-via Dun Loaghaire (pronounced dunleary), near Dublin.
In general, Wales, which is the national outlying region of GB, faces serious social and economic problems, caused by the depression of its traditional industries. Unemployment remains high and the future of many miners and workers remains very uncertain.
5. Бақылау сұрақтары:
1. Geographical position of regions
2. The main industry
3. Big cities of regions
4. Climate
6. Лекция тақырыбына сәйкес СӨЖ тапсырмалары:
“Agriculture of regions”
7. Қажетті әдебиеттер:
1. Электрондық оқулық
2. Burlacova V.V. “The UK of GB and Northern Ireland”
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Лекция 10
1.Лекция тақырыбы: A Nation of Immigrants
2. Лекция жоспары:
1. Geographical position of the USA
2. Native Americans
3. Лекция мақсаты: Аумақтық құрамын таныстыру. Ірі көлдер мен өзендер туралы мәлімет беру. Америка ұлтының қалыптасуы.
4. Лекция мазмұны: Америка халқының өзгешілігін, өмір сұру ерекшеліктерін айтып өту. АҚШ дамуының әртүрлі деңгейлеріндегі иммиграция.
1.Geographical position of the USA
The main landmass of the US lies in Central North America, with Canada to the North, Mexico to the South, The Atlantic Ocean to the East and the Pacific Ocean to the West. The two newest states, Alaska and Hawaii are separated from the continental US: Alaska borders the North western Canada and Hawaii lies in the central Pacific.
The diversity of the country stems from the fact that it is so large and has so many kind of land ,climate and people .
The USA stretches 2,575 kilometers from North to South,4,500 kilometers from east to west. The deep green mountain forests of the northwest coast are drenched with more than 250 centimeters of rain each year.
A traveler from almost any other country can find points of the USA that remind him of home. There are pine forest dotted with lakes ,and mountain peaks covered with snow. There are meadows with brooks and trees and sea cliffs ,and wide grassy plains, and broad spreads of grapevines and sandy beaches.
The USA is too large and varied country to sum up in a short explanation. To understand some of its differences, it can be divided into six regions. Each regions is distinctive from the others economically, geographically, and ,in some ways, culturally
SIX REGIONS: The Northeast, The central basin ,The Southeast ,The Great Plains ,The mountains and Deserts, The Coast Valleys
1.THE NORHTEAST( THE MELTING POT)
This is the part of the US which most visitors see ,and the part that is most often described. The skyscrapers of New York, the steel mills of Pittsburg, the automobile assembly lines of Detroit-these symbols of industrial America belong to this region. Into this area of industry came millions of Europeans who made of it what became known as the ”melting pot” the fusion of people from many nations into Americans.
More than any other part of the country , this section reflects European culture and tradition .New York is the largest city, was bought from the Indians for a mere $24 worth of trinkets.
Now it is the financial center of the USA .New York is the welcoming port for most of the immigrants who saw ,as they sailed into its harbor ,the immense statue of liberty holding high her torch of freedom.
There are three other major seaports in the Northeast. All, like New York ,are great financial ,commercial and industrial centers. They are Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore. Boston was one of the first settlements and major cities and is the heart of the new England States.
PHILADELPHIA is where the Declaration of Independence and the constitution were drawn up and signed and where Benjamin Franklin, statesman and scientist ,lived ,Baltimore is a commercial and industrial center and important seaport.
THE CENTRAL BASIN
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The gently sloping land of the central Basin was once the frontier to those who crossed the Appalachian Mountains. In Illinois these pioneers reached the end of the great eastern forests .Before them was a rich grass land .The fertile soils and the long hot summers with enough rain were a farmer’s dream. There the states as Ohio , Indiana, Illinois ,Iowa and Nebraska which are known as the Corn Belt. The North part of this region is in Wisconsin and Minnesota which are cooler and more moist states in this region. There dairy farming flourishes. On a typical farm in the Central Basin the farmer will own about 87 hectares and plant one main crop. He will also have a large herd of livestock. All planting ,cultivating, fertilizing, spraying and harvesting he will do himself.
THE SOUTHEAST( land of change)
This Southeast region is changing more rapidly than any other part of the US-not because the land is new, but because the area’s old, exhausted land is being given new life.
The region is blessed with plentiful rainfall and a mild climate .On most of its farmlands ,crops can be grown without frost at last six month of the year .A transportation artery , the Mississippi River and its southern branches, runs through the heart of the area ,and other rivers are found near its coast. Crops grew easily in its soil, which is brown on the coastal plain, red on the low hillsides, and black in east Texas .The mountains contribute coal ,water ,and rich valleys . Florida is a garden for subtropical fruits. Some of the nation largest fields lie in the states of Louisiana and Texas .The region is naturally rich in forests and minerals.
Before the US declared its freedom from Great Britain in 1776,the economy of the colonies (both north and south)was predominantly agricultural.
The geography of the northeast did not fit well into this pattern and, with independence ,the northern states broke away from it. But the South, with its rich soil and ideal climate found its wealth in agriculture with such crops as tobacco, rice and indigo.
Industrial power, the energy that turns machines is being developed, at last ,for human use. For example ,natural gas is a great resource for industrial power, but it must be transported after it is taken from the ground .Today South has built new pipeline underground which carry this resource from the gas and oil fields to mines and mill sites.
THE GREAT PLAINS
The Great Plains begin with he 50 centimeters rainfall line which runs north and South almost through the center of the country .The traveler becomes aware of the difference in the atmosphere once he crosses this invisible line .This is a land of extreme heat and extreme cold. It is a land where water is worth more than property. It is almost flat, rising imperceptibly for 640 kilometers until it suddenly meets the mountains to the West.
Nowhere is the rainfall more unpredictable or the climate more violent. For two or three years there may be enough rain .Then there is a year when no rain falls, when the streams from the mountains dry up and their channels are filled with sand .The wind blows constantly .It is very hot from July to September ,but it the winter snow covers houses.
The Great Plains is a hard country. The heat of the summer is scorching (hot),the winter is freezing .The wind blows fiercely with few hills or forests to stop it , from Montana on the Canadian border to the Mexican border state of Texas .Water is precious. Its scarcity drove the settlers on across the plains as far as they could go .Only Red Indians knew how to survive here. They captured the wild horses, descended from those that escaped from Spanish explores in the 16th century ,and hunted the buffalo, that provided them with most of their food, clothing and tools.
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THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS region like the Great Plains did not attract settlers at first. It was a fearful area, to be crossed as quickly as possible to reach the Pacific coast. Seeking land and gold , the settler at first found neither until they reached the Pacific slopes .But then gold was found at Pikes Peak and in a few other parts of the Rocky mountains. Clearly ,there was gold in the Rockies and men hurried back ,faster than they had hurried through.
The Majestic Rocky mountains stretch all the way from Mexico to the Arctic, like the Alps, they are high , sharp and rugged. Compared with the Appalachians in the East ,they are young and their faces of bare rock are capped with snow ,even to the south. In the high valleys, there are remains of the glaciers, while below them there are clear, icy lakes.
The Rocky mountains are the long backbone of the continent –over 4,200 meters high and 560 kilometers wide in Utah and Colorado ,because of its unusual and varied natural beauty, much of this mountain and desert region has been preserved unspoiled in national parks such as Yellowstone in Wyoming and Death Valley in California.
Today about 170,000sq.kilometres of deserts. In the 960 kilometers between Salt lake city ,Utah and Peno ,Nevada ,there is nothing but dead lakes ,dry rivers, snakes and small animal life, enormous mineral wealth ,and the inhuman beauty of the desert.
Most of Rocky Mountain gold is gone today . Some other minerals also vanished much too quickly due to mining methods. While soil can gradually be restored and trees planted on bare hillsides ,the mineral wealth of the earth can not be re-created.
Today the nation’s largest open-hit copper mining center is Bingham, Utah, in one of the Great basin ranges.
Modern industry demands more and more of the nation’s mineral wealth.
Each new electric plant needs many kilometers of copper wire: machines require iron ,lead and other minerals .Coal, oil and natural gas must drive the machines.
States like Texas and Oklahoma long have been noted for their oil production, but the west also has vast new energy reserves.
The West is the site for the development of alternative energy sources. Wind-power experiments conducted in New Mexico eventually may lead to installations providing two percent of the nation’s electrical power.