Great
Britain's influence on the histories, cultures, and imaginations of
peoples around the world is colossal—far greater than might reasonably
be expected from the purview of its narrow island home, its relatively
small population.
From Camelot to Runnymede, Jack and Jill to Margaret Thatcher, bagpipes to
the Beatles, and the Golden Hind to the Concorde, British heritage
and achievements permeate the lives and thoughts of people across the
globe, especially in English-speaking nations. Its landscapes, towns, and
urban scenes are immortalized in nursery rhyme, painting, fiction, poetry,
motion picture, and television; its laws and institutions have served as a
model for scores of countries; its language is the closest candidate to an
international tongue on the planet today; the inventions of its
laboratories and workshops sustain our daily routines.
Formally known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
(popularly shortened to "the UK"), the nation was formed in 1707
by a political union of the much older kingdoms of Scotland and England. A
third partner in this union is Wales, a principality that shares the
English government but is largely self-administered and has its own
distinct culture and identity. Northern Ireland (also called Ulster)
comprises another integral part.
Students go to Britain for a variety of reasons. Most of them visit London
for its marvelous historical and cultural offerings—theater, museums,
galleries, dance, symphonies, shopping, pub life, and the pomp of
Whitehall and Buckingham Palace.
Yet the capital does not have a monopoly on culture. Fortunate are
students with time enough to enjoy the architecture of Edinburgh, explore
the castle at Cardiff, attend a play at Stratford-upon-Avon, browse
through Cambridge bookshops, enjoy a traditional May Day celebration in
Oxford, and take in the rich history and atmosphere of smaller cities such
as York, Bath, Criccieth, and Winchester. For many, the best lies even
further afield in the exquisite British countryside and villages:
churchyards, castles, gardens, stately homes, rural pubs, and the lovely
scenery of the Scottish Highlands, the Welsh mountains, the Yorkshire
Dales, the Cornish coast, and the Lake District.
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