The official name of the country we usually call “England” and occasionally “Great Britain” is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom is situated on the group of islands lying just off the mainland of northwestern Europe. The British Isles include Great Britain, Ireland and a number of smaller islands. The total area of the British Isles is 325,000 square km. Many ages ago the British Isles formed a part of the continent. The rocky highlands of Scotland, for example, resemble the Norwegian coast. Another evidence that the islands were the part of the continent is the shallow ness of the water between them and the mainland. Now Great Britain is separated from the continent by the English Channel, the narrowest part of which is called the Strait of Dover. The British Isles are surrounded by the shallow waters of the Irish Sea and the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the North Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. There are wild desolate mountains in the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Pennine Range in northern England and the Cambrian Mountains in Wales are much lower. The rivers of the region are short and of no great importance as waterways. The longest of them is “the Father of London”, the Thames, which is a little over 200 miles. Britain’s principal ports are London, Liverpool,Manchester and Glasgow. They have splendid harbors, for the coast line is very indented. Owing to the shape of the country, any point in Great Britain is no more than 70 miles from the sea.