Chapter 2: What is the UK? — Set 3

Jersey is the largest Channel Island; Guernsey, Alderney and Sark are all smaller.

The Bailiwick of Guernsey is made up of Guernsey, Alderney and Sark; Jersey forms a separate bailiwick of its own.

The Crown Dependencies govern themselves with their own governments and laws; they are not part of the UK and are not represented at Westminster.

The dependencies run their own domestic affairs, but the UK is responsible for their defence and represents them internationally.

Bermuda lies in the North Atlantic, off the east coast of North America.

The Cayman Islands are in the western Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba.

Napoleon was exiled to remote St Helena in the South Atlantic in 1815 and died there in 1821.

The Isle of Man is a Crown Dependency, not an overseas territory. Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar are all British Overseas Territories.

To call the UK from abroad you dial +44, then the number without its opening zero.

In winter the UK is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT); the clocks move forward to British Summer Time in the spring.

Clocks spring forward one hour at the end of March for British Summer Time, and go back one hour at the end of October.

At the end of October the clocks go back by one hour, ending British Summer Time and returning the UK to Greenwich Mean Time.

Scotland has the second-largest population of the four countries, ahead of Wales and then Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland has the smallest population of the four countries, at around two million people.

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city by population, although Edinburgh is the capital.

Aberdeen grew into a centre for the North Sea oil and gas industry from the 1970s onwards.

Swansea is a city on the south coast of Wales, west of Cardiff.

Derry/Londonderry is a city in Northern Ireland, near its border with the Republic of Ireland.

The Thames, which flows through London, is the second longest river in the UK, after the Severn.

The Tay is Scotland's longest river and the Clyde flows through Glasgow, so both are Scottish. The Thames flows through Oxford and London in England, and the Trent is a river of the English Midlands.

The Clyde flows through Glasgow and out to the Firth of Clyde on the west coast.

Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) rises to 1,085 metres and is the highest peak in Wales.

Cross Fell, the highest point of the Pennines, and Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England at 978 metres, are both in Cumbria in England. Ben Macdui stands in the Cairngorms in Scotland, and Pen y Fan is the highest peak in South Wales.

Windermere, in the Lake District, is England's largest lake, stretching about 18 kilometres in length.