Unit 2 The United Kingdom -Reading (1)Unit 2 The United Kingdom Reading
Puzzles in Geography People may wonder why different words are used to describe these four countries : England , Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland .
You can clarify this question if you study British history . First there was England .
Wales was linked to it in the thirteenth century . Now when people refer to England you find Wales included as well .
Next England and Wales were joined to Scotland in the seventeenth century and the name was changed to " Great Britain " . Happily this was accomplished without conflict when King James of Scotland became King of England and Wales as well .
Finally the English government tried in the early twentieth century to form the United Kingdom by getting Ireland connected in the same peaceful way . However , the southern part of Ireland was unwilling and broke away to form its own government .
So only Northern Ireland joined with England , Wales and Scotland to become the United Kingdom and this was shown to the world in a new flag called the Union Jack .
To their credit the four countries do work together in some areas ( eg , the currency and international relations ) , but they still have very different institutions .
For example , Northern Ireland , England and Scotland have different educational and legal systems as well as different football teams for competitions like the World Cup !
England is the largest of the four countries , and for convenience it is divided roughly into three zones . The zone nearest France is called the South of England ,
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