英国国家概况知识点

U.K.

Official name：The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland .

Size: 242,514 square kilometers (93,635 square miles).

Location：is a country situated in the British Isles，which lie off the northwest coast of the European continent.

4 political divisions：Scotland，England，Wales，Northern Ireland

Capital：London,Located on the bank of the River Thames in southeast England.

Ben Nevis:英国最高山the highest mountain，本尼维斯山脉1343m,in Scotland.

Lough Neagh：英国最大湖泊the largest lake，内伊湖396平方千米，in Northern Ireland.

Thames River：英国最重要河流the important river,泰晤士河(母亲河/第二长河)336km，in England British Isles：不列颠群岛（包括大不列颠岛、爱尔兰岛、马恩岛及附近的5500多个小岛；群岛上有英国和爱尔兰共和国）.

Great Britain= Scotland + England + Wales

Julius Caesar：(100 BC—44 BC凯撒大帝)Rome general, statesman and historian. He invaded Britain(55 BC), crushed the army of his political enemy Pompey(48 BC), pursued other enemies to Egypt, where he installed Cleopatra as queen(47 BC), returned to Rome, and was given a mandate by the people to rule as dictator until he was murdered(44 BC).

Roman’s Influence：Christianity spread / Eg:Roman bath house in Bath, England.???????? Constantine the Great：(272-337) The first Christian Emperor

Angle & Saxons：Three invasions：Germanic tribesmen、Vikings (known as Danes)、Normans

Alfred the Great：“The Father of the British Navy”

William the Conqueror：created a new and more powerful country under one king, eventually ruled over the whole island called Great Britain, built “The Tower of London”.

Hundred Year’s War：1337-1453,was fought on French soil and throughout the western region of the Continent and at sea.

Joan of Arc：French military leader and national heroine of the 15th century, who at the age of 17 took up arms to establish the rightful king on the French throne. She claimed to have heard God speak to her in voices. These claims eventually led to her trial for heresy and her execution by burning at the stake.

Black Death：A disease spread by rat fleas. Also known as the Black Plague, it was a devastating pandemic that first struck Europe in the mid-14th century, killing between a third and two-thirds of Europe’s population, including about one-third of England’s population.

Reformation：改革/创新???????????

Henry VIII：一生有六位王后,进行了多项改革。Initiated a revolution in 1533, separating the English church from Rome and establishing himself head of the church. In the 1530s, Henry VIII’s power was greatly enlarged, especially by transferring the end of his reign, Wales and Ireland were officially incorporated into England in1536 and 1541, respectively, creating a union of the Crowns.

Renaissance：the cultural and artistic movement that was associated with the pan-European Renaissance originating in northern Italy in the 14th century. Eg: Edmund Spenser (The Faerie Queen), Christopher Marlowe ( Dr. Faustus), William Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More( Utopia),Sir Francis Bacon(Essays)

Civil War：The war included a series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians(“roundheads”)and Royalists(“cavaliers”) from 1642 until 1651.Essentially,the Civil War was a constitutional issue between a king who claimed to rule by divine right and represented the feudal nobility ,and a Parliament representing country gentry, merchants and artisans ,who claimed real