Chapter 2: What is the UK? — Set 1

The full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales together, so Wales and Scotland are both part of it. Northern Ireland belongs to the United Kingdom but not to Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland is a separate, independent country.

Cardiff has been the capital of Wales since 1955.

The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are Crown Dependencies — they have their own governments and are not part of the UK.

The UK currency is the pound sterling; some banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland issue their own notes, accepted across the UK.

St Andrew, Scotland's patron saint, is celebrated on 30 November.

The rose is the national flower of England and the thistle is the national flower of Scotland. The leek is a Welsh emblem but it is a vegetable, not the national flower (that is the daffodil), and the oak is a well-known tree emblem of England, not a flower.

Belfast is Northern Ireland's capital, home to the Assembly at Stormont.

The Channel Islands sit in the English Channel near France and are Crown Dependencies — self-governing possessions of the Crown, not part of Great Britain or the UK.

Welsh is widely spoken in Wales, especially in the north and west, and used in schools and media.

St David is Wales's patron saint, celebrated on 1 March.

Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands are both British Overseas Territories. Jersey and the Isle of Man are Crown Dependencies, a separate category: they have their own governments and laws and are not Overseas Territories.

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and London is the capital of England and of the United Kingdom as a whole. Glasgow is a major Scottish city but not a capital, and Swansea is only the second largest city in Wales — the Welsh capital is Cardiff.

Edinburgh is Scotland's capital and home to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.

St George is the patron saint of England, and his red cross on a white background forms the English flag.

England marks St George's Day on 23 April. The other dates belong to St Patrick (17 March), St David (1 March) and St Andrew (30 November).

St Patrick's Day falls on 17 March and is a public holiday in Northern Ireland.

Scotland's flower is the thistle, a prickly purple plant that appears on many Scottish emblems.

The daffodil is Wales's national flower and is often worn on St David's Day, 1 March. The rose is the flower linked with England.

The shamrock, a three-leaved plant linked with St Patrick, is the symbol associated with Northern Ireland.

England covers more land than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which follow in that order.

The River Severn, which rises in Wales and flows through England, is the UK's longest river at about 354 kilometres.

Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland covers a greater area than any other lake in the UK, including the Scottish lochs.

Northern Ireland borders the Republic of Ireland. Every other boundary of the UK is coastline.