AUSTRALIA
Official name: The Commonwealth of Astralia
Nickname: Oz
Australia is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
The name Australia originated from the term "Terra Australis Incognita "which means "Unknown Southern Land".
In the distant past Greeks believed that there was some land, located somewhere in the South, to balance the global landmass.
The Flag
The flag is based on the British one. The Union flag is in the upper-left corner accompanied by white stars in a blue field. The stars represent the five Australian states and Tasmania Island.
The National Crest
Australian crest consists of the central coat of arms with emblems of all the Australian States. The coat of arms is accompanies by kangaroo and emu, typical Australian animals.
The Land
Australia is the largest island on Eart and the driest, smallest, flattest and least populated continent.
It measures 3,200 km from North to South and 4,000 km from East to West. Its many natural wonders include the 2,000 km-long Barrier Reef and a 36,738 km-coastline with four seas and three oceans.
Its nearest neighbours are Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in the North and New Zealand in the Southeast. Australia is the world's sixth largest country. The continent split from Antarctica 50 million years ago and drifted norths towards its current position. The Great Western Plateau is Australia's heartland and spreads over almost half the continent.
Because of its great age Australia has no true mountains. Yet the Great Dividing Range, which runs parallel with the East Coast for more than 2,000 km, is as diverse as any on Earth, tropical at the northern end and alpine at the southern.
The landforms are unique. Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest monolith.
Animals
Australia is the home of many of the strangest creatures on Earth. Most are as harmless and approachable as they look: koalas can be approached and kangaroos and wallabies can be fed by hand.
The dominant animals are marsupial mammals, which are born in a very underdeveloped state and then must live and grow in the mother's pouch until they are able to survive alone.
The only land mammal that emerges fully developed is the dingo, the " native dog" brought by late-arriving Aborigines when they paddled across from Asia 12,000 years ago. The other nonmarsupials are bats or sea mammals such as whales and dolphins.
There are hundreds of species of birds living in the bush including over 50 species of colourful parrots. The largest Australian bird is the flightless emu.Emu live on open plains and look like small ostriches.
Tropical northern Australia is home to two kinds of crocodiles.The smaller (2-3 m long) fresh-water crocodiles, called ' freshies", live in rivers and feed on small animals. They are not dangerous to people.Twice as big and very dangerous are salt-water crocodiles, called " salties", which despite their name do not live only in the sea. They can also be found in the rivers, in slightly salty tidal waters and on the beaches. Though accidents are less common than is sometimes suggested, salties are very fast, very powerfull and very hard to spot when at rest, which is most of the time.
Koala
Climate
Being in the Southern Hemisphere,Australia's seasons are the reverse of Europe's. Summer is December-February, autumn is March to May, winter runs from June to August and spring is September-November. The Northern part of the continent has a tropical climate. Its wet season runs from November to March. The rest of the country has summers similar to those of Southern Europe. Summer in Sydney can be very hot and humid, and although you will never see snow there in winter, the temperature can fall to near 0ºC on winter nights.
The People
Australia with its 18 million people is the least densely populated country on Earth but at the same time the most highly urbanised. In this big land, most people live in towns on the coast. About 80 per cent of the population is native-born Australian. The rest are first-generation immigrants, many of them from Asia. Australians, or " Aussies" as they call themselves, are no longer the residents of a British outpost but members of a self-confident nation.
Language
" Aussie English" is Australia's greatest creation. The language is full of rebellious words and slang, which make it very colourful but sometimes very strange to the ears of foreigners, desperately trying to understand. Despite Australia's multicultural population, only a few words of foreign or Aboriginal origin have passed into the language. As you can see from the following examples, the tendency to shorten words is also very strong.
What it means when an Aussie says:
| arvo | afternoon |
| chook | chicken |
| cobber | friend |
| crook | ill, bad |
| digger | Australian soldier |
| dummy | toilet |
| grog | alcohol |
| Kiwi | New Zealander |
| mozzie | mosquito |
| Pommy | woman |
| sprog | baby |
| tinny | can of beer |
| uni | university |
| walkabout | travelling |
| yakka | work |
Geography in Figures
| Area: | 7,682,300 sq. km. |
| Population: | 17,870,000 |
| Capital: | Canberra ( 318,000 inhabitants) |
| Highest Point: | Mount Kosciusko 2,230 m |
| Lowest Point: | Eyer s Lake- 16 m |
| Longest River:: | Murray-Darling 3,780 km |
| Religion: |
27% Roman Catholics
24% Anglicans
18% other Protestants
13% without religion
18% miscellaneous
|
| Unit of Currency: | Australian Dollar= 100 cents |
CANADA
National Flag
Canadian national flag has a red maple leaf on a white field with red edges. Maples are typical trees for the east coast and they were a very important source of sweet sirup for the first settlers. And it is still popular.
National Crest
The Canadian national crest is based on the one of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. There are added emblems of 3 maple leaves and 3 Bourbon lilies to the original British coat of arms. The otiginal English lion holds the British flag and a white Scottish unicorn holds the Bourbon flag as a symbol of unity of 2 nations, English and French, who both had their part in the Canadian history.
The Land
Canada, which occupies the top half of the North American continent, is the second-largest country in the world. With an area of 9,970,000 km2, it stretches over 5,5000 km from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and over 4,6000 km from the northern tip of Ellesmere Island to the United States border. Its population is 26 million. This vast country is not, of course, fully inhabited; 89 per cent of the land has no permanent population. In sharp contrast are the urban areas, where nearly 80 per cent of Canadians live in large centres located withhin 300 km of the southern border.58 per cent of the population is concentrated in a relatively small area in the extreme southern parts of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
The people
The aboriginal people of Canada came from Asia in prehistoric times, when Europe was still a continent without a name. Although their numbers today may be greater than at any time in history, Canada s Inuit and Indians make up only1.5 per cent of the population.Most Canadians trace their origins to the British Isles (44.6 per cent) or France ( 28.7 per cent). Immigration since the late 19th century has given Canada its great cultural diversity.
Language
Canada' s bilingual and multicultural character is easily understood in light of the above-mentioned figures. English is the language most commonly spoken throughout the country, which the exception of the province of Quebec. 85 per cent of French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec, composing 80 per cent of that province 's population. One0third of the population of New Brunswick is French-speaking and there are large French-speaking communities in eastern and northeastern Ontario and smaller communities throughout the West and the Maritimes.
English and French, Canada' s 2 official languages, have equal status and rights in all institutions of Parliament and the federal government.
61 per cent of Canadians have English as a mother tongue and 24 per cent French; other have various mother tongues. ( 16 per cent of all Canadians speak both languages while 2 per cent speak neither)
Language
Canada' s bilingual and multicultural character is easily understood in light of the above-mentioned figures. English is the language most commonly spoken throughout the country, which the exception of the province of Quebec. 85 per cent of French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec, composing 80 per cent of that province 's population. One0third of the population of New Brunswick is French-speaking and there are large French-speaking communities in eastern and northeastern Ontario and smaller communities throughout the West and the Maritimes.
English and French, Canada' s 2 official languages, have equal status and rights in all institutions of Parliament and the federal government.
61 per cent of Canadians have English as a mother tongue and 24 per cent French; other have various mother tongues. ( 16 per cent of all Canadians speak both languages while 2 per cent speak neither)
Religion
Religion has been an impotant influence in Canada' s history since the earliest efforts of missionaries to "Christianize" the aborigianal people.Religion continues to have an important role in the lives of Canadians. Although Judeo-Christian values are central to Canadian life, there is no national or state-supported religion.
The 3 largest faiths in Canada-Roman Catholic, United ( a union of several Protestant groups) and Anglican- are found in every province.
Immigration
Migration from other countries has always been a large source of Canadian population growth. Canada has admitted over 11 millon immigrants since Confederation in 1867, millon of whom have arrived since the Second World War.
In the past, Britain and Western Europe were the principial sources of immigration. But in recent years there has been a decline in European applications and an increase in those from Asia, the Caribbean and the United States.
GREAT BRITAIN
Great Britain
Conventional long form:the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland
Conventional short form: the United Kingdom,UK
The country covers 241,590 sq.km of the land area, which is about the same size as Germany.
Dependent areas: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Vergin Islands, Gayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands
Independence: 1 January 1801 ( United Kingdom established)
National holiday: Celebration of the Birthday of the Queen ( second Saturday in June)
The Flag
The British flag is officially called the Union Flag, unofficially is known as the Union Jack. It is the combination of the crosses of the patron saints of England, Ireland and Scotland and has existed in its present form since 1801. Wales is not represented because when the flag first appeared it was already united with England.
The red cross in the white field is St George 's, the patron of England.
The white cross in the blue field is St Patric's, the patron of Ireland.
The red cross in the white field is St Andrew's, the patron of Scotland.
The National Crest
The national crest is the coat of arms of the royal family. The shield in the centre shows the emblems of the parts of Britain- the 3 lions of England in 2 of the quarters, the lion of Scotland in the top-right quarter and the harp of Ireland in the bottom-left quarter. The motto around the emblems "Honi soit qui mal y pense" means "Evil to him who evil thinks". The shield is supported by the english lion and the Scottish unicorn. The plants under the shield are the rose of England, the shamrock of ireland and the thistle of Scotland. The Sovereign's motto "Dieu et mon droit" appears in the very bottom and means "God and my right".
The British Anthem
The British national anthem "God Save the Queen" was the first performed as "God Save the King" in london in 1745. Today it is performed at royal and state occasions ihn Britain and abroad, often in the presence of the Queen. Only the first verse of the traditional version is usually sung:
God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us.
God save the Queen!
The Land
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nothern Ireland is located in Western Europe, only 35 km from France 9now linked by a tunnel under the english Channel). The Uk is part of the British Isles, which is a geographical term for the group of islands between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The largest of the islands is Great Britain ( the mainlands of England, wales, Scotland). The next largest comprises Nothern Ireland, which is about one-sixth of the island of Ireland, and the Irish Republic. The Isle of wight and the Isles of Scilly, Anglesey, Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland have administrative ties with the mainland. However, the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Channel Islands between Great Britain and France are self-governing and are not part of керу United Kingdom.
The seas surrounding the British Isles are shallow, usually less than 90 m deep. This fact is very impotant for fishing because shallow waters provide breeding grounds for a lot of fish.
The only country Great Britain has land boundaries with is Ireland. That border is 480 km long. But Great Britain has a long coastline- more than 12,000 km. No location is more than 125 km from tidal waters. The prime meridian of 0 passes through the old observatory at Greenwich ( London)
The Climate
The climate is temperate and humid. It is moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current. more than half of the days is cloudy. The temperature is rarely above 32 º С in summer and below -10 º С in winter.
In spring the days can be very changeble, from warm sun to brisk breezes and showers. Most summer days are pleasantly warm. Autumn is one of the best seasons. Although the nights begin to get a little chillier, september is often like a summer month. Winter brings the coldest weather, but winters are not severe.
THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND OR THE IRISH REPUBLIC OR EIRE
Nickname: The Emerald Isle/after the dominant colour of the countryside/
The Flag
The Irish flag consist of 3 vertical stripes: green, white and orange. The green stripe on the left symbolises the Emerald Isle and the Catholic majority of the population. The white stripe in the centre expresses the need for peace between Catholics and Protestants. The orange one represents the Protestant majority. Orange was the colour of William III of the Protestant House of Orange.
The National Crest
There is a harp on the creast symbolising a strong musical tradition which goes back to the ancient Celtic folk music tunes, many of which are still alive today in traditional Irish tunes.
The National Anthem
The Irish national anthem is called " The Soldier's song". It is sung both in Irish Gaelic and english languages.
The Soldier's Song
Soldiers are we, whose lives are pledged to Ireland,
Some have come from a land beyond the wave,
Sworn to be free, no more our ancient sireland,
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
To night we man the " bearna baoil",
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal,
'Mid cannon's roar and rifles' peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song.
The Land
The Irish Republic covers 70,282 sq.km., which is about 80 pre cent of the Emerald Isle. The rest is occupied by Northern Ireland, which consists of 4 provinces: Ulster, Munster, Lenster and Connaught.
The island is devided from Great Britain by the 20-kilometre- wide North Channel. The sea coast is wiold, rocky and beautiful.
Most of the island is flat. A central plain is ringed by the low mountains in the South and West and by lowlands in the East. The highest mountain is 1,041 m high Carrauntoohill in the South.
The Shannon River goes through one-fifth of the country and forms many wonderfull lakes which are called "Loughs" in Irish Gaelic. The Shannon is the longest river in the British Isles.
The climate is temperate, with mild winters and cool summers. There is a lot of rains no matter which season which is good for vegetation but not so good for the people.
Even in summer it is necessary to wear a thick wind-and-waterproof jacket as the weather can change several times in a single day. No wonder, that weather is a frequent subject of conversation everywhere. A common comments is "the rain this summer is the worst yet" or "it is never been as bad as this year'.
The people
The Irish Republic has 3.5 million inhabitants. The population is very young; about half of Ireland's people are under 25. Ireland is a Catholic country. More than 90 per cent of Irish are Catholic. Statues of the Virgin are everywhere, the churches are crowded and there are pictures of saints in every living room. Also there is hardly an Irish family that does not have at least one member who is a priest or nun of the Catholic Church.
Language
The Irish originally spoke an Irish Gaelic, a Celtic language, which is a rich, graphic language. The English tried hard to eradicate the Irish language by various means. In 1831 they outlawed Gaelic education and made English the only language of education. They even changed the original Gaelic place-names all over the country to English ones. Despite their efforts, in the second half of the 19th century half of the population of Ireland still spoke Irish as their native tongue. With independence in 1921, Irish became the official language. But by that time only 20 per cent og the people spoke it as Irish had become a language of the poor. In the meantime, most of the people had either died during the great famines or emigrated, with the majority going to the USA. Nowadays the Gaelic language is getting more and more popular, so that in some Irish regions English is not even spoken.
Geography in Figures
| Area: | 70,282 sq.km |
| Population: | 3,540,000 |
| Capital: |
Dublin ( Baile Antha Cliath 1,025,000 inhabitants)
|
| Highest point: | Carrautoohill 1041 m |
| Longest river: | Shannon 370 km |
| Religion: |
94% Roman Catholic
2.5% Anglican
3.5% others
|
| Unit of currency: | Irish Pound (Ir L)= 100 new pence |
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
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