Economic Geography of The UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

England has been more and more dependent on its industry since the 15th century. The United Kingdom was the first country in the world to become highly industrialized, and today fourteen people work in mining, manufacturing and building for every one in agriculture. It is the world`s third largest exporter of manufactured goods. It has a very wide range of industrial manufactures, and is one of the most important workshops of the world.

The United Kingdom belongs among the top industrial countries. It is economically connected with the Commonwealth countries and since 1973 – when Britain joined the European Economic Community, popularly known as the Common Market – Britain has also worked very closely with Western Europe. It is also a member of G – 7 (The group of Seven leading industrialized countries).

Up to the beginning of the 18th century, Britain`s industry was mainly carried on in the home or in small factories where water-power from rivers was used to drive, for example, looms.
The process of smelting iron with coal was discovered in England in the 17th century.
Then came the industrial revolution with the discovery of steam-power, from coal. Coal and iron ore are both heavy and hard to transport. So industry grew up where they were available – in 25 of the 49 English counties, along the foothills of Highland Britain.
Major industries include iron and steel engineering (including motor vehicles and aircraft), textiles, plastics, cotton, chemicals, electronics, wool, shipbuilding and food products.

The agricultural system is very well developed but the agriculture provides only half the food it needs. The other half of its food have to be imported.
The main products are oats, hay, wheat, barley and sugar beets. Cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry are the most important farm animals in the United Kingdom.

The country`s role as a major world financial centre and its discovery of natural gas in 1965 and oil in 1969 in the North Sea and their commercial exploitation reduced the dependence on more traditional sources of energy and were major influences on the health of the internal economy and on national policies.

The range of mineral resources in the United Kingdom is limited. Metals of great importance are tin and zinc. Other adequate supplies of nonmetallic minerals are sand and gravel, limestone, dolomite, chalk, slate, barite, talc, clay, gypsum etc.
Sand, gravel, limestone, and other crushed rocks are quarried for use in construction.
Among the few natural resources still belong low-grade iron ore, some timber, hides and skins.
Most of the traditional raw materials for British industries have to be imported.

The United Kingdom has larger energy resources than any other European country, including oil, natural gas, and coal.
Coal has been worked in Britain , in fact, for over 700 years, and an organised coal-mining industry has existed for over 300 years. In 1946 the coal industry was nationalized. The National Coal Board is now responsible for the management of the industry. Its output is 200 million tons a year. One third of this is used by the electricity authority. This is used not only for lighting and cooking etc. in the home, but also for power, thus making it possible, through the National Grid, for new industries to be set up in places where no coal is at hand, for example in London.
Coal is Britain`s leading mineral resource and coal mining is the country`s most important extractive industry. The coal fields are concentrated in several areas – the Pennines, the Midlands and further, for example in Wales.
In the 1980s the United Kingdom accelerated privatization of publicly owned corporations. The general improvement of the British economy has also meant better standard of living. Unemployment and inflation rates were gradually reduced.

The highest proportion of employees are in the service sectors, with financial services and distribution the largest. Manufacturing, although it has declined, employs more than one-fifth of all workers. Smaller number are in construction, energy, agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The number of part-time workers has increased considerably.

Nearly two-thirds of all households have one car, and some have two or more. The decline in the use of local buses has caused the importance to maintain and develop road networks. Intercity rail services have been improved.
Also air traffic has grown, particularly international flights. Seven airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Prestwick, and Aberdeen) are owned and managed by the British Airports Authority, and together they handle about three-quarters of the passenger air traffic in the country.
The majority of overseas trade is transferred by sea. Oil and natural gas, which each share a national bulk distribution pipeline system, are independent of the road and rail networks.
One of the oldest means of transportation is the underground system.

England:

England is highly industrialised. Many important inventions, such as the invention of the steam engine by James Watt were made by Englishmen.
The development of industry has concentrated mainly in the north, in Lancashire and Yorkshire. This two cities were first at home in the woolen industry, based originally on the sheep of the Pennines.
London is the biggest port in spite of the fact it is not situated on the coast. The river Thames is deep enough and the ships can go as far as London. There is food industry, clothing industry, chemical industry, light engineering, printing industry and production of the furniture etc.
Manchester used to be a major industrial and commercial centre as early as in the middle of 19th century. Now it has a variety of industries, particularly engineering.
Newcastle upon Tyne is the centre of industry based on coal, iron, steel and shipbuilding.
Birmingham, the centre of the West Midlands, and the second largest city of England, has developed light endineering.

Scotland:

There are four big cities in Scotland – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.
Edinburgh is famous for the engineering, printing and electronic industries.
Glasgow, situated on the river Clyde, is known all over the world for its shipbuilding, and heavy steel manufactures.
Aberdeen is a busy seaport, the main centre of the Scottish fishing industry, and the commercial capital of northeast Scotland.

Northern Ireland:

Chief exports of Northern Ireland are ships, aircraft, linen textiles, and also agricultural products and livestock as the country is largely agricultural. There are small farms producing pigs, cattle, milk and eggs. The principal crops are potatoes, barley, and oats.

I can`t mention every industry in Britain, but I should perhaps speak of Leicester with its stockings and knitwear, Burton-on-Trent with its beer and rubber, Nottingham with tobacco, lace, and pharmaceutical products, the whisky of Leith and the jute and ropes of Dundee.

Great Britain ranks among the leading countries of the world in the world trade. So it is the world`s largest importer of products like wheat, meat, butter, citrus fruits, tea, tobacco, wool, hard timber, and fodder grains. In return it is one of the world`s largest exporters of aircraft, motor vehicles, electrical equipment, chemicals, textiles and most types of machinery.