The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles which consist of two main islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and a great number of small islands, including the Orkney Islands, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Shetland Islands, and some others. The United Kingdom is made up of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their capitals are London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast respectively. Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales and does not include Northern Ireland.

The United Kingdom has a total area of approximately two hundred and forty five thousand square kilometers. The capital of the country is London. It is located in southeastern England. London has a population of about seven million people, including its suburbs. Birmingham is the United Kingdom’s second-largest city. The total population of the UK is over sixty three million people. About eighty percent of the population is urban.
England and Wales occupy the southern part of Great Britain, while Scotland occupies its northern part. The British Isles are separated from the European continent by the English Channel and washed by the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.

The rivers in Great Britain are not very long. The most main rivers are the Thames, the Severn, the Trent, the Tees, the Tyne, the Eden and some others.
Scotland and Wales are the most mountainous parts of the UK. On the border of England and Scotland there is a range of hills which is called the Cheviot Hills. The highest mountain in Great Britain is Ben Nevis in Scotland, while the highest mountain in England is Scafell Pike in the Lake District.

The climate of Great Britain is greatly affected by the Atlantic and the warm current of Golf Stream. As a result, the weather is changeable and the climate is mild: winters are not so severe and summers are not as hot as in the rest of Europe. The overall climate in England is called temperate maritime. July is normally the warmest month in England while January and February are the coldest. As the English have such a variable climate, it is difficult to predict the weather. The average temperature is not much lower than 0 °C in winter and not much higher than 30 °C in summer, but mostly the thermometer only reaches 26 °C.
The main ports are Portsmouth, Plymouth, Dover, Cardiff and Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.