Cours de civilisation britannique

CM Civilisation GB

The British Isles

 Climate is milder than much of the main land of their northern neighbours thanks to the Gulf stream brings a sunny tropical kind of climate mostly along the west coast from south to north. From the Scilly islands (îles Sorlingue) to the western isles, also know as the Hebrides. [pic 1]

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There are 2 large islands and several much smaller ones The largest is called Great Britain (that includes Scotland in the North, England in the south and Wales in the west).

The other large island is called Ireland. This includes Northern  Ireland (part of the UK) also known as ULSTER and the Republic of Ireland also known as Eire (outsides the UK).

The smaller islands are:

-off the north east coast of Scotland, right in the middle of the sea (the North Sea), a group of isles are known as the Shetland Islands, with Norway further east and the Faro Islands (Iles Féroé) in the north west. Shetland became Scottish toward the end of the XVth century. The main city is Lerwick.

-Slightly down south, nearer the Scottish coast but still in the North East, close to the northernmost point in Scotland, there is a small place called John O. Groats. There are the Orkney Islands (les Orcades). The main city is Kirkwall.

Shetland and Orkney: the Northern islands

-moving down to the west coast of Scotland and the Atlantic Ocean, numerous group of isles, known as the Western Isles of Scotland, the Hebrides. They are divided into two groups: the Outer and the Inner Hebrides, depending on how close to the Scottish mainland they are situated. The Inner Hebrides include Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Raasav, Staffa and the Small Isles. The Outer Hebrides are composed of Barra, Benbecula, Berneray, Harris, Lewis, North and South Uist and St Kilda. They are well known for the whisky.

-Down south in the Irish sea, you find the Isle of Man, situated between the north-west coast of England and the south-east point of Allster. The main city is Douglas, well known for its motorcycle races in June. The isle as remains relatively autonomous politically speaking since Viking times with its own parliaments and complete internal government.

-Little to the south in the Irish sea : the Isle of Anglesey. It lies very close to the north-west coast of Wales, with Saint George's channel (détroit) on the west and Menai Strait separating the isle from the coast. The main place is Hollyheads, well deserved name (holy= saint) considering the ancient function of this island in preroman times when it was a druidic sanctuary called Mona (like the Forest of the Carnuts around what have become now a famous Christian place of worship, the Cathédrale of Chartres).

-the 5th group is connected with England. At the east of England, in the North sea, a few miles south of Berwick upon Tweed, there is Holy Island and the Farne Isles, well known for the monastery that flourish there in the middle-aged kingdom of Northumbria: it sited on the Island of Lindisfarne, famous worldwide for its teaching and its illuminated manuscript of the Gospels (les Evangiles)

Ships are meant for the defend of the coast

-further down south, in the Thames estuary, two places have retained the name of island (the ghosts islands) because they were islands in ancient time. They remained surround by water 'till Christian time: the Isle of Sheppey (not very far from London) and the historically significant Isle of Thanet (easternmost point of Kent, on the French side, a few miles to the east of Canterbury, with the colourful towns of Margate and Ramsgate).

The first roman legions that invaded England landed on the isle of Thanet, and they built two forts: Reculver in the north and Richborough in the south. The remains of this two forts can still be seen today. They had continued in use during saxon times, since the Jutish’ leaders (Hengisc and Horsa) landing on the Isle of Thanet in the Vth century. Later on, the island was the place where Christianity reached England back at the end of the VIth century, thanks to a monk (moine) sent over to England by the Pope, the monk Augustin (also called Saint Austin). He brought the gospel to the Jutes’ king Ethelbert. This was accomplished in the same way/fashions as the Francs under Clovis had been cristianize through the influence of their respectives queens, Bertha being the wife of Ethelbert. Augustin was the first arch bishop Of Canterbury and died in 607. Thanet and Sheppey are isles by named only today, due to silting (l’invasement).

Down the coast from Ramsgate, there is a series of coastal towns called the Cinque Ports: Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, New Romney and Hastings, which have …..ship from Edward the Confessor to Henry the 8th. This is the place where were established the easiest contacts with the northern Gaule and Belgium.

        -Very near the French coast of Britany (Bretagne), there are the Channel Islands: Jersey (the main place is Sainte-Anne) and Guernesey (the main place is St Peter Port). Those islands were originally part of the duchy of Normandy, but have been attached to the English crown since the Normand conquest of William the Conqueror, in 1066. They are dependencies of the British crown.  French and English are spoken there, together with a Norman French, a local dialect.

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