Great Britain was the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century and played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science.
The first half of the 20th century saw the UK’s strength seriously depleted in two World Wars. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation.
The United Kingdom has the fifth-largest economy in the world, is the second-largest economy in the European Union, and is a major international trading power. A highly developed, diversified, market-based economy with extensive social welfare services provides most residents with a high standard of living. Unemployment and inflation levels are amongst the lowest within the European Union.
The economy of the United Kingdom is now primarily based on private enterprise, accounting for approximately four-fifths of employment and output.
England: London, 7 615 000 (metro. area), 7 429 200 (city proper)
Scotland: Edinburgh
Wales: Cardiff
Other large cities: Glasgow (1 099 400); Birmingham (971 800); Liverpool (461 900); Edinburgh (460 000); Leeds (417 000); Bristol (406 500); Manchester (390 700); Bradford (288 400)
Area: 209 331 km²
Largest city: London
Population: 60 776 238
Indigenous people: Cornish, English, Scots, Welsh, others
For over two thousand years, Ireland has been a host to a surprising variety of languages and cultures: Irish Gaelic, English, French, German, Ulster Scots, Ancient Greek and Latin.
Nowadays most people speak Irish English, or like some claim, English with an Irish accent. A minority still speaks Irish Gaelic, one of the six Gaelic left forms of language. About 30% of the population is able to speak Irish Gaelic.
When you arrive in Ireland, you should know some typical Irish phrases. A good place to start:
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the European mainland, divided into two countries: Ireland, occupying five-sixths of the island of Ireland, west of Great Britain, and Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. This island has a strategic location on major air and sea routes between North America and northern Europe. Over 40% of the population resides within 100 km of Dublin. The coastline is about 1450 km.
How to do business in Ireland
Different Countries, Different Business
Greetings
Shake hands with new or casual acquaintances when meeting and departing. Don’t go overboard — the Irish are not physically demonstrative.
Men should refrain from being too physically demonstrative with women
Ireland has a Christian constitution; however, the state is forbidden from endowing any particular religion. Approximately 86.8% of the population are Roman Catholic and the country has one of the highest rates of regular and weekly church attendance in the Western World. However, there has been a major decline in this attendance among Irish Catholics in the course of the past 30 years.
Politics of Ireland takes place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The president is the head of state. The Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Oireachtas the bicameral national parliament, which consists of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
In the Stone and Bronze Ages, Ireland was inhabited by Picts in the north and a people called the Erainn in the south, the same stock, apparently, as in all the isles before the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. About the 4th century B.C., tall, red-haired Celts arrived from Gaul or Galicia. They subdued and assimilated the inhabitants and established a Gaelic civilization. By the beginning of the Christian era, Ireland was divided into five kingdoms—Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath, and Munster.
