Physical relief

Though the geographical features of Britain are comparatively small, there is astonishing variety almost everywhere.

Britain’s physical relief can be roughly divided into two main regions – Highland Britain and Lowland Britain. The borderline between the two regions is roughly a line from the mouth of the river Exe in Devonshire, to the mouth of the Tyne on the north-east coast. Historically, this division has been significant for the settlement of people, military conquest, communications, agriculture and industry. To the north-west of the line there is Highland Britain.

Highland Britain

Highland Britain comprises the whole of Scotland (the hills and moors of southern Scotland as well as the mountains of the north); the Lake District (in the north-west of England); the broad central upland chain, known as the Pennines; almost the whole of Wales; and the south-west peninsula of England, coinciding with the counties of Devon and Cornwall. The mountains and hills of Highland Britain consist mainly of old, hard rocks, but the top strata in the valleys and the plains are more recent and similar to those in the northern and western parts of Lowland Britain. The recent rocks are rich in coal and minerals that have been the foundation of Britain’s industrial wealth. The majority of British coalfields lie in the borderlands between Highland and Lowland Britain.

Lowland Britain

To the south-east of the borderline running from the river Exe to the mouth of the Tyne is Lowland Britain. It comprises most of England, central lowlands of Scotland and some areas in south Wales. Lowland Britain is fertile, with good arable soil and valuable pastureland.

Scotland

Scotland may be divided physically into three main regions. The first is the North-West and the Central Highlands (Grampians). The Highlands are divided by the Great Glen (also called Glen More), where the world-famous Loch Ness lies. The Highlands contain the most ancient of the British geological formations and the majority of Britain’s highest mountains – nearly 300 peaks over 900 m. The highest mountains are the Grampians, with Ben Nevis as the tallest peak.

The second region is the Central Lowlands that contain one-fifth of the land area but three quarters of the Scottish population, most of the industrial and commercial centres as well as fertile farmlands.

The third is the Southern Uplands that mainly consist of ranges of rounded hills stretching towards the border with England (the Border Country) and is a largely agricultural and pastoral area with many rivers.

Isolation, physical conditions and the harsh climate in many parts of Scotland have made conquest, settlement and agriculture difficult.

Wales

Wales is mainly a highland country, too. The plateaux of Wales are often broken by deep valleys created by rivers such as the Dee, the Wye and the Severn. This upland mass that contains the Cambrian Mountains descends eastwards into the English counties of Shrophire and of Hereford and Worcester. The highest mountains of Wales are in Snowdonia in the north-west.

The south of Wales is an industrial area. Two-thirds of the Welsh population lives in and around chief centres such as the capital , Swansea, Newport and Wrexham, located in the lowland east and south-east Wales.