Questions for Unit 2 (Geography, Climate, Initial Human Settlement)

1. Name five important rivers in Great Britain and Ireland. Where are they? Why are they important? Be prepared to identify them on a map.
2. Make sure you can identify at least four firths on a map. Where is the Bristol Channel? the English Channel? the Wash? the Humber estuary? the Thames estuary?
3. List 15 of the 20 biggest cities or towns in the UK and 4 of the 10 biggest cities or towns in the Republic of Ireland. Be prepared to identify them on a map. How/why are these towns or cities culturally and/or economically important?
4. Identify the following on a map: the South Downs, Salisbury Plain, the Cotswold Hills, the Midlands, the Tees-Exe line, the Pennines, the Lake District, the Lowlands, the Highlands, the Grampians, the Highland Boundary Fault.
5. What are the latitude and longitude of the British Isles?
6. Where is Lough Neagh? How do you pronounce its name? How was it formed (according to Irish legend)?
7. On the banks of which rivers are the following towns and cities located? Dublin. London. Glasgow. Liverpool. Newcastle.
8. Compare the climate of the London with the climate of New York. What is the major factor that makes the climate of the British Isles different from the climate of the upper east coast of North America?
9. What would have been the consequences for the history of human settlement and population development in Great Britain if
   1. the entire island had been flat?
   2. the mountainous parts had been in the southeast rather than the northwest?
10. Who were the first people to settle in Britain after the last Ice Age, and where did they come from? What other groups of permanent settlers came later?