Everything you need to know about the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom brings together England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with distinct histories and traditions across its four nations. Explore the maps and discover the places, people and everyday life behind them. English is the main language used across the UK; the lessons here introduce Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Cornish, four of its regional languages.
Read it, then make it stick
Geography of the United Kingdom
The UK includes Great Britain, Northern Ireland and many smaller islands. Follow the landscape from the Scottish Highlands to the lowlands of southern England, and learn how its rivers and coastlines connect the four nations.
Know the shape of the country
Start with nine English regions alongside Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Then place the cities and explore the rivers, lochs, loughs and surrounding seas.
Places worth visiting
Essential ยท Fortress & royal history
Tower of London
Nearly a thousand years of royal history fill this riverside fortress. See the Crown Jewels and join a Yeoman Warder tour.
Combine London with Edinburgh and the stones of Salisbury Plain, then head out to the lakes and islands of the north and west. Essential is our shortlist for a first trip, and worth a detour goes further. Select a pin to read about a place, then play the map and find them all.
Take Welsh with you
Greetings and politeness
Hello, please, thank you, sorry: the eleven openers everything else builds on.
Keep going one country deeper
When you have had your fill of the United Kingdom, the countries in white have a guide like this one, and every other has maps of its own.
Europe
- Albania
- Andorra
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Northern Cyprus
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Tรผrkiye
- Ukraine
- Vatican City
Asia
- Afghanistan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- China
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- North Korea
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palestine
- Philippines
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Sri Lanka
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Turkmenistan
- United Arab Emirates
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
- Yemen
North America
Africa
- Algeria
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Cรดte dโIvoire
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Kenya
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Republic of the Congo
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- Somaliland
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Western Sahara
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe