Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 24

You may ask here just as with our second American geography appetizer: What’s history doing in the geography section of our overview? So, let’s keep it short. Britain, as we’ve just seen, can be looked at geographically as a group of islands, the biggest of which, Great BritainGreat Britain, only barely makes the top ten of the world’s largest islands in terms of area (but at least is number 1 [23]in Europe). Since Great Britain is more than twice as long as it’s wide and has a highly indented coastline, any given point on the island is at most only around 125 kilometers from the sea. And the sea here means the North SeaNorth Sea (which in spite of its name is east of Great Britain) or the Atlantic OceanAtlantic Ocean. Heading counterclockwise we come to the narrow North ChannelNorth Channel, the Irish SeaIrish Sea, and St. George’s ChannelSt. George’s Channel in between the islands of Great Britain and IrelandIreland, (to the west of the island of Ireland lies the Atlantic Ocean), the CelticCeltic SeaCeltic Sea off the coasts of WalesWales and CornwallCornwall, the Atlantic Ocean off the southwestern extremities of the Isles of ScillyScilly, and the English ChannelEnglish Channel in between EnglandEngland and FranceFrance with its narrowest point at the Strait of DoverStrait of Dover, which separates the English Channel from the North Sea.

island lifeLife on an island can be idyllic – if you like sunny weather and choose an island in the Pacific – or can contribute to a sense of identityidentity if the island is small enough or can lead to increased emigration if the inhabitants suffer from claustrophobia. Life on an island can encourage the inhabitants to develop special talents useful for emigration or colonization like shipbuilding. We’ll be seeing examples of insular mentality throughout the book. Since this geography question deals just a little with history, maybe it’s useful to remember that Great BritainGreat Britain hasn’t always been an island. Around 10,000 years ago the narrow English ChannelEnglish Channel was so narrow as to allow people to walk across. After the ice of the last Ice Age melted and turned what had been a peninsula into the island of Great Britain, crossing the Channel meant either sailing or rowing or swimming until …