jlj

Life in the UK test: Geography and Romans

I've started studying for my Life in the UK test next month. What follows are notes from my zettelkasten. Sorry, all: between work, children and this, I don't have time to think about anything more interesting, let alone offload it.

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• Read [[Deep Work by Cal Newport]]
• Started [[Life in the United Kingdom- A Guide for New Residents]]

Life in the United Kingdom

Tags: #book #uk #lituk
Title: Life in the United Kingdom- A Guide for New Residents
Author: Home Office
Published: 2020 (3rd edition)
ISBN: 978-0-11-341340-9

• Fundamental principles of British life:
  
  • Democracy
  • The rule of law
  • Individual liberty
  • Tolerance of other faiths and beliefs
  • Participation in community life
• Responsibilities of all Britons are, to:
  
  • Respect and obey the law
  • Respect the rights of others, including their right to their own opinion
  • Treat others fairly
  • Look after yourself and your family
  • Look after your local patch, and the environment more broadly
• The UK offers Britons:
  
  • Freedom of belief and religion
  • Freedom of speech
  • Freedom from unfair discrimination
  • The right to a fair trial
  • The right to join in the election of a government
• Geography
  
  • The official name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales
  • The Crown dependencies are:
    
    • The Isle of Man; and
    • The Channel Islands, made up of:
      
      • The Bailiwick of Jersey; and
      • The Bailiwick of Guernsey, comprising:
        
        • Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Herm
  • There are 14 British Overseas Territories:
    
    • Akrotiri and Dhekelia (Cyprus)
    • Anguilla (Caribbean)
    • Bermuda (North Atlantic)
    • British Antarctic Territory
    • British Indian Ocean Territory
    • British Virgin Islands (Caribbean)
    • Cayman Islands (Caribbean)
    • Falkland Islands
    • Gibraltar
    • Montserrat (Caribbean)
    • Pitcairn Islands (Pacific; officially Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands)
    • Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (South Atlantic)
    • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (South Atlantic)
    • Turks and Caicos Islands (North Atlantic)
  • Britain became permanent separated from the continent by the Channel around 10000 years ago.
• The UK is governed from Westminster; parliaments or assemblies, with certain devolved powers, sit in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

[[Early British history]]
[[British Roman history]]
[[British Anglo-Saxon history]] (Empty, for the moment)

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Early British history

Tags: #lituk

• Hunter-gatherers came and went from Britain by a land bridge in the Stone Age
• The first farmers arrived around 6000 years ago
  
  • South-east European descent
  • Built the monument Stonehenge
    
    • Skara Brae on Orkney is another, well-preserved Stone Age site
• Around 4000 years ago, the Bronze Age begins
  
  • People worked the metal (and gold), lived in roundhouses and built tombs called round barrows.
• The British Iron Age (800 BC to AD 100) marks the beginnings of British history
  
  • It saw the rise of culture, economy — including the first coins to be minted in Britain — and hill forts, such as Maiden Castle, in Dorset.
  • They spoke a language that was part of the Celtic family; related languages are still spoken today in parts of Wales.

On to [[British Roman history]]

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British Roman history

Tags: #lituk

• The Romans, led by Julius Caesar, failed to conquer Britain in 55 BC.
• In AD 43, Emperor Claudius led a successful invasion
  
  • Boudicca, the queen of the Iceni, is killed, in what is now eastern England; her statue stands on Westminster Bridge.
• Areas of what is now Scotland were never conquered by the Romans, however; a wall was built — beginning in AD 122 — under Emperor Hadrian's reign, to keep the Ancient Britons (including the Picts) out.
  
  • Later, under Emperor Antoninus Pius, construction began on a turf wall — Antonine Wall — in AD 142, representing the northernmost frontier barrier of the Roman Empire.
• The Roman Army left Britain in AD 410 to defend other parts of the Empire, never to return.
  
  • They left behind roads, public buildings, a structure of law, and new plants and animals.
• In the third and fourth centuries AD, the first Christian communities began to appear.

On to [[British Anglo-Saxon history]]

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End of Notes

End of Day 49

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