The United Kingdom, The USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland

	The United Kingdom	The USA	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Type of state	a constitutional monarchy a parliamentary democracy	a republic, a federation, a parliamentary democracy	a constitutional monarchy, a federation, a parliamentary democracy	a constitutional monarchy, a federation, a parliamentary democracy	a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy	a republic, a parliamentary democracy
Capital	London	Washington D.C.	Ottawa	Canberra	Wellington	Dublin
Territorial division	4 parts: England (London), Wales (Cardiff), Scotland (Edinburgh), Northern Ireland (Belfast)	50 states + 1 dictrict	10 provinces and 3 territories	6 states and 2 territories	16 regions and 1 territory	26 counties
Population	61 million	303 million	33 million	21 million	4.2 million	4.1 million
Languages	English, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic	English, Spanish (no official language)	English, French	English	English, Maori	English, Irish
Ethnic groups	the Welsh,  the Irish, Scots, Indians, Pakistanis, Carribeans	black / white … Native Americans (Indians), African-Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans	the Inuit	the Aborigines	the Maoris
Nationality	British (English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish)	American	Canadian	Australian	New Zealand	Irish
International organizations	EU, NATO, UN, UN Security Council,  UNESCO	ANZUS, NATO, UN, UN Security Council, UNESCO	NATO, UN,  UNESCO	ANZUS,  UN, UNICEF	ANZUS, UN, UNESCO	EU, UN, UNESCO
Flag description	blue, red and white – with three crosses	13 red and white stripes  and  50 white stars on a blue background	white and red stripes, a red maple leaf in the middle	a blue flag with a small British flag and 7 stars	blue flag with a small British flag and four red stars	three bands: green, white and orange
National holiday	no special national holiday	Independence Day (4 July)	Canada Day (1 July)	Australia Day,  (26 January)	Waitangi Day  (6 February)	St Patrick´s Day (17 March)

	The United Kingdom	The USA	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Location	west of the Continent, in the British Isles, to the west of the English Channel, in the east: the North Sea in the west: the North Atlantic Ocean	in North America, south of Canada, north of Mexico between the North Atlantic and the North Pacific Oceans	in North America, north of the USA, between the North Atlantic and the North Pacific Oceans, in the north: the Arctic Ocean	in the southern hemisphere, in Oceania, between the Indian  and the South Pacific Oceans	in Oceania, to the south-east of Australia, in  the South Pacific Ocean	In the British Isles, to the west of Great Britain, in the North Atlantic Ocean
Area	243,610 sq km	9,826,675 sq km 3rd largest country in the world	9,984,670 sq km 2nd largest country in the world	7,741,220 sq km	267,710 sq km	70,273 sq km
Relief	south: lowlands north: mountains: the Scottish Highlands the highest point: Ben Nevis 1,342m	west: high mountains: the Cordilleras (incl. the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada) east: mountains - the Appalachians in the middle: lowlands and plains (the Great Plains) the highest point:  Mt McKinley 6,194m	west: the Cordilleras east of them: prairies and plains the highest point: Mt Logan 5,959m	east: mountains: the Great Dividing Range (incl. the Australian Alps), the highest point Mt Kosciusco 2,228m along the eastern seashore: fertile plains in the sea:  the Great Barrier Reef to the west of the Great Dividing Range: deserts, flat land	South Island: plains and mountains: the Southern Alps – the highest point: Mt Cook 3,764m glaciers and fiords North Island: geysers, volcanoes, hot springs	highlands, mountains, reefs
Climate	changeable, temperate, rainy, often overcast	varies with the geography mostly temperate, the Hawaii, Florida, California: tropical northest and midwest: cold winters, four seasons Alaska: arctic	mostly continental north: arctic south: temperate	north: tropical, southeast: mild in the middle: dry, hot summer starts in December, autumn in March,  winter in June and spring in September	North Island: tropical, wet South Island: mild	temperate, cold, wet
Rivers	the Severn (the longest river) the Thames (London) the Clyde, the Avon	the Mississippi (the longest river), the Missouri, the Sacramento, the Ohio, the Colorado, the Potomac	the St Lawrence River, the Mackenzie, the Fraser, the Yukon	the Murray, the Darling – the rivers and creeks often dry up	many rivers	the Shannon – the longest river in the British Isles
Lakes	the Lake District (Lake Windermere) Scotland (Loch Ness)	the Great Lakes (Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan	the Great Lakes,  Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake	the lakes often dry up	Lake Taupo, Lake Te Anau
Nature / Wildlife		many national parks: the Yellowstone NP – the oldest NP The Death Valley		animals: platypus, echidna, kangaroo, wombat, many snakes Ayers Rock (Uluru)	kiwi

	The United Kingdom	The USA	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Economy (general)	highly developed the industrial revolutioon started here in the 18th century (steam engine, railways, factories)	the world´s leading power	highly developed	based on farming	based on farming	Small, based on trade
Natural resources	coal, iron ore, building materials	natural gas, oil, coal, metals	natural gas, iron ore, timber, hydropower	the largest opal site in the world: Cober Peddy	hydropower, timber, natural gas	peat
Industries	now: manufacturing (electronic appliances and chemicals) and services in the history: coal, textile (wool and cotton), iron and steel, shipbuilding, machinery	machinery, vehicles, electrical engineering, electronic appliances, chemicals, food, clothes	wood and paper food engineering mining	food, textile, mining	food processing, tourism	food (traditional products: whisky, beer)
Farming	livestock (grass)	wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco, fruit and vegetables, fish	wheat growing , fish	sheep (wool), cattle (milk, meat), wheat, fruit and vegetables	sheep (wool) and cattle (dairy products), fruit and vegetables	livestock raising, barley
Important centres	xxxxx	xxxxx	Winnipeg- the world´s largest wheat market	Sydney – the largest city	Auckland	Cork, Galway
Trading partners	the USA, Germany	Canada, Mexico	the USA	The USA, China, Japan	Australia, the USA, Japan	the UK, the USA
Companies	Rolls-Royce	ITT, ITT-Bell, Ford, Chrysler, Exxon, Texaco, IBM, Microsoft, Du Pont, Kodak, Coca Cola
Currency	GBP – British pound	USD – US dollar	CAD –Canadian dollar	AUD - Australian dollar	NZD – New Zealand dollar	EUR – euro -  since 2002

	The United Kingdom	The USA	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Type of state	a constitutional monarchy	a republic, a federation, a parliamentary democracy	a constitutional monarchy, a federation, a parliamentary democracy	a constitutional monarchy, a federation, a parliamentary democracy	a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy	a republic, a parliamentary democracy
Independence  from Britain		4 July 1776	1867	1901	1907	1921
Constitution	no written constitution	signed 1787, effective 1789	1867, 1982	1901	1987	1937
Chief of state	Queen Elizabeth II since 1952, crowned 1953 her official residence: Buckingham Palace	the President: Barack Hussein Obama (since 20 January 2009); the 44th US President Vice President Joseph R. Biden	Queen Elizabeth II since 1952 represented by  the Governor General	Queen Elizabeth II since 1952 represented by  the Governor General	Queen Elizabeth II since 1952 represented by  the Governor General	the President: Mary McAleese
Head of government	the Prime Minister Gordon Brown (the Labour Party) his official residence: (at) 10, Downing Street	the President, his official residence: the White House	the Prime Minister	the Prime Minister	the Prime Minister	the Prime Minister
Executive body	the Cabinet seat of the Cabinet: in Whitehall (=a street)	the Cabinet	the Cabinet	the Cabinet	the Executive Council	the Cabinet
Legislative body	the British Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons seat of the Parliament: in the Palace of Westminster (the Houses of Parliament)	the Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate the Congress meets in the Capitol Bulding	the Parliament: the Senate and the House of  Commons	the Federal  Parliament: the Senate and the House of Representatives	the House of Representatives	the Parliament: the Senate and the House of Representatives
Political parties	the Conservative Party the Labour Party	the Democratic Party (symbol: a Donkey) the Republican Party (symbol: an Elephant)
Suffrage (Right to Vote)	18+, universal	18+, universal	18+, universal	18+, universal, compulsory	18+, universal	18+, universal

	The United Kingdom	The USA	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Ireland
Polititians / Campaigners / Leaders / Presidents / Kings / Queens	Lady Diana	JFK M.L.King, Jr
Writers
Sportsmen
Actors
Singers
Inventors
Other famous people / Celebrities		Frank Lloyd Wright – p. 108, modrá SB
Symbols
History – important events	1066 the Battle of Hastings – William the Conqueror became king of England around 1750 – the Industrial Revolution started in England	4 July 1776 - Declaration of Independence 1863 – abolition of slavery (Abraham Lincoln)			1893 – New Zealand became the first country in the world that granted women right to vote
Everyday life	pubs	popcorn, hamburgers			See p. 83, modrá SB - Lifestyle