The economic geography of the United Kingdom reflects its high position in the current economic league tables, as well as reflecting its long history as a trading nation and as an imperial power. This in turn was built on exploitation of natural resources such as coal and iron ore. Mackinder's comment, above, is a metaphor not only for this exploitation but the - at the time of writing - overwhelming power of the Royal Navy. Halford John Mackinder Sir Halford John Mackinder PC (February 15, 1861 - March 6, 1947), was an English geographer and geopolitician. ... Year 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by coal mining, either underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ...

Almost everything has changed since then, with the coalfields largely deserted and the Empire relinquished. With its dominant position gone, the UK economic geography is increasingly shaped by the one constant: it is a trading nation.

Agriculture

The UK has rarely been self-sufficient in terms of food supply and its modern pattern of agriculture reflects a combination of history, current public policy and comparative advantage. In economics, the theory of comparative advantage (sometimes known as Ricardos Law) explains why it can be beneficial for two parties (countries, regions, individuals and so on) to trade, even though one of them may be able to produce every item more cheaply than the other. ...

Since the Enclosure Acts of the eighteenth century, the UK's uplands (including Wales and the Scottish Highlands) have largely been associated with animal husbandry and forestry. However, by the time of the Enclosure Acts, most of lowland Britain was already enclosed by processes such as assarting or illegal, but tolerated, piecemeal enclosure. However, evidence of the former open field system of agriculture can still be seen in some parts of the landscape, such as in the indentations remaining from boundary ditches of the former farming strips. Enclosure, in turn, led to intensification. The British Agricultural Revolution describes a period of agricultural development in Britain between the 16th century and the mid-19th century, which saw a massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... This article is about the country. ... Highland or Highlands has these meanings:- The term highland is used in geography for any elevated mountainous plateau. ... In a draw in a mountainous region, a shepherd guides a flock of about 20 sheep amidst scrub and olive trees. ... A decidous beech forest in Slovenia. ... Assarting is the act of clearing forested lands for use in agriculture or other purposes. ... For other uses, see Open-field (disambiguation) The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in places. ...

Most UK agriculture is intensive and highly mechanised, with the use of chemical fertilisers and insecticides routine. By European standards it is very efficient, although that does not necessarily make it profitable. This intense nature was compounded in the post-War years, with fields being expanded at the expense of hedgrows. This process has been heavily criticised for damaging biodiversity. Intensive Farming Intensive agriculture is an agricultural production system characterized by the high inputs as relative to land area (as opposed to extensive farming). ... Fertilizers are chemicals given to plants with the intention of promoting growth; they are usually applied either via the soil or by foliar spraying. ... An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects in all developmental forms. ... Rainforests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variation of taxonomic life forms within a given ecosystem, biome or for the entire Earth. ...

East Anglia and South East England have been centres for grain production, with some areas of South East England also specialising in market gardening. The county of Kent was so well known for this that it is often referred to as the Garden of England and was particularly noted for hop growing. Dairy farming is most prevalent in South West England. Norfolk and Suffolk, the core area of East Anglia. ... South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. ... South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. ... In agriculture, market gardening is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. ... Kent is a county in England, south-east of London. ... Species Humulus lupulusL. Humulus japonicusSiebold& Zucc. ... South West England is one of the regions of England. ...

The detailed pattern of modern UK agriculture is heavily influenced by the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, with a combination of price support and set-aside policy. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Set-Aside in the EU, will be updated as i update my IPM from another editor (i also am doing an ipm and shall add it on here) 1. ...

Around the edges of south eastern towns, perfectly good agricultural land often remains uncultivated as a result of price distortions created by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Indeed, since around 2001 speculators have been buying Green Belt agricultural land, generally adjacent to built up areas, and selling it off in plots, persuading buyers that the government will have to weaken Green Belt protection to solve the housing crisis (see below). It is hard to see when such plots could come back into production. For other uses of the word Greenbelt, see Greenbelt (disambiguation). ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Primary industry

The UK's primary industry sector was once dominated by the coal industry, heavily concentrated in south Wales, Midlands, Yorkshire North East England and southern Scotland. The number of pits and miners have been slashed, and output fell by more than 75% between 1981 and 2003. The remaining pits produced 17.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2003, making the UK the 15th largest coal producing nation, compared with 4th in 1981, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2004. Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by coal mining, either underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... Approximate extent of South Wales South Wales (Welsh: ) is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. ... In general, the midlands of a territory are its central regions. ... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... North-East England is one of the nine official regions of England and comprises the combined area of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and a small part of North Yorkshire. ... This article is becoming very long. ... This article is about the corporation known as BP. For other uses, see BP (disambiguation). ...

The major primary industry is North Sea oil. Its activity is concentrated on the east coast of Scotland and North East England. The waters in the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland contain nearly half of the UK's remaining oil reserves, and a quarter of reserves are located in the North Sea near the Shetland Islands. As of January 2004, the UK had proven crude oil reserves of 4.7 billion barrels (750,000,000 m³) including onshore reserves, according to the Oil and Gas Journal. // North Sea Oil Platforms North Sea oil refers to oil and natural gas (hydrocarbons) produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea. ... This article is becoming very long. ... North-East England is one of the nine official regions of England and comprises the combined area of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and a small part of North Yorkshire. ...

A closely related industry is natural gas which, since the 1970s, has supplied all of the UK gas needs, replacing poisonous coal, or town, gas. Most natural gas production is in the North Sea, with a small amount onshore and in the Irish Sea. The largest reserves not related to oil production are in the southern North Sea between the UK and the Netherlands, although the largest reserves are associated with oil production. The UK is expected to become a net natural gas importer before 2010. Natural gas is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Syngas (from synthesis gas) is the name given to gasses of varying composition that are generated in coal gasification and some types of waste-to-energy facilities. ... Relief map of the Irish Sea. ...

Manufacturing

At one time or another virtually every product that can be imagined has been made in the UK. In particular its heavy manufacturing drove the industrial revolution, starting with the first blast furnace at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. A Watt steam engine. ... Blast furnace in Sestao, Spain. ... Coalbrookdale is a settlement in a side valley of the Ironbridge Gorge in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. ... Shropshire (alternatively Salop or abbreviated Shrops) is an English county in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. ...

A map of the major UK cities gives a good picture of where manufacturing flourished, and often specialisations could be identified, in particular:

• Birmingham, (automotive)
• Glasgow (shipbuilding),
• London (everything),
• Manchester (textiles),
• Newcastle (shipbuilding and steel),
• Nottingham (apparel, medicine),
• Sheffield (steel and steel products).

In the inter-War years modern industries emerged, with aerospace forming clusters around Bristol and in Hertfordshire. The Hertfordshire cluster no longer exists. The early electronics industry generally preferred the south, especially the home counties. This article is about the city in England. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, North West England. ... This article is about a city in the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Nottingham (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Sheffield (disambiguation). ... Look up aerospace in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and between the cities of Bath, Gloucester and the borough of Swindon. ... Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom and part of the East of England Government Office region. ... The field of electronics comprises the study and use of systems that operate by controlling the flow of electrons (or other charge carriers) in devices such as thermionic valves (vacuum tubes) and semiconductors. ... The phrase Home Counties is used to designate the group of English counties which border or surround London. ...

Today there is no heavy manufacturing industry in which UK-based firms can be considered world leaders and no product in which a UK city or region is the world leader.

However, the Midlands, in particular, remains a strong manufacturing centre, with around a fifth of employment dependent on manufacturing, and the East Midlands Development Agency has a policy to maintaining this characteristic. In general, the midlands of a territory are its central regions. ...

More recently, high technology firms have concentrated largely along the M4 motorway, partly because of access to Heathrow Airport, but also because of agglomeration economies. But the general pattern remains that south has lower, and falling, reliance on manufacturing. The M4 motorway is a motorway in Great Britain linking London with Wales. ... London Heathrow Airport (IATA airport code: LHR, ICAO airport code: EGLL, and often simply Heathrow) is the United Kingdoms busiest and best-connected airport. ...

Finance and services

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since January 2007.

Once, every great city had a stock exchange. Now, the UK financial industry is concentrated overwhelmingly in the City of London and Canary Wharf, with back office and administrative operation often dispersed around the south of England. Image File history File links Wiki_letter_w. ... The City of London is a geographically-small City within Greater London, England. ... HSBC Tower (left), One Canada Square (centre), Citigroup Centre (right) Canary Wharf in Tower Hamlets, London, England, is a large business development on the Isle of Dogs, centred on the old West India Docks in the London Docklands. ...

London is one of the world's great financial centres, which is one of the factors that is commonly considered to make it a world city. Central London contains some of the most expensive commercial property in the world because of this. London New York City Paris Tokyo A global city (also known as a world city or world-class city) is a city with a somewhat subjective set of traits, some of which are listed below. ... Central London is a much-used but unofficial and vaguely defined term for the most inner part of London, the capital of England. ... Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ...

From around the early 1990s London has been able to boast of having more U.S. banks than New York, as well as being host to branches of more than 500 overseas banks. It is one of the principal financial centres of the world, usually ranked alongside New York and Tokyo as one of three where any serious financial player must be represented. NY redirects here. ...   , literally Eastern capital) is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, the home of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the de facto[1] capital of Japan. ...

The City of London boasts around 300,000 employees, largely concentrated in the financial and professional sectors. The City of London is a geographically-small City within Greater London, England. ...

Within London, the desire for banks to be there put pressure on the City of London's ability to accommodate them. In the mid-1980s a crisis point was reached and, although the City was able to expand its stock of modern office space, this did not happen before Canary Wharf had been set up as a competitor. The irony is that Canary Wharf was built in the London Docklands that had, until 1970, been among the largest docks in the world. All manner of goods had been shipped from the factories of east London to the world. The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... HSBC Tower (left), One Canada Square (centre), Citigroup Centre (right) Canary Wharf in Tower Hamlets, London, England, is a large business development on the Isle of Dogs, centred on the old West India Docks in the London Docklands. ... Docklands can refer to: Melbourne Docklands London Docklands Dublin Docklands Category: ...

In this respect, Canary Wharf is arguably more symbolic of the changed economic geography of the UK than any other place.

Regional disparity

The combined effects of changing economic fortunes, economic restructuring and the decline of the UK as an imperial power have created the so-called North-South divide, in which decaying industrial areas of the north of England and Scotland contrast with the wealthy, finance-and-technology led southern economy. This has led successive governments to develop regional policies to try and rectify the imbalance. In the United Kingdom the term North-South divide refers to an economic and cultural divide between the relatively wealthy South East of England and the less affluent industrial areas of Scotland, Wales and Northern England. ... Regional policy is the means by which governments and international organisations seek to reduce spatial disparities in economic well being. ...

The success has been, at best, patchy and the uneven distribution of economic wealth in the UK has led to migration from north to south, aggravating serious pressure on the southern housing market.

Although, in 2004, house prices in the north of England and Scotland increased faster than those in the south, this happened at the same stage of the last property cycle and the rises are off of a lower value base - it is far too early to concluded whether the trend is reversing. Either way, there were 113,000 transactions in London and the South East recorded by the UK HM Land Registry in the year to November 2004, compared with 83,000 in the North, North West and Yorkshire and Humber. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. ... Land Registry Head Office, 32 Lincolns Inn Fields Land Registry (formerly known as Her Majestys Land Registry) is a British Governmental organisation created in 1862. ... Compass rose with north highlighted and at top Look up North in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... North West England is one of the nine regions of England. ... Yorkshire and The Humber is one of the regions of England. ...

This is not to say that the south is uniformly wealthy: some of the worst pockets of deprivation can be found in London, especially inner London, while Hastings and Bexhill, on the south coast are also subject to urgent regeneration efforts. Shown within East Sussex Geography Status: Borough Region: South East England Historic County: Sussex Admin. ... Bexhill is a small village in New_South_Wales, Australia. ...

References and further reading

• An Historical Geography of England and Wales, Robert A. Dodgshon, R.A. Butlin, Academic Press, ISBN 0-12-219252-4
• The Changing Geography of the United Kingdom Hugh Matthews, Vince Gardiner (eds), Routledge, ISBN 0-415-17901-7
• Spatial Divisions of Labor, Doreen Massey, Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-59494-0
• The book and film Akenfield, by Ronald Blythe and Peter Hall respectively, painted a detailed picture of agricultural life in Suffolk, from the turn of the century to the 1960s (although fictional, Akenfield was an amalgam of eight real villages).

Ronald Blythe (b. ... Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Hall (born 22 November 1930) is a British theatre and film director. ... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in the East Anglia region of eastern England. ...

See also

• Geography of the United Kingdom
• Culture of the United Kingdom
• Economy of the United Kingdom
• Politics of the United Kingdom
• Economy of England
• Economy of Scotland
• Economy of Wales

The United Kingdom occupies a substantial part of the British Isles. ... The culture of the United Kingdom is rich and varied, and has been influential on culture on a worldwide scale. ... The United Kingdom has the fifth largest gross domestic product in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). ... Politics of the United Kingdom take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government. ... The Economy of England is the largest of the four economies of the United Kingdom. ... // The headquarters of the Bank of Scotland, located on the Mound in Edinburgh. ... The Economy of Wales ranks as the smallest of the four economies of the United Kingdom in terms of GDP(2002). ...

External links

• Office of the Deputy Prime Minister - controls regional policy
• Department of Trade and Industry