EUROPE—GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY
Almost all the commercial activity of Europe is south of the parallel and west of the meridian of St. Petersburg. Most of the great industries are controlled by Germanic and Latin peoples, and among these Great Britain and Germany stand first.
Great Britain and Ireland.—The United Kingdom, or Great Britain and Ireland, are commonly known as the British Isles. The British Empire consists of the United Kingdom and its colonial possessions; it includes also a large number of islands occupied as coaling stations and for strategic purposes. All told, the empire embraces about one-seventh of the land area of the world and about one-fourth its population.
The wonderful power and great commercial development is due not only to conditions of geographic environment but also to the intelligence of a people who have adjusted themselves to those conditions. The insular position of the United Kingdom has given it natural protection, and for more than eight hundred years there has been no successful invasion by a foreign power. Its commercial position is both natural and artificial. It has utilized the markets to the east and south, and has founded great countries which it supplies with manufactured products.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
The position of the kingdom with respect to climate is fortunate. The movement of the Gulf Stream on the American coast carries a large volume of water into the latitude of the prevailing westerly winds, and these in turn carry warm water to every part of the coast of the islands. As a result, the harbors of the latter are never obstructed by ice; those of the Labrador coast, situated in the same latitude, are blocked nearly half the year.
The high latitude of the islands is an advantage so far as the production of food-stuffs is concerned. The summer days in the latitude of Liverpool are very nearly eighteen hours in length, and this fact together with the mild winters, adds very largely to the food-producing power of the islands.