ds to produce a sea-faring people, and
therefore a trading people.

The character of its people is conditioned by the zone in which the
nation is situated. In the north temperate zone is the climate best
suited for the growth of peoples vigorous in mind and body, and lovers
of freedom.

ENGLAND

_Position:_ The forming of the Straits of Dover cut off a corner of
Europe, made Great Britain an island, and later a single political unit.
Situated between Europe and America with ports opening toward each, her
position gives her the opportunity for naval and commercial greatness.
The narrow sea separating her from the continent is a defence in war and
a means of intercourse in peace.

_Structure:_ Two regions--one of plain, the other of hills; a line drawn
from the mouth of the Tees to the mouth of the Severn and continued to
the south coast roughly divides these regions. The part lying east of
this line is, roughly speaking, level and fertile, tempting emigration
from the continent, and easily explored inward. The Angles, the Saxons,
and the Jutes found their way into this plain through the rivers that
flowed east and south. The Pennines, the Welsh Peninsula, and the
southwest of England from Bristol are in the hilly part, which, because
of its mineral wealth, has become the great industrial district.

_Climate:_ Though England lies north of the fiftieth parallel, the moist
southwest winds from the ocean temper the climate, making the winters
mild and the summers cool, a climate favourable to the growth of a
vigorous race. There is an abundant rainfall.

_Products:_ On the plains a fertile soil supported a large agricultural,
and therefore self-contained, population in the earlier days, and the
slopes furnished pasturage for cattle and sheep. Proximity to coal is an
almost indispensable condition for industries, though other
considerations come in. In the hill country coal and iron, essential
materials for a manufacturing nation, lie near to the deposits of
limestone necessary for smelting the iron ore. The coal-fields on or
near the coast are centres of shipbuilding; and the interior coal-fields
the centres of the great textile industries. Because of her insular
position and fleets of ships the raw products from other countries can
be brought to England easily and cheaply, and then shipped out as
manufactured goods.

Consult: _A Historical Geography of the British Empire_. Hereford B.
George, Methuen & Co., Londo