South industrial and agricultural region

This is the most important region in the country in terms of industry, agriculture and population. The region includes all the south of England, both the south-west. It’s the northern border runs from the Bristol Channel to the west. The south is the region of various industries and of the intensive agriculture.

Today about 6.7 million people live in greater London. London handles the largest part of the country’s overseas trade. From 5 to 10 per cent of the exports (by tonnage) pass through the port of London and 15-20 per cent of imports. The oldest industrial areas are near the city centre here industries such as clothing, furniture making and jewelry have tended to cluster in small distinct areas. The building of the docks near the city centre encouraged the development of a vast range of industries which processed imported row materials. Later the extension of the thee dock system toward the sea lead to the development of such typical port industries, as oil refining, steel-making, cement manufacture, paper making , etc.

London has greater expansion in recent years; especially in the service industries provide employment for twice as many people as manufacturing industries. Thousands of computers travel to central London each day to work in offices, banks, insurance, companies and shops. Add to this the work force catering for the tourist trade.

Oxford has first mentioned in recorded history in the tenth century. It was a bridging point off the Themes, which made it an important trading centre in medieval times.

Luton became the countries leading hat-making town, straw from the local crop furnishing the raw material. But the demand has shrunk greatly in recent years.

The Thames valley in general, between London and Bristol is an area of concentration of high technology industries of the future.

Bristol (384400) dominated south-west England, both as the region’s chief as its largest city. Bristol is a historic inland port situated in the seaport and Bristol Channel.

Control of education

By 1900, there were almost a thousand institutions of higher education in the U.S. Among them were law and medical “schools” and hundreds of small, four year Liberal Arts College. There were many other institutions of higher learning which emphasized everything from the training of teacher to the pulling of teeth.

Today, there are some 43 million pupils and students in public schools at the elementary and secondary levels and another 6 million at private schools throughout the country. In other words, 88 percent of American children attend public schools and 12 percent go to private schools. Four out of five of the private schools are run by churches, synagogues, or the religious groups. Any year, about 12 million Americans are enrolled in the over 3.000 colleges and universities of every type: Private, public, church-related, small and large, in cities, and states. Close to 80 percent of the college students attend public institutions, while a little over 50 percents of all high schools graduates enter colleges and universities. The early emphasis given to education remains today. United Nations figures (1980) show that in the amount spent on education per capita, the U.S. is in ninth place in the world (behind Qatar, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Switzerland and Canada). Most historians agree that a great deal of the economic, political, scientific, and cultural progress America has made in its relatively short history is due to it’s commitment to the ideal of educating as many Americans as possible, to the best of their abilities.