In the English Channel, 80 kilometers from the southern coast of Britain and 20 kilometers from France, is a group of Channel Islands with a total area of more than 200 square meters. km, among which the largest in size are Jersey and Guernsey. Normandy on the map is located in the northwestern part of France.
It is off the coast of Northern Normandy that one can observe a
group of islands, which are described in this article.
Channel Islands: A Place to Visit
These fabulous places are truly mesmerizing with their impregnability and power: for many miles there are bays, giants-cliffs, fortifications, mountain caves and passages, sandy shores resembling lunar landscapes at low tide. And all this splendor - against the background of wildly growing and abundantly blooming almost year-round vegetation, which contributes to the bright sun and temperate climate, quite humid. This is especially felt in the autumn-winter period, when the islands are shrouded in fog and watered by rains, and strong storms brought by northerly winds rage in the water area. Summer temperature in the summer holds from 18 to 22 degrees Celsius, in winter this indicator varies from +7 to +10 o C.
The population of the islands is about 164 thousand people: the French and the British are roughly equal. The official languages are English and French.
Fauna and flora of the islands
The Channel Islands cannot boast of a rich plant world due to poor stony soils; In total, there are about 350 species of woody, shrubby, and herbaceous plants, most of which were imported from the mainland. Animals are represented mainly by domestic mammals: these are huge herds of sheep, contributing to the development of textile production, especially in Jersey. The Channel Islands are replete with feathered birds, a huge number of which immediately catches the eye. Some of them are permanent residents of the island, some fly to these parts for the winter. The coastal waters are rich in commercial fish, which determines the development of fishing production on the islands.
Jersey: the natural pearl of the planet
The treasury of natural beauty is the island of Jersey, whose area is 116 square meters. km with a population of 87 thousand inhabitants. The coastline stretches for 80 kilometers and has a myriad of small bays. The island is located near the French port of Saint-Malo.
However, despite being close to the lands of France, the island of Jersey is faithful to the British crown thanks to the sixth Duke of Normandy Wilhelm, who in 1066 captured England and became its king. As the French writer Victor Hugo, who lived on it for three years as an exile, once said about Jersey, “a piece of France that broke away fell into the water and was picked up by the British.”
War years for the Channel Islands
On the territory there are numerous defensive structures in which each stone is a piece of history. The whole island is almost buried in flowers. They grow everywhere: in the houses of the local population, parks and nurseries, hedges, wooded valleys and on the tops of cliffs. Jersey is the only British territory captured by the Germans in 1940 without a fight during World War II. At that terrible time, about 8,000 residents were evacuated, about 1,200 people were deported to the camps, and about 300 were sentenced to concentration camps.
Without a fight, the British managed to recapture their territory, despite dozens of thick-walled concrete bunkers erected by the Nazis. Today a store is open in one of them, the second is for rent as a residential apartment, the third is turned into a beer pub. The Channel Islands have defined a public holiday associated with the liberation from the Nazi-German invaders - May 9.
Tidbit
The island of Jersey long before the Great Patriotic War was a tidbit for many who wanted to get it. At first, in the 9th century, the Vikings began to attack him. They mercilessly robbed the island for a century, until the conclusion of a deal with Charles the Simple - the French king. In exchange for peace, the leader of the Vikings (aka the Normans) received lands known as Rouen - now Upper Normandy. During the Centennial War (1337-1453), Jersey was often attacked and occupied by the French, but was eventually returned to England. In the 19th century, the island became one of the major centers of shipbuilding in the British Isles. More than 900 ships were built in Jersey.
The island of Jersey is independent, has its own legal system, parliament and currency. Its center is the largest city of Saint Helier, located on the south coast, with a population of 28 thousand people. The monetary unit of the crown ownership of Jersey is the Jersey pound; the euro is in free float. Jersey Island with its liberal laws, low taxes and guaranteed confidentiality is a popular offshore zone and one of the largest banking centers in Europe.
Guernsey is an island with a rich military past
Guernsey Island is the second largest among the Channel Islands (14 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide) and has another name - Sarnia. This territory is under the jurisdiction of the British crown, although it is located geographically closer to the French coast. Like Jersey, the island also has its own management system.
Ancient fortresses, of which there are a large number, observation towers, castles and forts, clearly speak about the rich heritage of the military past. The administrative center of the island, with a population of 16.5 thousand people, is the small town of St. Peter Port, located on the east coast. The Guernsey Crown Monetary Unit is a Hernsian pound of 100 pence. This currency has the same exchange rate with the pound, which along with the euro is also in circulation.