section_path: Geography
section_name: Geography
paragraph_text: Geography
  
  The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately 94,354 square miles (244,376 km 2), with a land area of 93,723 square miles (242,741 km 2). It occupies the major part of the British Isles archipelago and includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland and some smaller surrounding islands, meaning it comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea with the southeast coast coming within 22 miles (35 km) of the coast of northern France, from which it is separated by the English Channel.
  
  The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London was chosen as the defining point of the Prime Meridian at the International Meridian Conference in 1884.
  
  The UK lies between latitudes 49° and 61° N, and longitudes 9° W and 2° E. Northern Ireland shares a 310-mile (499 km) land boundary with the Republic of Ireland and has a 404-mile (650 km) coastline. The length of coastline of Great Britain plus its principal islands is about 19,491 miles (31,368 km) long, with the coastline of the main island Great Britain being 11,073 miles (17,820 km) of that, though measurements can vary greatly due to the coastline paradox. It is connected to continental Europe by the Channel Tunnel, which at 31 miles (50 km) (24 miles (38 km) underwater) is the longest underwater tunnel in the world.
  
  The UK contains four terrestrial ecoregions: Celtic broadleaf forests, English Lowlands beech forests, North Atlantic moist mixed forests, and Caledonian conifer forests. The area of woodland in the UK in 2023 was estimated to be 3.25 million hectares, which represents 13 per cent of the UK's land area.