Great Britain is close to France . At present , the distance between the stait of Dover (England ) and cap Blanc-Nez near Calais (France ) is about fifty km . Yet these two cities were once linked and integrated into the European continent . The ruptur between these two places was a major phenomene in the history of Great Britain , helping to shape the country ' s island identity . It is (among other explanations ) through the geological history of this region that we can explain how England distances itself from Europe . For a long time , the United Kingdom was a peninsule linked to North-Western Europe , which gradually became “isolated” by a succession of glacial episodes and warmings , and even sismic accidents that are thought to have been created between - 450000 , and - 130000 , This would have created a fracture in the cliffs , linking it to the European continent via cap Blanc-Nez and Dover in England . This is how the narow Channel was formed . During the last Ice Age , an “ice pack” knew as the British-Irish Ice Cap covered much of Europe , and sea levels were much lower than they are today . There was a long roky ridge 32 km long linking Great Britain and France . Behind this ridge was a large lake made up of icebergs , which today correspond to the North Sea on its way to the North Pole . At that time , the English Channel was a plain of land linking the two countries .
