Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences winners
United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Anthem:&#;"God Save the King"[note 2] | |
Show globe Show map of Europe | |
| Capital and largest city | London 51°30′N0°7′W / °N °W / ; |
| Official language | British English (de facto) |
| Regional or minority languages[note 3] | |
| Ethnic&#;groups () | |
| Religion ([6][7]) | |
| Demonym(s) | |
| Constituent countries | |
| Government | Unitaryparliamentary constitutional monarchy |
•&#;Monarch | Charles III |
•&#;Prime Minister | Keir Starmer |
| Legislature | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
•&#;Upper house | House of Lords |
•&#;Lower house | House of Commons |
•&#;Laws in Wales Acts | and |
•&#;Union of the Crowns under James VI and I | March 24, |
•&#;Acts of Union of England and Scotland | May 1, |
•&#;Acts of Union of Great Britain and Ireland | January 1, |
•&#;Irish Free State Constitution Act | December 5, |
•&#;EC accession&#;[note 5] | January 1, |
•&#;Withdrawal from the European Union | January 31, |
•&#;Total | ,&#;km2 (93,&#;sq&#;mi)[8] (78th) |
•&#;Water&#;(%) | |
•&#; estimate | 67,,[9] (22nd) |
•&#;&#;census | 63,,[10] (22nd) |
•&#;Density | /km2 (/sq&#;mi) (50th) |
| HDI&#;() | &#;[11] very high&#;·&#;14th |
| Currency | Pound&#;sterling[note 6] (GBP) |
| Time zone | UTC (Greenwich Mean Time, WET[note 7]) |
•&#;Summer&#;(DST) | UTC+1 (British Summer Time, WEST) |
| Date format | dd/mm/yy yyyy-mm-dd&#;(AD)[12] |
| Mains electricity | V–50 Hz |
| Driving side | left[note 8] |
| Calling code | +44[note 9] |
| ISO code | GB |
| Internet TLD | .uk[note 10] |
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, often shortened to the United Kingdom (or UK), or just Britain, is a sovereign country in Western Europe. It is a constitutional monarchy of four countries which were once separate: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
It is part of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, NATO, the G7, and formerly the European Union. It had the sixth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP in
About 95 percent of the UK's population are English speakers.[13] per cent of the population speak languages brought to the UK as a result of relatively recent immigration.[13]
The UK has many cities. London is the largest city in the UK and is the capital city. There are also other large cities in England such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Newcastle upon Tyne. Scotland has the large cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Cardiff and Swansea are in Wales and Derry and Belfast are in Northern Ireland.
Between the 17th and mid 20th-centuries, Britain became a world power. It became a colonial empire that controlled large areas of Africa, Asia, North America and Oceania.[14]
At its height in , more than million people lived in the British Empire, one-fifth of the Earth's population. Its area was 13,, square miles: almost a quarter of the Earth's land area. The Empire was sometimes called 'the Empire on which the Sun never sets', meaning it is always daytime someplace in the Empire. Many countries left and became independent from the Empire in the 20th century, although Britain keeps links with most countries of its former empire and also still controls fourteen colonies.
History
[change | change source]See also: History of the United Kingdom
Prehistory
[change | change source]Humans have lived in Britain for almost a million years. They did not live there all the time, probably because the climate was too extreme at times.
Archaeological remains show that the first group of modern people to live in the British Isles were hunter-gatherers after the last ice age ended.[15] The date is not known: perhaps as early as BC but certainly by BC. They built mesolithic wood and stone monuments. Stonehenge was built between and BC.[16]Celtic tribes arrived from mainland Europe. Britain was a changing collection of tribal areas, with no overall leader. Julius Caesar tried to invade (take over) the island in 55BC but was not able to do so. The Romans successfully invaded in 43AD.[17]
Written history began in Britain when writing was brought to Britain by the Romans. Rome ruled in Britain from 44AD to AD. They ruled the southern two-thirds of Great Britain. The Romans never took over Ireland and never fully controlled Scotland, the land north of the valleys of the River Forth and River Clyde. Their northern border varied from time to time and was marked sometimes at Hadrian's Wall (in modern England), sometimes at the Antonine Wall (in modern Scotland).
After the Romans, waves of immigrants came to Britain. Some were German tribes: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Others were Celts, like the Scoti, who came to Great Britain from Ireland. English and Scots are Germanic languages. They developed from Old English. This was spoken by the Anglo-Saxons in an area from the River Forth to the River Tamar.
Middle Ages
[change | change source]A later wave of immigration was that of the Vikings, during the Early Middle Ages or Viking Age. During the Viking invasion of Britain, they set up their own kingdom in north-western England, which the Anglo-Saxons named the "Danelaw", after the Danes who lived there and controlled the land. Vikings from Scandinavia also controlled most of the islands which are now part of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides, the Inner Hebrides, and the Northern Isles (the Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands).
After a long period when Anglo-Saxon England was split into various kingdoms, it was made into one kingdom by Æthelstan (Athelstan) in AD. In the 13th century, the lands of Wales were unified by force with England by the wars of Edward I of England ("Edward Longshanks").
Early modern history
[change | change source]Union of the Crowns
[change | change source]There were hundreds of years of fighting between both kingdoms of Great Britain. In , when Queen Elizabeth I of England died, her closest relative was King James VI of Scotland. He became king of England and Ireland as well as the king of Scotland. The kingdoms of England, Ireland, and Scotland had the same monarch ever since. James VI and I was the first to be named "King of Great Britain", and he ordered the design of the Union Jack. The Union Jack has been the British national flag ever since.
Union of
[change | change source]In , the Parliaments of England and Scotland agreed on the Treaty of Union, which joined the two countries into one country called the United Kingdom of Great Britain under Queen Anne with the Acts of Union This union merged Scotland and England into one kingdom. England and Scotland kept their own laws, with English law in England and Wales and Scots law in Scotland. The division between the Church of Scotland and the Church of England continued. Ireland and Great Britain continued to have the same king, but Ireland did not become part of the new kingdom in
Modern history
[change | change source]Union of
[change | change source]Scotland and England had already independently had much influence over Ireland since In laws were passed in the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland to merge the two kingdoms and their two parliaments. The country was then called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Union Jack was changed so that the flag of Saint Patrick (a red saltire) shows Ireland to be a part of the country.
In much of Ireland became independent from the United Kingdom as the Irish Free State (now called Ireland). However, six northern counties (called Northern Ireland) are part of the United Kingdom. The country was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in
The new Parliament of Northern Ireland set up in the s stopped working in the s, because of The Troubles. However, devolution started again with the Northern Ireland Assembly after the Belfast Agreement (the "Good Friday Agreement") in Devolution in Scotland and Wales started the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Parliament the same year.
The United Kingdom was a member state of the European Union (EU) and an older organization, the European Economic Community (EEC), from until Brexit in
In September , the United Kingdom became the first G7 country to phase out coal power for electric generation, after years of using the energy source.[18][19]
Geography
[change | change source]The UK is northwest off the coast of mainland Europe. Around the UK are the North Sea, the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean