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The history of the United Kingdom begins in 1707 with the Treaty of Union and Acts of Union. The core of the United Kingdom as a unified state came into being with the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, [1] into a new unitary state called Great Britain. [a] Of this new state, the historian Simon Schama said:
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, [m] ... and was the largest empire in history.
This is a timeline of British history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England, History of Wales, History of Scotland, History of Ireland, Formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and History of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is the most recent of a number of sovereign states that have been established in Great Britain at different periods in history, in different combinations and under a variety of polities.
In terms of population, on the eve of World War II, Britain and her colonial possessions totaled 500 million inhabitants. The British Empire had an enormous impact on world history. The United Kingdom had about 120 colonies throughout its history, the most colonies in the world, the French colonial empire came second, which had about 80 ...
As for the United Kingdom itself, British views of the former Empire are more positive than is the case with other post-imperial nations; [267] discourse around the former Empire has continued to impact the nation's present-day understanding of itself, as seen in the debate leading up to its decision to leave the European Union in 2016. [268]
The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the early tenth century, when it was unified from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, which would later become the United Kingdom.
It consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of England by King Æthelstan (r. 927–939). It became part of the short-lived North Sea Empire of Cnut , a personal union between England , Denmark and Norway , in the 11th century.