Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, [m] is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England , Scotland , Wales , and Northern Ireland .
The earliest cities (Latin: civitas) in Britain were the fortified settlements organised by the Romans as capitals of the Celtic tribes under Roman rule.The British clerics of the early Middle Ages later preserved a traditional list of the "28 Cities" (Old Welsh: cair) which was mentioned in De Excidio Britanniae [c] and Historia Brittonum.
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch (that is, the king or queen who is the head of state at any given time) does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament.
The United Kingdom is also responsible for several other territories, which fall into two categories: the Crown Dependencies, in the immediate vicinity of the UK, are strictly-speaking subject to the British Crown (i.e., the Monarch) but not part of the United Kingdom (though de facto British territory), and British Overseas Territories, as ...
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:
Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922 as the Irish Free State, and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the present United Kingdom. The UK became the first industrialised country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the Pax Britannica between 1815 and ...
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – sovereign country in Europe, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK), or Britain. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland , it includes the island of Great Britain —a term also applied loosely to refer to the whole country—the north-eastern part ...
The Parliament of the United Kingdom currently has 650 parliamentary constituencies across the constituent countries (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), each electing a single member of parliament (MP) to the House of Commons by the plurality (first-past-the-post) voting system, ordinarily every five years.