2. he United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom
or Britain, is a sovereign state in Europe. Lying off the
north-western coast of the European mainland, it
includes the island of Great Britain (the name of which
is also loosely applied to the whole country), the north-
eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller
islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that
shares a land border with another state—the Republic
of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is
surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to
its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic
Sea to its south-southwest. The Irish Sea lies between
Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 93,800
square miles (243,000 km2), the UK is the 80th-largest
sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in
Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with
an estimated 64.5 million inhabitants.
3.
4. The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with
a parliamentary system of governance. Its capital
city is London, an important global city and financial
centre with an urban population of 10,310,000, the
fourth-largest in Europe and second-largest in the
European Union. The current monarch—since 6
February 1952—is Queen Elizabeth II. The UK consists
of four countries:England, Scotland, Wales,
and Northern Ireland. The latter three
have devolved administrations, each with varying
powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff,
and Belfast, respectively. The nearby Isle of
Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are
not part of the United Kingdom, being Crown
dependencies with the British Government responsible
for defence and international representation.
5.
6. The relationships among the countries of the United
Kingdom have changed over time. Wales was annexed
by the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union of
1536 and 1542. A treaty between England
and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of
Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom
of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from
the country, leaving the present formulation of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland. The UK has fourteen Overseas Territories.
These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at
its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter
of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in
history. British influence can be observed in
the language, culture, and legal systems of many of its
former colonies.
