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| {{wikipediainfo|United Kingdom}} | | {{stub}} |
| The '''United Kingdom''' (sometimes shortened to the '''UK''') is a [[country]] situated on a collection of islands known as the [[British Isles]] off the north-western coast of continental [[Europe]], and surrounded by the [[North Sea]], the [[English Channel]], the [[Celtic Sea]], the [[Irish Sea]], and the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. The United Kingdom, often referred to simply as 'Britain', is a constitutional monarchy and is composed of four constituent parts: [[England]], [[Scotland]], [[Wales]], and [[Northern Ireland]].
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| = History =
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| The United Kingdom was formed by several unions from the [[12th century]] onward. [[Scotland]] and [[England]] had existed as separate political entities since the [[9th century]]. [[Wales]], under the control of English monarchs from the Statute of Rhuddlan in [[1284]], became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act [[1535]]. With the Act of Union [[1707]], the independent states of England and Scotland agreed to a political union as the Kingdom of Great Britain.
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| The Act of Union [[1800]] united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of [[Ireland]], which had been gradually brought under English control between [[1169]] and [[1691]], to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Independence for the now Republic of Ireland in [[1922]] brought the partition of the island of Ireland, with six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster remaining within the UK, which changed to the current name in [[1929]] in recognition.
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| The United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the [[19th century]], played a leading role in developing Western ideas of property, liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy—to say nothing of its part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the [[British Empire]] stretched over one quarter of the [[Earth]]'s surface and encompassed a third of its population. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted from the effects of [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a new and prosperous nation.
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| The UK became a member of the European Union in [[1973]]. At the subsequent turn of the century, the attitude of the government towards further integration was conservative, with the official opposition favouring a return of some powers and competencies to the UK. It had not chosen to adopt the Euro as domestic political opinion ran strongly against such a move, whilst the government itself had not seen fit to advance membership based on a judgement of the economic costs and benefits in doing so.
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| =List of companions from the United Kingdoms= | | =List of companions from the United Kingdoms= |
