United Kingdom

"UK" redirects here. For other meanings, see UK (disambiguation) and United Kingdom (disambiguation)

For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology).

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1
Flag of the United Kingdom Flag Coat of arms of the United Kingdom Coat of arms
Motto: Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French: God and my right)3
Anthem: God Save the Queen4
Capital and largest city	London
Official languages	None; English de facto 5
Government	Constitutional monarchy
Establishment
• Water (%)	1.3%
Population
• July 2005 estimate	60,441,457 7 (21st)
• 2001 census	58,789,194
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$1,825,837 million (6th)
• Per capita	$30,658 (15th)
HDI	0.939 very high (15th)
Currency	British pound (£) (GBP)
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Calling code	44
ISO 3166 code	GB
Internet TLD	.uk8
1In the UK, some other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous (regional) languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, the UK's official name is as follows: Scots: Unitit Kinrick o Great Breetain an Northren Ireland Welsh: Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd Iwerddon Scottish Gaelic: An Rìoghachd Aonaichte na Breatainn Mhòr agus Eirinn a Tuath Irish: Ríocht Aontaithe na Breataine Móire agus Tuaisceart na hÉireann Cornish: An Rywvaneth Unys a Vreten Veur hag Iwerdhon Glédh 2There is also a variant for use in Scotland, see Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom for details. 3 The Royal motto used in Scotland is Nemo Me Impune Lacessit (Latin: "No-one provokes me with impunity"). 4 Unofficial. 5Officially recognised languages, in Wales: Welsh; and in Scotland: Scottish Gaelic since 2005 Act. 6 Formed as United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Name changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927. 7 Official estimate provided by the UK Office for National Statistics [1]. 8 ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to United Kingdom or UK) is a country in western Europe. It is composed of four constituent parts: three constituent countries—England, Scotland, and Wales—on the island of Great Britain, and the province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland.

The UK also has several overseas territories throughout the world, and relationships with several Crown dependencies and Commonwealth realms.

Situation

The UK is situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe and is surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is also a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel.

Terminology

Main article: British Isles (terminology)

The country is frequently referred to as Great Britain, Britain, or England. These terms are not accurate; only three of the country's four constituent parts are located on the island of Great Britain, so use of its name for the country as a whole excludes Northern Ireland; use of "England" excludes three of the four parts. Such exclusion quite naturally may cause offence to those overlooked by it. Thus as a better short version of the name, "the United Kingdom" is preferred; despite its utter lack of specificity, most people worldwide will understand which united kingdom is implied by it. Due to the lack of an adjective form for "UK," the adjective "British" is more widely accepted than the noun "Britain"; but some in Northern Ireland likewise take offense at this corner-cutting and it is usually possible, thanks to a flexibility of the English language, simply to use the noun "UK" as an adjective.

The United Kingdom is the union of the Kingdom of England (which already included Wales as a principality) with the Kingdom of Scotland and later the Kingdom of Ireland to form a single state under the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The modern "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is the result of the partition of Ireland in 1922. Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom whilst the Irish Free State became an independent country. Until 1949, the British monarch was also the Monarch of Ireland.

Great Britain, or just Britain, is the geographical name of the largest of the British Isles (often also including its smaller neighbouring islands, though not Ireland, for reasons of political sensitivity). Politically, the term Great Britain refers collectively to the nations of England, Wales and Scotland (i.e., the United Kingdom except for Northern Ireland). This political usage of "Great Britain" dates from the personal union of the Crowns of Scotland and England (including Wales) in 1603, with the term being used in the sense "all of Britain" (although Scotland and England were separate political entities). In the early years of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain", formed by the Act of Union of 1707, it was customary to refer officially to Scotland and to England and Wales as, respectively, "North Britain" and "South Britain", though the usage never really caught on.

The British Isles is a term frequently used to refer to the archipelago that includes Great Britain and Ireland, and their associated islands, such as the Channel Islands, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, Orkney, the Shetland Islands. The term is, however, often avoided, especially in Ireland, by those who are conscious that it is sometimes misunderstood internationally to mean "the islands belonging to Britain (i.e. the United Kingdom)", a description out-of-date in the case of Ireland since 1922. An alternative, the Islands of the North Atlantic (IONA) has been proposed, but is little used outside diplomatic circles.

History

Main article: History of the United Kingdom

File:ActsOfUnion1707-Painting.jpg

Parliamentary Union of England and Scotland 1707, painting by Walter Thomas Monnington.

Scotland and England have existed as separate unified entities since the 10th century. Wales, under English control since the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Act of Union 1536. With the Act of Union 1707, the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. This occurred at a time when Scotland was on the brink of economic ruin, and was deeply unpopular with the broader Scottish population.

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. This was also an unpopular decision, taking place just after the unsuccessful United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798 (see Society of the United Irishmen). The timing, when further Napoleonic intervention or an invasion was feared, was predominantly due to security concerns. In 1922, after bitter fighting which echoes down to the current political strife, the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, with the latter remaining part of the United Kingdom. As provided for in the treaty, Northern Ireland, which consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, immediately opted out of the Free State and to remain in the UK. The nomenclature of the UK was changed in 1927 to recognise the departure of most of Ireland, with the name United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland being adopted.

The British Empire in 1897.

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. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted in two World Wars. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous nation.

The UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. Its attitude towards further integration is conservative, and there is significant Euroscepticism in UK politics. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro, owing to internal political considerations and the government's judgement of the prevailing economic conditions. Some British economists demand that the European Central Bank be reformed to mirror the Bank of England before the UK joins the Euro, a demand which, given the German economic difficulties following adoption of the Euro, would seem to be possible in the future.

Constitutional reform is also a current issue in the UK. The House of Lords has been subjected to ongoing reforms, Scotland elected its own parliament in 1999 and in the same year, devolved assemblies were created in Wales and Northern Ireland. According to opinion polls, the monarchy remains generally popular in spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent [2]. Despite the country's liberal heritage, the Government's Information Commissioner stated in 2004 that the country is currently in danger of becoming a surveillance society.

The United Kingdom is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations (successor organisation to the former British Empire) and NATO. It is also a permanent member of the UN Security Council and holds veto power. It is one of the fewer than ten nuclear powers.

See also: Monarchs; History of Britain; History of England; History of Ireland; History of Scotland; History of Wales, UK local history terms

Government and Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom

File:Ac.thequeen.jpg H.M. Queen Elizabeth II

File:BlairL.jpg The Prime Minister, Tony Blair

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised by the government (formally Her Majesty's Government) drawn from Parliament, headed by the Prime Minister. It is one of the few countries (and the most significant) that does not have a codified constitution. The Prime Minister appoints other Ministers from Parliament, who together form the Cabinet. The Prime Minister is the head of government. Sovereignty is vested fully in the monarch, who is Head of State, but under Britain's constitutional monarchy Her (His) Majesty's Government is answerable and accountable to the House of Commons, which is the lower directly-elected house in Britain's bicameral Parliament. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial past. Nations that follow British-style parliamentarism, with an executive drawn from and accountable to the legislature, are said to operate under the Westminster system of governance.

In the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament") and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. Foreign policy and criminal justice are implemented in Her Majesty's name, but the monarch has no real control over either. The Queen also confers titles and honours, on the advice of the Prime Minister in most instances. Her Majesty has access to all Cabinet papers and is briefed weekly by the Prime Minister, usually on Tuesdays. Constitutional writer Walter Bagehot asserted that the monarch has three rights: to be consulted, to advise and to warn. Those rights are exercised rarely but may be important at key times—such as when there is a "hung parliament". Each year, the monarch officially opens Parliament, and makes a speech announcing what the government plans to do during the next year. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong, with just 23% wanting a republic according to a recent poll by the Daily Telegraph. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. The British monarch also reigns in 15 other sovereign countries that are known as the Commonwealth Realms. Although the UK has no political or executive power over those independent nations, it retains influence through long-standing close relations. In some Commonwealth Realms the Privy Council remains the highest Court of Appeal.

Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is more powerful than the House of Lords, and may ultimately pass legislation that the Lords has rejected, by invoking the Parliament Act. The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members: hereditary peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. Historically, the House of Lords was composed of members of the Peerage, holding seats by nature of birthright, although now members are appointed for life. Furthermore, the House of Lords Act 1999 severely curtailed the number of hereditary peers who could sit in the upper House - only 92 out of several hundred retain the right, through being elected by their fellow peers or by holding the royal offices of Earl Marshal or Lord Great Chamberlain. The proposals to reform the House of Lords initially called for all hereditary peers to lose their voting rights, but a compromise was reached that allowed them to be phased out gradually.

By constitutional convention, Ministers are chosen largely from among members of the Commons with a small number chosen from the Lords. Ministers exercise both legislative powers and prerogative (deriving from royal prerogative) powers. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party with the majority of seats in the House of Commons and is formally appointed by the monarch. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997.

The Palace of Westminster, on the banks of the River Thames in Westminster, London, is the home of the House of Commons and the House of Lords

The two largest political parties are the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The UK has long had a two-party system, but in the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats have re-emerged as a large third party, winning 22.0% of the vote at the last election, translating into 9.6% of the seats in Parliament. The electoral system used for general elections is first-past-the-post. The nature of this system means that Labour were elected in the 2005 election with only 35.2% of the national vote, but still won a strong majority of seats in Parliament (Labour have 66 seats more than all non-Labour seats combined).

The constitution of the United Kingdom is uncodified and partially unwritten, which means that no single document regulates how the government works, and unwritten constitutional conventions are used extensively. The constitution is based on the principle that Parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country. The United Kingdom has been a centralised, unitary state for much of its history.

There has long been a widespread sense of national identity in the Celtic nations. Throughout the late 19th century the UK debated giving Ireland home rule. Home rule was given to Northern Ireland in 1920: it was eventually abolished by London in 1972, after much civil strife. The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) in 1925. Referendums for devolution to Scotland and Wales failed in 1979, but succeeded in 1997 for Scotland and Wales and in 1998 for Northern Ireland. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales were established, the former having primary legislative power. Proportional representation is used for the elections, which has resulted in a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Scotland. Due to internal disagreements, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2002. In Cornwall, there is a movement that calls for devolution [3] (Cornish nationalism), and an academic debate over the Cornish identity and constitutional status of Cornwall. Regional Assemblies were proposed for the north of England, but after a referendum in the 'North East' region where 78% voted against the scheme, plans for regional governments were abandoned. Because of the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty, all the devolved assemblies and parliaments could be abolished by Parliament, but this is unlikely to happen.

See also:

• Law of the United Kingdom
• British monarchy
• Politics of Northern Ireland
• Politics of Scotland
• Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Courts of the United Kingdom

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a country that is divided into four constituent countries: Template:United Kingdom

The constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative subdivisions as follows:

• The regions and administrative counties of England
• The council areas of Scotland
• The counties and county boroughs of Wales
• The districts of Northern Ireland

The Act of Union 1536 incorporated Wales and England into England and Wales for legal purposes.

Although all four have historically been divided into counties, England's population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions - North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, Eastern, London, South East, South West. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain, as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in a referendum.

Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas. Wales consists of 22 Unitary Authorities, styled as 10 County Boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Northern Ireland is divided into 26 Districts.

Also sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

See also: City status in the United Kingdom, Towns of the United Kingdom, and Local government in the United Kingdom

Military

Main article: British Armed Forces

File:Triserv-600.jpg

The Tri-service badge of Her Majesty's Armed Forces. The anchor representing the Royal Navy, the crossed swords the Army, and the Eagle the Royal Air Force

The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence.

The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting Britain's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations.

The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident missile submarines, while the Royal Marines provide commando units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range.

Along with France and Russia, Britain fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive military forces in Europe. It's global power projection capabilities are second only to that of the United States Armed Forces. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite Britain's wide ranging capabilities, recent, pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982.

The British army has been actively involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, a programme of demilitarisation is being gradually implemented.

Geography

A United States CIA World Factbook Map of the United Kingdom

Main article: Geography of the United Kingdom

Most of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by more mountainous terrain in the northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Trent & Ouse feeding the Humber Estuary; major cities include London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham, Leicester, and Newcastle upon Tyne. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with France. There is no peak in England that is 1000m or greater.

Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 m above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales. The other metropolitan areas include Swansea, Newport and Wrexham.

Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain (1343 m). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, as is the uninhabited islet of Rockall, although this claim is disputed. Main cities are Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee.

Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The main cities are Belfast and Londonderry. The province is home to one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feet high.

In total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by natural waste building up over time.

Economy

Main article: Economy of the United Kingdom

File:1pound2000front.jpg

One-pound coin

The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world. Over the past three decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State.

Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial state.

Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, between China (33) and Austria (19.1), the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world.

The Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.

Society

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of the United Kingdom

At the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194-- the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the 21st-largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous and fertile southeast and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages 5 through 16. About one-fifth of British students go on to post-secondary education. The Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official national churches in their respective countries, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom.

A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the 11th century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended in Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended from Old English, and featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.

The primary language spoken is English. Other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, mostly famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep.

Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Jamaican Creole. The United Kingdom has the largest amount of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub continent.

Also see: Languages in the United Kingdom

Culture

Main article: Culture of the United Kingdom

William Shakespeare
(1564 to 1616)

The United Kingdom contains two of the world's most famous universities, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, and has produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Paul Dirac and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with the invention of the steam engine, locomotive, 3-piece suit, vaccination, lead crystal, television, radio, the telephone, hovercraft, and both the internal combustion and the jet engine.

Playwright William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in world history; other well-known writers include the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, J. K. Rowling, Agatha Christie, J. R. R. Tolkien and Charles Dickens. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, William Blake and Dylan Thomas. (see main article: British literature).

Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, and John Tavener in the 19th and 20th.

The UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous pop stars, including the Beatles, Sir Cliff Richard, Queen, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron Maiden. In mid to late '90s, the Britpop phenomenon has seen bands such as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Coldplay and Supergrass gain international fame. Developing on from this success, British bands, notably Franz Ferdinand, have in 2004 burst onto to the world scene as a part of the indie movement, with the UK largely seen as the home of such music. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as Aphex Twin, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom was also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK. (see main article: Music of the United Kingdom).

A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket, squash, boxing, rugby, billiards, and rounders, the forerunner of baseball. The Wimbledon Championships are an international tennis event held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar.

The national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead the home nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK has not so far competed in football events at the Olympic Games, although efforts are being made by the English FA to field a British team for the London 2012 olympics (an idea widely disliked in the Scottish FA). A similar arrangement applies to Rugby Union, except that a single team represents all of Ireland – the Republic of Ireland as well as Northern Ireland – although from time to time the British and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) tour other countries. (see main article: Sport in the United Kingdom).

External links

• Celtic Frontier or County Boundary? Competing discourses of a late nineteenth century British border
• BBC Nations History of the nations within the UK
• Inconvenient Peripheries Ethnic Identity and the United Kingdom Estate The cases of “Protestant Ulster” and Cornwall’ by prof Philip Payton
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• CIA World Factbook: UK
• Gateway to UK governmental services and websites
• Mercator's Atlas Maps of Cornwall & Wales ("Cornewallia & Wallia"), Ireland ("Irlandia"), Scotland ("Scotia") and England ("Anglia") circa 1564.
• Number 10 Downing Street
• Office of National Statistics
• Office of Public Sector Information Source for all UK legislation 1987-present (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office)
• The British Isles Independent view of the UK
• The British Monarchy
• The United Kingdom Parliament
• Official Yearbook of the UK factbook produced by the Office for National Statistics (years 2000 to 2005 available online)
• UK Cities lists a variety of useful resources for every city in the UK
• UK travel guide United Kingdom for travellers
• World66 Guide to United Kingdom A travel guide written by its users.
• www.multimap.co.uk provides online maps and aerial photographs of the UK
• www.streetmap.co.uk alternative to multimap
• www.upmystreet.com detailed localised information about places in the United Kingdom