The
United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK
or Britain, is a sovereign state located off the
northwestern coast of continental Europe.
It is an island country, spanning Great Britain,
the northeast part of Ireland, and many small
islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of
the UK with a land border, sharing it with the
Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border,
the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the
North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The largest island, Great Britain, is linked to
France
by the Channel Tunnel.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state consisting
of four countries: England, Northern Ireland,
Scotland
and Wales. It is governed by a parliamentary system
with its seat of government in London, the capital,
but with three devolved national administrations
in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh, the capitals
of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland respectively.
The UK is a constitutional monarchy with Queen
Elizabeth II as the head of state. The Channel
Islands and the Isle of Man are Crown Dependencies
and not part of the UK. The UK has fourteen overseas
territories, all remnants of the British Empire,
which at its height in 1922 encompassed almost
a quarter of the world's land surface, the largest
empire in history. British influence can continue
to be observed in the language, culture and legal
systems of many of its former colonies. Queen
Elizabeth II remains the head of the Commonwealth
of Nations and head of state of each of the Commonwealth
realms.
The UK is a developed country, with the fifth
(nominal GDP) or sixth (PPP) largest economy in
the world. It was the world's first industrialised
country and the world's foremost power during
the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the economic
cost of two world wars and the decline of its
empire in the latter half of the 20th century
diminished its leading role in global affairs.
The UK nevertheless remains a major power with
strong economic, cultural, military and political
influence worldwide. It is a nuclear power and
has the second or third highest defence spending
in the world. It is a Member State of the European
Union, holds a permanent seat on the United
Nations Security Council, and is a member of the
G8, NATO, OECD, World Trade Organization and the
Commonwealth of Nations. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
