The United Kingdom Portal
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of the smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is 94,354 square miles (244,376 km2), with an estimated population of just over 67 million people in 2021.
The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 resulted in their unification to become the Kingdom of Great Britain. Its union in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which formally adopted its name in 1927. The nearby Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the UK, being Crown Dependencies, but the British government is responsible for their defence and international representation.
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 1914. The British Empire, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history; however, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power and a global wave of decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies, and the UK's culture remains globally influential, particularly in language, literature, music and sport. English is the world's most widely spoken language and the third-most spoken native language.
The UK has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), and the ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. It is a recognised nuclear state and is ranked fourth globally in military expenditure. The UK has been a permanent member of the UN Security Council since its first session in 1946. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the OECD, NATO, the Five Eyes, AUKUS and the CPTPP. (Full article...)
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Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hill fort 2.5 km (1.6 mi) south of Dorchester, in the English county of Dorset. Hill forts were fortified hill-top settlements constructed across Britain during the Iron Age. The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the site consists of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure and bank barrow. In about 1800 BC, during the Bronze Age, the site was used for growing crops before being abandoned. Maiden Castle itself was built in about 600 BC; the early phase was a simple and unremarkable site, similar to many other hill forts in Britain and covering 64,000 m2 (690,000 sq ft). Around 450 BC it underwent major expansion, during which the enclosed area was nearly tripled in size to 190,000 m2 (2,000,000 sq ft), making it the largest hill fort in Britain and by some definitions the largest in Europe. In around 100 BC habitation at the hill fort went into decline and became focused at the eastern end of the site. It was occupied until at least the Roman period, and by this time was in the territory of the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe. After the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD, Maiden Castle appears to have been abandoned, although the Romans may have had a military presence on the site. In the 1930s, archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler undertook the first archaeological excavations at Maiden Castle, raising its profile among the public. Today the site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is maintained by English Heritage. (Full article...)
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Stigand was an English churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England. By 1020 he was serving as a royal chaplain and advisor. He was named bishop of Elmham in 1043, and then later Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of Canterbury. Stigand acted as an advisor to several members of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman English royal dynasties, serving six successive kings. Excommunicated by several popes for his pluralism in holding the two sees of Winchester and Canterbury concurrently, he was finally deposed in 1070, and his estates and personal wealth were confiscated by William the Conqueror. Stigand was imprisoned at Winchester, where he died without regaining his liberty. He served King Canute as a chaplain at a royal foundation at Ashingdon in 1020, and as an advisor then and later. He continued in his role of advisor during the reigns of Canute's sons, Harold Harefoot and Harthacanute. When Canute's stepson Edward the Confessor succeeded Harthacanute, Stigand likely became England's main administrator. Monastic writers of the time accused Stigand of extorting money and lands from the church. By 1066, the only estates richer than Stigand's were the royal estates and those of Harold Godwinson. In 1043 Edward appointed Stigand to the see, or bishopric, of Elmham. (Full article...)
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Did you know -
- ... that in 1943, Bhicoo Batlivala led a group of Indian women to the House of Commons to request the release of Gandhi from prison?
- ... that Change UK had eleven elected members of Parliament despite never actually winning an election?
- ... that a Space Forge satellite is scheduled to fly on the first-ever satellite launch from the United Kingdom?
- ... that Anita Rivas, an Ecuadorian mayor, visited the United Kingdom and offered to stop oil drilling in a rainforest in Yasuní National Park?
- ... that David P. Davies was the chief test pilot for the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority for 33 years?
- ... that the London Forum, a British far-right organization, was described by an anti-fascist magazine as "[bridging] the fascist and Tory right"?
In the news
- 14 March 2024 – Russia–United Kingdom relations
- A Royal Air Force plane carrying UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and several journalists has its GPS signals jammed while flying near Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Mobile phone signals were also jammed during the flight. The Russian military is suspected of being behind the jamming. (BBC News)
- 13 March 2024 –
- The British government announces that it will ban foreign state ownership of newspapers amid a controversial bid by a United Arab Emirates-led consortium to take over the Telegraph Media Group, which publishes The Daily Telegraph. (AP)
- 12 March 2024 –
- A Romanian court rules that social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate can be extradited to the United Kingdom to face charges of sexual aggression. (BBC News)
- 11 March 2024 – Red Sea crisis
- Houthi officials say that at least 17 U.S. and British airstrikes across western Yemen, including in Al Hudaydah, have killed eleven people and injured 14 others. (Reuters)
- 8 March 2024 – 2024 United Kingdom local elections
- Brenda Dacres is elected Mayor of Lewisham, becoming the first black woman directly elected mayor in England. (BBC News)
- 7 March 2024 – Ukraine–United Kingdom relations
- Former Ukrainian Chief of Staff Valerii Zaluzhnyi is appointed Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (Reuters)
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