The
United Kingdom forms part of the British
Isles, a group of islands situated in the
north-west of Europe. Officially called
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, the three jurisdictions
that make up “Great Britain”
are England, Scotland and Wales. Apart from
Ireland, the United Kingdom’s closest
neighbour is France, located just 22 miles
(35 km) across the English Channel at its
narrowest point.
The
country has a varied terrain, from the mountainous
Highlands of Scotland and areas of Wales,
to the undulating fertile hills that characterise
much of England, and the low-lying Fens
in England’s most easterly region.
The highest point is Ben Nevis in Scotland
(1,343 metres); the lowest is 4 metres below
sea level, in the Fens. There are over 20
main rivers and over 380 lakes (many artificial),
as well as a canal network built in the
Victorian era. The United Kingdom has a
total land area of 94,526 sq miles (244,820
sq km), and a coastline of 7,723 miles (12,429
km).
The
climate is temperate, and benefits from
the warm, prevailing south-west winds over
the North Atlantic Current. The west of
the country receives the highest rainfall
as a result of these winds; London, the
capital, however, has lower rainfall than
Rome, New York and Sydney, thus dispelling
the city’s general characterisation
as being grey, dreary and largely populated
by umbrella-bearing city gents!
Natural
resources include chalk, clay, coal, gold,
gypsum, iron ore, lead, limestone, natural
gas, petroleum, potash, salt, silica sand,
slate, tin and zinc.
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UK History
Neolithic,
Bronze and Iron Ages: Small permanent settlements
were first developed in Britain between 4,500
and 3,000 BC. Between 3,300 and 1,200 BC,
the first stone circles and henges were built,
the most famous of which is Stonehenge in
Wiltshire, England – an impressive piece
of pre-historic engineering in that it is
aligned on the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter
sunset.
Roman
Britain: Britain was invaded by the Romans
in AD 43, who were met with fierce opposition.
Perhaps the Roman’s most well known
foe was the warrior queen Boudicca, whose
uprising against the invaders led to the burning
of the Roman towns Camulodunum, Londinium
and Verulamium (Colchester, London and St
Albans, to give them their modern-day names);
she was, however, defeated in AD 61.
Viking
and Anglo-Saxon Britain: After the Romans
left in around AD 410, Britain was subject
to numerous invasions by the Angles and Saxons
from Germany, and the Vikings from Scandinavia.
Meanwhile, Christianity began to spread across
the country, with the first Archbishop of
Canterbury, Augustine, ordained in AD 597.
At
that time, Britain was divided into a number
of kingdoms. Athelstan, who was crowned at
Kingston-upon-Thames in 925, is said to have
become the first king of all England having
succeeded in defending the country against
invasions by Constantine II of Scotland, Eógan
of Strathclyde and Olaf Guthrinson, King of
Dublin, at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.
Norman
Britain: In 1066, Harold, Earl of Wessex,
who was crowned king of England on the same
day as the funeral of his predecessor, Edward
the Confessor, faced immediate challenges
by two claimants to the throne: Harald Hardrada,
King of Norway, and William of Normandy. Harold
succeeded in defeating Harald Hardrada in
battle, but he in turn was defeated by the
latter at the Battle of Hastings. William
of Normandy – commonly referred to as
William the Conqueror – was crowned
king of England on December 25, 1066. In 1085,
under his direction, a survey was commenced
across England, which became the most complete
record of a country at that time, the Domesday
Book. The book continues to be a legal document
today.
The
Middle Ages was dominated by various power
struggles between the English and the French,
referred to by historians as the Hundred Years’
War. King Richard II attempted to enforce
English rule over Ireland, but his efforts
were interrupted by a revolt in England. The
30-year War of the Roses between two branches
of the royal family, the Yorkists and the
Lancastrians, began in 1455. At the end of
this period was the mysterious disappearance
of 12-year-old Edward V and his brother –
these became known as the Princes in the Tower,
after being imprisoned in the Tower of London.
It is presumed they were murdered, having
been declared illegitimate by Richard III
after he laid claim to the throne.
The
Tudor period was dominated by the rule of
King Henry VIII and, later, Queen Elizabeth
I. Henry VIII’s divorce from the first
of his six wives, Catherine of Aragon, caused
a rift between the king and the pope. In 1534,
the Act of Supremacy made Henry VIII head
of the Church of England, leading to the English
Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries.
Henry VIII’s son, Edward, became king
at age 10, and his regents took the opportunity
to push through further Protestant reform;
his reign was short-lived, however, as was
his successor’s, his cousin Lady Jane
Grey. His devoutly Catholic sister Mary became
queen. Nicknamed “Bloody Mary”,
she attempted to undo her father and brother’s
work, burning nearly 300 Protestants at the
stake. When she died childless in 1558, Elizabeth,
daughter of Anne Boleyn and a Protestant,
became queen. Despite difficulties with the
Catholic Church (she was declared a heretic
by Pope Pius V), and faced with a country
with near empty coffers and various attempts
to overthrow her, her reign ushered in a golden
era of wealth and trade.
Revolutionary
Britain: James I of Scotland took the English
throne on Elizabeth’s death. However,
in 1605, Guy Fawkes led a group of English
Catholics in the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt
to blow up the king and his parliament; they
were caught before the deed was carried out
and were executed. Later, the English Civil
War toppled King Charles I, who was beheaded
in 1649. A period of non-royal rule, led by
Oliver Cromwell, followed. Charles I’s
eldest son was crowned Charles II of Scotland,
having struck a deal with the Scots; however,
he retreated into exile after being defeated
by Cromwell’s army.
After
Cromwell’s death, the country descended
into political mayhem; with little choice
but to restore the monarchy to quell the unrest,
Charles II returned to England and was restored
to the throne in 1660. His reign saw the Great
Plague of London, followed by the Great Fire
of London in 1666, and consequently the rebuilding
of much of the City of London, including St
Paul’s Cathedral.
Colonial
Britain and the Industrial Revolution: In
the 18th century, Britain’s seafaring
dominance and its colonies, combined with
scientific and technological advancements,
led to the Industrial Revolution and the vast
changes it brought about in manufacturing,
transport, mining and farming. Factories were
built, and in turn the UK’s major cities
expanded with a population that shifted away
from rural areas. This development continued
into the Victorian era. The Great Exhibition
of 1951, held in Hyde Park in London, was
a showcase of British Empire, global trade
and technological advancement, housed in one
of the world’s first prefabricated buildings,
the Crystal Palace.
Modern
Britain: The First and Second World Wars saw
the demise of the British Empire – which
once spanned one fourth of the earth’s
surface, and the rise of the Commonwealth.
The Irish Republic withdrew from the United
Kingdom; Northern Ireland, which remained
part of the UK, became a bitter battleground
in what was called The Troubles, between the
Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists,
until the Good Friday Agreement ushered in
hopes for peace. The UK was one of the founding
members, and remains one of five permanent
members, of the United Nations, as well as
a founding member of NATO. The UK continues
to maintain a close relationship with the
United States, and is an active member of
the European Union.
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UK Population, Language
and Culture
The
UK population was estimated to be just over
63m in 2012. The 2001 census found 92.1% of
the population to be white, 2% black, 1.8%
Indian, 1.3% Pakistani, 1.2% mixed, and with
1.6% making up “other”. Recent
years have seen an influx of Eastern Europeans
– and especially Poles – seeking
employment opportunities in the UK. The main
language is English, although around a quarter
of the population of Wales speaks Welsh, and
Gaelic is spoken by some 60,000 Scots. According
to the 2001 census, Christianity is the predominant
religion (71.6% of the population), followed
by Muslim (2.7%) and Hindu (1%); 1.6% of the
population indicated they belonged to other
religions, while 23.1% did not specify a religion
or indicated they had no religion.
The
UK has a wide and varied culture. English
literature is renowned throughout the world.
In 1476, Chaucer’s “Canterbury
Tales” was the first known work printed
in the UK by William Caxton, who had set up
a press in Westminster. The Elizabethan era
saw a rise in playwrights and poets, including
Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Wyatt and, of
course, William Shakespeare. Literature has
continued to play an important part in English
culture, from Milton’s 1667 work “Paradise
Lost”, to the likes of Jane Austen,
Mary Shelley, John Keats, William Blake, Oscar
Wilde, the Brontë sisters and Thomas
Hardy, and to modern writers including Virginia
Woolf, P.G. Wodehouse, T.S. Eliot, Graham
Greene, Iris Murdoch and Iain Banks.
The
UK has many art and historical artefact collections,
with focus in London on the Victoria and Albert
Museum, the British Museum, The National Gallery,
Tate Modern and Tate Britain, among many others.
Famous British artists range from the Elizabethan-era
George Gower, the 17th century miniaturist
Samuel Cooper, Rococo era painter Sir Joshua
Reynolds, Romantic era painter George Stubbs,
landscape artist John Constable, and impressionist
artist Joseph William Turner, to modern artists
Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Damien Hirst
and Tracey Emin.
Music
has been key to defining modern British style,
from the Swinging Sixties with London’s
Carnaby Street and Beatle Mania; to punk in
the late 1970s and early 1980s; and the Britpop
scene of the 1990s onwards. British classical
music composers include Purcell, Elgar, Vaughan
Williams and Benjamin Britten. The UK also
has a long tradition of theatre, with world-famous
playwrights from Shakespeare to Alan Bennett,
and many famous theatre actors who have moved
on to Hollywood – and Oscar-winning
– stardom.
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UK Government
The
UK government consists of a constitutional
monarchy and a bicameral parliament, the House
of Commons and the House of Lords. The current
head of church, state and the Commonwealth
(which is made up of former British colonies)
is Queen Elizabeth II.
Politics
in the UK is dominated by three parties: Labour,
Conservative and, to a much lesser extent,
the Liberal Democrats. However, recent years
have seen a popular rise in smaller parties
such as the Scottish National Party (the main
remit of which is Scottish independence);
the UK Independence Party (UKIP), which campaigns
against European Union interference; the Green
Party, which focuses on environmental issues;
and the British National Party (BNP), a right-wing
political party which has benefited from a
public backlash against immigration.
Members
of the House of Commons are elected by popular
vote for a period of four-five years. The
current prime minister is David Cameron. Each
of the 646 members of parliament – which
include the prime minister, and leaders of
the opposition parties and the Speaker of
the House –represents a different area
of the UK. The main role of the House of Commons
is to debate policy and legislation put forward
by the serving government, and to vote for
or against proposed legislation.
Members
of Parliament’s second chamber, the
House of Lords, are not elected by popular
vote; instead the chamber consists of around
622 political and non-political “life
peers” who are appointed as members;
92 hereditary peers (i.e. peers who have inherited
their title – the automatic right to
be a hereditary peer was abolished in 1999
in the first stage of House of Lords reform);
and 26 clergy. The House of Lords’ main
role is to check the work of government and
legislation passed by House of Commons.
While
the Crown Dependencies of the Bailiwick of
Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the
Isle of Man belong to the British Isles, these
jurisdictions are self-governing and are not
part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland,
Scotland and Wales have devolved regional
governments.
In
2009, the Supreme Court replaced the House
of Lords as the UK’s highest court,
thus separating the judiciary from parliament
at that level. The lower courts include the
Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice,
the Crown Courts, and the Magistrates’
Courts. The UK is divided into three legal
jurisdictions, each with slight regional variations
in the law; these are England and Wales; Scotland;
and Northern Ireland.
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UK Economy and Currency
The
services sector is the largest in the UK economy
in terms of GDP; the sector is dominated by
banking, finance and insurance, predominantly
based in the City of London. The manufacturing
sector – historically an essential sector
– has been in decline over recent decades,
with services taking an ever larger share.
The coal, oil and natural gas industries have
also been in decline, and the UK now imports
much of its energy needs. In terms of agriculture,
the UK provides 60% of its own food requirements.
Few sectors are in public ownership –
the country experienced a major privatisation
programme under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s
government in the 1980s, with the utilities
put up for private share ownership. As a consequence,
for the first time, many ordinary members
of the public became shareholders in the utility
firms, with flotations oversubscribed. The
railways followed suit under John Major in
the 1990s.
The
UK is a key member of the Group of Seven (G7)
industrialized nations, and is also a member
of the European Union. Its currency is the
Pound Sterling (GBP); there are currently
no plans for the UK to join the euro.
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