United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

Union Flag or Union JackThe flag of the United Kingdom
Enlarge
Union Flag or Union Jack
The flag of the United Kingdom
The Coat of Arms for the United Kingdom
Enlarge
The Coat of Arms for the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (UK) or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is a country in northwest Europe. It is made up of the separate countries of England, Scotland, and Wales (together known as Great Britain), and Northern Ireland (on the island of Ireland).

About 60 million people live in the UK. English is the language most people speak, but many other languages are spoken. These include Cantonese and Hindi. The native languages, other than English, are Welsh in Wales, Cornish in Cornwall, Scottish (Gaelic) and Scots in Scotland, and Irish in Northern Ireland.

The capital city of the United Kingdom is London, a large city on the River Thames in south-eastern England. Other large cities in the UK are Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, York, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Belfast, and Londonderry (also called Derry).

The UK is north-west off the coast of mainland Europe. Around the UK are the North Sea, the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean.

The UK is also in charge of a few smaller places around the world, most of them are islands, which are known as overseas territories.

[edit] Politics

The UK is a constitutional monarchy. The people of the United Kingdom vote for a Member of Parliament to speak for them and to help make laws for them. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of the UK and is the head of state (Person in charge of the country). Even though she is the head of state, she does not choose what the United Kingdom should do about things like education (teaching people), healthcare (making sick people better) or other choices. The person who chooses for the people in the United Kingdom is the Prime Minister, who is in charge of the government. Today, the Prime Minister is Tony Blair, who is the leader of the Labour party.

Parliament, where laws are made, has two parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons can do more. The Prime Minister and the other Members of Parliament serve in the Commons. The people in the House of Lords are not chosen by all of the people of the United Kingdom. They are people who are Lords, because their parents were Lords, or a Prime Minister has made them into Lords, or they are important people in the Anglican Church. Not all Lords are allowed to sit in the House of Lords.

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have their own small parliaments which do less than the UK parliament. The UK parliament remains in charge, and it can close the others at any time. The Northern Irish parliament is closed because some of its members have not followed the Good Friday Agreement - a peace agreement which was made to stop problems there. Usually there are agreements about what types of laws are made by each parliament.

[edit] History of the United Kingdom

Wales was taken over by England in the 13th century. When Queen Elizabeth I of England died, her closest relative was James the King of Scotland. He was king of both England and Scotland, but they stayed two countries. In 1707 the Scottish and English parliaments passed laws to make them one state called Great Britain.

By the year 1800, England had already had much influence over Ireland for over 600 years. In that year laws were passed in Great Britain and Ireland to merge the two states. This was against the wishes of many of the Irish people, as they had in previous centuries already suffered much English oppression. The new country was called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 most of Ireland achieved independence (republic of Ireland) from Britain, however the northern part continued to be part of the United Kingdom. The union was renamed The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
United Kingdom

Countries and territories of Europe
Albania - Andorra - Austria - Azerbaijan1 - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus2 - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Georgia1 - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Liechtenstein - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malta - Moldova - Monaco - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Republic of Macedonia - Romania - Russia1 - San Marino - Serbia and Montenegro - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey1 - Ukraine - United Kingdom - Vatican City
Dependencies: Akrotiri and Dhekelia2 - Faroe Islands - Gibraltar - Guernsey - Jan Mayen - Jersey - Isle of Man - Svalbard
Unrecognised countries: Abkhazia | Nagorno-Karabakh2 | South Ossetia | Transnistria | Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus2
1. Country partly in Asia. 2. Geographically in Asia, but often counted as part of Europe for cultural and historical reasons.


Members of the European Union (EU) Flag of the European Union
Austria - Belgium - Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malta - Netherlands - Poland - Portugal - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - United Kingdom


G8
Canada · France · Germany · Japan · Italy · United Kingdom · Russia · United States