Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A country in NW Europe consisting of England, Wales, and Scotland, and the province of Northern Ireland. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are British Crown dependencies but are not an integral part of the United Kingdom.

Physical

The United Kingdom consists of Great Britain, a large island off Europe’s north-west coast containing England, Scotland, and Wales, and the north-east corner of the neighbouring island of Ireland. Of its mountains, which lie in the north and west, few are higher than 1000 m (3300 feet), while of its rivers none is longer than the Severn at 354 km (220 miles). The south of the country has hills of chalk and flint or limestone rising to 300 m (less than 1000 feet). Here the valleys are broad, with sandy soil or clay supporting oak, ash, beech, and chestnut trees. In the east, which is lower and flatter, river gravels and alluvium from the North Sea have produced dark, rich soils. Its principal river, the Thames, flows into the North Sea.

Economy

The United Kingdom’s economy is dominated by service industries, with the formerly dominant manufacturing sector now accounting for only one-eighth of GDP. Economic growth is driven by banking and other financial services, and London is one of the world’s premier financial centres. Industry is wide-ranging, including machine tools, all types of transport equipment, electronics, metals, chemicals, and consumer goods. Oil production has declined as the resources in the North Sea are depleted, and the UK became a net energy importer in 2005. The intensive agriculture sector produces almost two-thirds of the UK’s food requirements; principal crops include cereals, oilseed, and vegetables. The UK was seriously affected by the Credit Crunch.

History

Wales was incorporated into England in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1604 James I was proclaimed ‘King of Great Britain’, but although his accession to the English throne (1603) had joined the two crowns of England and Scotland the countries were not formally united. In the aftermath of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell effected a temporary union between England and Scotland, but it did not survive the Restoration. The countries were joined by the Act of Union (1707) which left unchanged the Scottish judicial system and the Presbyterian church. Ireland was incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1800 but became independent (except for Northern Ireland) in 1921.

Britain was the first country in Europe to become fully industrialized, developing a predominantly urban, rather than a rural, society by the mid-19th century. A series of parliamentary reform acts, beginning with the Reform Act of 1832, steadily increased the power of the House of Commons compared to that of the monarch and the House of Lords. Under Queen Victoria, colonial expansion of the British empire reached its height. However, growing pressure for independence from peoples within the empire meant that during the 20th century British dominions and colonies gradually gained independence; most of them elected to join the Commonwealth of Nations, established in 1931. During World War I and World War II Britain fought against Germany and its allies, emerging from both conflicts on the victorious side. A period of austerity, which began to ease in the 1950s, followed World War II. Since 1967 gas and oil from offshore wells have been commercially produced, creating a major impact on the nation’s economy. In 1973 Britain became a member of the European Economic Community, subsequently the European Union. In 1982 Britain fought the Falklands War with Argentina, in 1991 sent troops to support the US-led coalition in the Gulf War, strongly supported the USA’s war on terrorism from 2001, and in 2003 was the USA’s principal partner in the Iraq War.

The main political parties in Britain are the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats (see also liberal party). The Liberals have not been in power since the resignation of Lloyd George in 1922. During World War II a coalition government under Winston Churchill was formed. The postwar Labour Attlee ministries saw the introduction of the National Health Service and the welfare state, largely on the lines of the Beveridge Report. Labour governments have traditionally been supported by trade unions and legislated to nationalize service industries. Subsequent Conservative governments, notably those of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, reversed the procedure by privatizing many publicly owned companies; they also passed laws to restrict the power of the trade unions and restricted public spending. The Labour Party led by Tony Blair won the general election of 1997 and formed a new government, which was re-elected in 2001 and 2005; in 2007 Blair was succeeded as Prime Minister by Gordon Brown after several years of political infighting. This ‘New Labour’ regime abandoned such traditional Labour policies as nationalization and emphasized raising standards in education and combating poverty through the tax system while maintaining economic growth and avoiding excessive public borrowing. From 2007 there was a crisis in the financial services sector, with the Northern Rock bank suffering the first run on a British bank since the 1860s. In order to maintain confidence in the banking system, the government nationalized Northern Rock and took large stakes in several other banks. These investments, together with measures to stimulate the economy, massively increased the UK’s public deficit. Following the indecisive 2010 election a Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government was formed with David Cameron (Conservative) as Prime Minister and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) as his deputy. This government believed the deficit had reached unsustainable levels and embarked on a controversial programme of spending cuts and other reforms to bring it under control. In the 2015 election, the Conservatives won with a small majority. One commitment was to hold a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the European Union. Cameron argued for remaining, but in the 2016 referendum 52% of voters favoured leaving and he resigned as Prime Minister. His replacement, Theresa May (1956- ), negotiated a withdrawal agreement with the EU but was unable to get this through Parliament in time for the planned ‘Brexit’ date of 29 March 2019. May resigned and was replaced by the Conservative Boris Johnson (1964- ), who insisted that the UK would leave the EU by 31 October with or without an agreement. Since the 1990s progress has been made towards resolving the problem of Northern Ireland, which had seen recurrent conflict between Catholic supporters of a united Ireland and Protestant supporters of union with Britain. Peace talks involving all the main Northern Irish political parties began in 1996 and concluded in 1998 with the signing of a peace agreement by the British and Irish governments and the leaders of most of the Northern Irish parties. This led to devolved government returning to the province through the Northern Ireland Assembly and a multi-party power-sharing executive. A separate Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, with limited powers, were established in 1999. In September 2014 a referendum asking Scottish voters whether Scotland should become an independent country resulted in defeat (45%–55%) for the proposal. Further powers, including greater responsibility for raising revenue, were granted to the Scottish parliament in the 2016 Scotland Act. In the EU referendum, Scotland voted strongly in favour of remaining – a situation that has led to calls for a further independence referendum if the UK does in fact leave.