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United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II
(1952)
Prime Minister: Gordon Brown
(2007)
Current government officials
Land area: 93,278 sq mi (241,590 sq km);
total area: 94,526 sq mi (244,820 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 60,776,238
(growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 10.7/1000; infant mortality rate:
5.0/1000; life expectancy: 78.7; density per sq km: 652
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
London, 7,615,000 (metro. area), 7,429,200
(city proper)
Other large cities: Glasgow,
1,099,400; Birmingham, 971,800; Liverpool, 461,900; Edinburgh,
460,000; Leeds, 417,000; Bristol, 406,500; Manchester, 390,700;
Bradford, 288,400
Monetary unit: Pound sterling
(£)
Languages:
English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic
Ethnicity/race:
English 83.6%, Scottish 8.6%, Welsh 4.9%;
Northern Irish 2.9%, black 2%, Indian 1.8%, Pakistani 1.3%, mixed
1.2%, other 1.6% (2001)
Religions:
Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic,
Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%,
unspecified or none 23.1% (2001)
Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $2.137 trillion; per capita $35,100. Real growth rate:
3.1%. Inflation: 2.3%. Unemployment: 5.4%.
Arable land: 23%. Agriculture: cereals, oilseed,
potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish. Labor force:
30.07 million; agriculture 1.5%, industry 19.1%, services 79.5%
(2004). Industries: machine tools, electric power equipment,
automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft,
motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications equipment,
metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food
processing, textiles, clothing, other consumer goods. Natural
resources: coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron
ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica, arable land.
Exports: $468.8 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): manufactured
goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco. Imports:
$603 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): manufactured goods, machinery,
fuels; foodstuffs. Major trading partners: U.S., Germany,
France, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, China
(2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 32.943 million (2005); mobile cellular: 61.1 million
(2004). Radio broadcast stations: AM 219, FM 431, shortwave 3
(1998). Radios: 84.5 million (1997). Television broadcast
stations: 228 (plus 3,523 repeaters) (1995). Televisions:
30.5 million (1997). Internet Hosts: 6.1 million (2006).
Internet users: 37.6 million (2002).
Transportation: Railways: total: 17,156
km (2005). Highways: total: 388,008 km; paved: 371,913 km
(including 3,520 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2005).
Waterways: 3,200 km. Ports and harbors: Aberdeen,
Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dover, Falmouth, Felixstowe, Glasgow,
Grangemouth, Hull, Leith, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Peterhead,
Plymouth, Portsmouth, Scapa Flow, Southampton, Sullom Voe, Teesport,
Tyne. Airports: 471 (2006).
International disputes: Gibraltar
residents vote overwhelmingly in referendum against “total
shared sovereignty” arrangement worked out between Spain and
UK to change 300-year rule over colony; Mauritius and Seychelles
claim the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory) and
its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but in 2001
were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation since
eviction in 1965; Argentina claims the Falkland Islands (Islas
Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Rockall
continental shelf dispute involving Denmark and Iceland; territorial
claim in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine
claim and partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with Iceland,
Denmark, and Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf
boundary outside 200 NM.
Major sources and definitions
Ruler
Rulers of England and Great Britain
British Prime Ministers Since 1770
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Overseas Territories and Crown
Dependencies of the United Kingdom
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Geography
The United Kingdom, consisting of Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) and Northern Ireland, is twice
the size of New York State. England, in the southeast part of the British
Isles, is separated from Scotland on the north by the granite Cheviot
Hills; from them the Pennine chain of uplands extends south through the
center of England, reaching its highest point in the Lake District in the
northwest. To the west along the border of Wales—a land of steep
hills and valleys—are the Cambrian Mountains, while the Cotswolds, a
range of hills in Gloucestershire, extend into the surrounding shires.
Important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Thames, Humber,
Tees, and Tyne. In the west are the Severn and Wye, which empty into the
Bristol Channel and are navigable, as are the Mersey and Ribble.
Government
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary
democracy, with a queen and a parliament that has two houses: the House of
Lords, with 574 life peers, 92 hereditary peers, and 26 bishops; and the
House of Commons, which has 651 popularly elected members. Supreme
legislative power is vested in parliament, which sits for five years
unless dissolved sooner. The House of Lords was stripped of most of its
power in 1911, and now its main function is to revise legislation. In Nov.
1999 hundreds of hereditary peers were expelled in an effort to make the
body more democratic. The executive power of the Crown is exercised by the
cabinet, headed by the prime minister.
England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the
union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 with
the Statute of Rhuddlan, was not formalized until 1536 with an Act of
Union; in another Act of Union in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to
permanently join as Great Britain; the
legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801,
with the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland; the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland;
six northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and the
current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927.
History
Stonehenge and other examples of prehistoric culture are all that
remain of the earliest inhabitants of Britain. Celtic peoples followed.
Roman invasions of the 1st century B.C. brought
Britain into contact with continental Europe. When the Roman legions
withdrew in the 5th century A.D., Britain fell
easy prey to the invading hordes of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from
Scandinavia and the Low Countries. The invasions had little effect on the
Celtic peoples of Wales and Scotland. Seven large Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
were established, and the original Britons were forced into Wales and
Scotland. It was not until the 10th century that the country finally
became united under the kings of Wessex. Following the death of Edward the
Confessor (1066), a dispute about the succession arose, and William, Duke
of Normandy, invaded England, defeating the Saxon king, Harold II, at the
Battle of Hastings (1066). The Norman conquest introduced Norman French
law and feudalism.
The reign of Henry II (1154–1189), first of the Plantagenets, saw
an increasing centralization of royal power at the expense of the nobles,
but in 1215 King John (1199–1216) was forced to sign the Magna
Carta, which awarded the people, especially the nobles, certain basic
rights. Edward I (1272–1307) continued the conquest of Ireland,
reduced Wales to subjection, and made some gains in Scotland. In 1314,
however, English forces led by Edward II were ousted from Scotland after
the Battle of Bannockburn. The late 13th and early 14th centuries saw the
development of a separate House of Commons with tax-raising powers. Edward
III's claim to the throne of France led to the Hundred Years' War
(1338–1453) and the loss of almost all the large English territory
in France. In England, the great poverty and discontent caused by the war
were intensified by the Black Death, a plague that reduced the population
by about one-third. The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485), a struggle
for the throne between the House of York and the House of Lancaster, ended
in the victory of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) at Bosworth Field (1485).
During the reign of Henry VIII (1509–1547), the church in England
asserted its independence from the Roman Catholic Church. Under Edward VI
and Mary, the two extremes of religious fanaticism were reached, and it
remained for Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I (1558–1603), to set up
the Church of England on a moderate basis. In 1588, the Spanish Armada, a
fleet sent out by Catholic King Philip II of Spain, was defeated by the
English and destroyed during a storm. During Elizabeth's reign, England
became a world power. Elizabeth's heir was a Stuart—James VI of
Scotland—who joined the two crowns as James I (1603–1625). The
Stuart kings incurred large debts and were forced either to depend on
parliament for taxes or to raise money by illegal means. In 1642, war
broke out between Charles I and a large segment of the parliament; Charles
was defeated and executed in 1649, and the monarchy was then abolished.
After the death in 1658 of Oliver Cromwell, the lord protector, the
Puritan Commonwealth fell to pieces and Charles II was placed on the
throne in 1660. The struggle between the king and parliament continued,
but Charles II knew when to compromise. His brother, James II
(1685–1688), possessed none of Charles II's ability and was ousted
by the Revolution of 1688, which confirmed the primacy of parliament.
James's daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, then became
the rulers.
Queen Anne's reign (1702–1714) was marked by the Duke of
Marlborough's victories over France at Blenheim, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet
in the War of the Spanish Succession. England and Scotland meanwhile were
joined by the Act of Union (1707). Upon the death of Anne, the distant
claims of the elector of Hanover were recognized, and he became king of
Great Britain and Ireland as George I. The unwillingness of the Hanoverian
kings to rule resulted in the formation by the royal ministers of a
cabinet, headed by a prime minister, which directed all public business.
Abroad, the constant wars with France expanded the British Empire all over
the globe, particularly in North America and India. This imperial growth
was checked by the revolt of the American colonies (1775–1781).
Struggles with France broke out again in 1793 and during the Napoleonic
Wars, which ended at Waterloo in 1815.
The Victorian era, named after Queen Victoria (1837–1901), saw
the growth of a democratic system of government that had begun with the
Reform Bill of 1832. The two important wars in Victoria's reign were the
Crimean War against Russia (1854–1856) and the Boer War
(1899–1902), the latter enormously extending Britain's influence in
Africa. Increasing uneasiness at home and abroad marked the reign of
Edward VII (1901–1910). Within four years after the accession of
George V in 1910, Britain entered World War I when Germany invaded
Belgium. The nation was led by coalition cabinets, headed first by Herbert
Asquith and then, starting in 1916, by the Welsh statesman David Lloyd
George. Postwar labor unrest culminated in the general strike of 1926.
King Edward VIII succeeded to the throne on Jan. 20, 1936, at his
father's death, but he abdicated on Dec. 11, 1936 (in order to marry an
American divorcée, Wallis Warfield Simpson), in favor of his
brother, who became George VI.
The efforts of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to stem the rising
threat of Nazism in Germany failed with the German invasion of Poland on
Sept. 1, 1939, which was followed by Britain's entry into World War II on
Sept. 3. Allied reverses in the spring of 1940 led to Chamberlain's
resignation and the formation of another coalition war cabinet by the
Conservative leader, Winston Churchill, who led Britain through most of
World War II. Churchill resigned shortly after V-E Day, May 8, 1945, but
then formed a “caretaker” government that remained in office
until after the parliamentary elections in July, which the Labour Party
won overwhelmingly. The new government, formed by Clement R. Attlee, began
a moderate socialist program.
(For details of World War II, see Headline History, World War II.)
In 1951, Churchill again became prime minister at the head of a
Conservative government. George VI died on Feb. 6, 1952, and was succeeded
by his daughter, Elizabeth II. Churchill stepped down in 1955 in favor of
Sir Anthony Eden, who resigned on grounds of ill health in 1957 and was
succeeded by Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home. In 1964, Harold
Wilson led the Labour Party to victory. A lagging economy brought the
Conservatives back to power in 1970. Prime Minister Edward Heath won
Britain's admission to the European Community. Margaret Thatcher became
Britain's first woman prime minister as the Conservatives won 339 seats on
May 3, 1979.
An Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands on April 2, 1982,
involved Britain in a war 8,000 mi from the home islands. Argentina had
long claimed the Falklands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish, which
had been occupied by the British since 1832. Britain won a decisive
victory within six weeks when more than 11,000 Argentine troops on the
Falklands surrendered on June 14, 1982.
Although there were continuing economic problems and foreign policy
disputes, an upswing in the economy in 1986–1987 led Thatcher to
call elections in June, and she won a near-unprecedented third consecutive
term. The unpopularity of Thatcher's poll tax together with an
uncompromising position toward further European integration eroded support
within her own party. When John Major won the Conservative Party
leadership in November, Thatcher resigned, paving the way for Major to
form a government.
Eighteen years of Conservative rule ended in May 1997 when Tony Blair
and the Labour Party triumphed in the British elections. Blair has been
compared to former U.S. president Bill Clinton for his youthful, telegenic
personality and centrist views. He produced constitutional reform that
partially decentralized the UK, leading to the formation of separate
parliaments in Wales and Scotland by 1999. Britain turned over its colony
Hong Kong to China in July 1997.
Blair's controversial meeting in Oct. 1997 with Sinn Fein's president,
Gerry Adams, was the first meeting in 76 years between a British prime
minister and a Sinn Fein leader. It infuriated numerous factions but was a
symbolic gesture in support of the nascent peace talks in Northern
Ireland. In 1998 the Good Friday Agreement, strongly supported by Tony
Blair, led to the first promise of peace between Catholics and Protestants
since the beginning of the so-called Troubles.
Along with the U.S., Britain launched air strikes against Iraq in Dec.
1998 after Saddam Hussein expelled UN arms inspectors. In the spring of
1999, Britain spearheaded the NATO operation in Kosovo, which resulted in
Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic's withdrawal from the
territory.
In Feb. 2001, foot-and-mouth disease broke out among British livestock,
prompting other nations to ban British meat imports and forcing the
slaughter of thousands of cattle, pigs, and sheep in an effort to stem the
highly contagious disease.
In June 2001, Blair won a second landslide victory, with the Labour
Party capturing 413 seats in parliament.
Britain became the staunchest ally of the U.S. after the Sept. 11
attacks. British troops joined the U.S. in the bombing campaign against
Afghanistan in Oct. 2001, after the Taliban-led government refused to turn
over the prime suspect in the terrorist attacks, Osama bin Laden.
Blair again proved himself to be the strongest international supporter
of the U.S. in Sept. 2002, becoming President Bush's major ally in calling
for a war against Iraq. Blair maintained that military action was
justified because Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction that
were a direct threat. He supported the Bush administration's hawkish
policies despite significant opposition in his own party and the British
public. In March 2003, a London Times newspaper poll indicated that
only 19% of respondents approved of military action without a UN mandate.
As the inevitability of the U.S. strike on Iraq grew nearer, Blair
announced that he would join the U.S. in fighting Iraq with or without a
second UN resolution. Three of his ministers resigned as a result. Britain
entered the war on March 20, supplying 45,000 troops.
In the aftermath of the war, Blair came under fire from government
officials for allegedly exaggerating Iraq's possession of weapons of mass
destruction. In July 2003 Blair announced that “history would
forgive” the UK and U.S. “if we are wrong” and that the
end to the “inhuman carnage and suffering” caused by Saddam
Hussein was justification enough for the war. The arguments about the war
grew so vociferous between the Blair government and the BBC that a
prominent weapons scientist, David Kelly, who was caught in the middle,
committed suicide. In Jan. 2004, the Hutton Report asserted that the Blair
administration had not “sexed-up” the intelligence dossier, an
accusation put forth by BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan. The report strongly
criticized the BBC for its “defective” editorial policies, and
as a consequence, the BBC's top management resigned. In July 2004, the
Butler Report on pre–Iraq war British intelligence was released. It
echoed the findings of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee of the week
before that the intelligence had vastly exaggerated Saddam Hussein's
threat. The famous claim that Iraq's chemical and biological weapons
“are deployable within 45 minutes of an order to use them” was
especially singled out as highly misleading. But like the U.S. report, it
cleared the government of any role in manipulating the intelligence.
On May 5, 2005, Blair won a historic third term as the country's prime
minister. Despite this victory, Blair's party was severely hurt in the
elections. The Labour Party won just 36% of the national vote, the lowest
percentage by a ruling party in British history. The Conservative Party
won 33%, and the Liberal Democrats 22%. Blair acknowledged that the reason
for the poor showing was Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq. A
number of political analysts believe Blair will not serve out his new
five-year term. Many expect him to resign in the next several years and
turn over the reins of the Labour Party to Gordon Brown, the chancellor of
the exchequer, whose policies many credit in creating Britain's strong and
stable economy.
On July 7, 2005, London suffered a terrorist bombing, Britain's worst
attack since World War II. Four bombs exploded in three subway stations
and on one double-decker bus during the morning rush hour, killing 52 and
wounding more than 700. Four Muslim men, three of them British-born, were
identified as the suicide bombers. On July 21, terrorists attempted
another attack on the transit system, but the bombs failed to explode. A
leaked document by a top British government official warned Prime Minister
Blair more than a year before the bombings that Britain's engagement in
Iraq was fueling Islamic extremism, but Blair has repeatedly denied such a
link, contending that the bombings were the result of an “evil
ideology” that had taken root before the Iraq war. Blair proposed
legislation that would toughen the country's antiterrorism measures, and
he suffered his first major political defeat as prime minister in
November, when his proposal that terrorist suspects could be held without
charge for up to 90 days was rejected.
In April 2006, the Blair government weathered a major scandal when it
was revealed that since 1999 it had released 1,023 foreign
convicts—among them murderers and rapists—into British society
instead of deporting them to their countries of origin.
In Aug. 2006, London police foiled a major terrorist plot to destroy
several airplanes traveling from Britain to the U.S. Intelligence sources
asserted that the plan was close to execution, and had it succeeded, it
would have been the deadliest terrorist attack since Sept. 11. A number of
young men, most of whom are Britons of Pakistani descent, have been
arrested in connection with the plot.
Blair announced in Feb. 2007 that as many as 1,600 of the 7,100 troops
stationed in southern Iraq would leave in the next few months. “What
all this means is not that Basra is how we want it to be, but it does mean
that the next chapter in Basra's history can be written by Iraqis,”
Blair said. contrasts to Blair. Indeed, Brown, typically dour, lacks
Blair's charisma and quick wit. The new prime minister
In May Blair announced that he would leave office on June 27. Gordon
Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, succeeded Blair. Brown is a study
in contrasts to Blair. Brown, typically dour, lacks Blair's charisma and
quick wit. The new prime minister faces the task of shoring up the Labor
Party, which has not fared well in recent elections, and of regaining the
public's trust. Both have suffered from Britain's support of the U.S.-led
war in Iraq.
Just two days into Brown's term, police defused two bombs found in cars
parked in the West End section of London. The attackers, who officials say
are linked to al-Qaeda, tried and failed to detonate the bombs using cell
phones. Police detained several foreign-born suspects, several of whom
were doctors. The next day, on June 30, an SUV carrying bombs burst into
flames after it slammed into an entrance to Glasgow Airport.
In July 2007, four Islamist men, all originally from the Horn of
Africa, were sentenced to life in prison by a British judge for attempting
to bomb the London transit system on July 21, 2005.
On June 11, 2008, despite much opposition, a new counterterrorism bill
passed by a nine-vote margin in the House of Commons. The bill allows the
detention of terrorist suspects for up to 42 days without charges,
extending the current 28-day detention limit. The vote was seen as a
much-needed victory for beleaguered prime minister Brown. On Oct. 13,
2008, in a setback for Gordon Brown, the House of Lords rejected the bill
in a 309 to 118 vote.
In December 2008, admist global economic and financial turmoil, the
Bank of England cut interest rates by one percentage point, from 3% to
2%—the lowest level since 1951.
Gordon Brown and Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki made a joint
announcement in December 2008, stating that all British troops would be
withdrawn from Iraq by the end of July 2009.
See also Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and dependencies of the United Kingdom. See
also Encyclopedia: Great Britain and England. U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: United Kingdom Office for National Statistics www.statistics.gov.uk/ .
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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