THE UK, AN OVERVIEW
AREAS THAT MAKE UP UK AND GREAT BRITAIN: -The British Isles = the U.K. + the Republic of Ireland
-The U.K. = (Great) Britain + Northern Ireland (it does not include Ireland)
-(Great) Britain = England, Scotland, Wales
SYMBOL, CAPITAL AND POPULATION:
- England→ symbol=rose, capital=London, population=54 million people
- Scotland→ symbol: thistle capital=Edinburgh, population=5 million
- Wales→ symbol= leek, capital= Cardiff, population= 3 million
- Northern Ireland→ symbol= shamrock, capital= Belfast, population= 2 million
U.K. population= over 65 million + Distribution: England 85.3% , Scotland 8.2% ,
Wales 4.7%, Northern Ireland 2.8% + Capital city: London (almost 9 million people)
HISTORY
- First inhabitants: Britons arrived from Europe 20,000 years ago
- 500 BC: the Celts
- 54 BC: the Romans with Julius Caesar took over England and Wales, founded “Londinium” and built Hadrian’s Wall
to keep out the Scottish tribes
- 5th century: Anglo-Saxons
- 11th century: Normans
- 1066: Battle of Hastings lead by William the Conqueror
WHEN WAS MAGNA CARTA SIGNED: 1215: King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, a charter limiting the
monarch’s power for the 1st time.
KING THAT MADE ENGLAND PROTESTANT: -1536: Wales was officially incorporated into England.
-16th century: thanks to Henry VIII England became a Protestant country (Reformation of the Church of England).
-the English and the Scots fought for hundreds of years. Scotland lost its independence in 1603.
ENGLAND BRIEFLY BECOME A REPUBLIC:
- 1649: England was a republic for 11 years under the Parliamentary leader Oliver Cromwell
- 1660: the monarchy was restored
- 1707: England and Scotland were united
- 1801: Ireland became part of the union(=official creation of the U.K.)
- colonial expansion
- 1815: Lord Wellington defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo
WHEN WAS QUEEN VICTORIA’S REIGN:
- 1750 to 1850: Industrial Revolution
- 1837 to 1901: Queen Victoria. Britain became the leading economic and political world power
- by 1900 a quarter of the world’s population lived under the British Empire
- In the 20th century the south of Ireland became independent and the Republic of Ireland was created in 1949
- 20th century: economic and political decline
- 1914 to 18: WWI
- 1939 to 1945: WWII
- 1960s: the colonies all gained their independence (British Commonwealth)
COMPOSITION OF THE U.K. FLAG: Name: “Union Jack” →Why?= 1801 Union of Great Britain and Ireland union of 3
different flags: St. George’s England (cross) + St. Andrew’s Scotland (cross) + St. Patrick’s Ireland (cross)
WHY ISN’T WALES INCLUDED: NO Wales since it was part of England
(Flag of Wales has a red dragon)
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM IN THE U.K.
-parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy + It has no written constitution
Current monarch: King Charles III (since 2022), Son of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch (1952-2022). The
second-longest was Queen Victoria.
→Head of State
→Head of the Armed Forces
→Head of the Church of England (real head Archbishop of Canterbury)
