Portal:United Kingdom


The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering 94,354 square miles (244,376 km2). Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast are the national capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The UK has been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic. In AD 43 the Roman conquest of Britain began; the Roman departure was followed by Anglo-Saxon settlement. In 1066 the Normans conquered England. With the end of the Wars of the Roses the Kingdom of England stabilised and began to grow in power, resulting by the 16th century in the annexation of Wales and the establishment of the British Empire. Over the course of the 17th century the role of the British monarchy was reduced, particularly as a result of the English Civil War. In 1707 the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland united under the Treaty of Union to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. In the Georgian era the office of prime minister became established. The Acts of Union 1800 incorporated the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922 as the Irish Free State, and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 created the present United Kingdom.

The UK became the first industrialised country and was the world's foremost power for the majority of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly during the Pax Britannica between 1815 and 1914. The British Empire was the leading economic power for most of the 19th century, a position supported by its agricultural prosperity, its role as a dominant trading nation, a massive industrial capacity, significant technological achievements, and the rise of 19th-century London as the world's principal financial centre. At its height in the 1920s the empire encompassed almost a quarter of the world's landmass and population, and was the largest empire in history. However, its involvement in the First World War and the Second World War damaged Britain's economic power, and a global wave of decolonisation led to the independence of most British colonies. (Full article...)

The Brill Tramway was a six-mile (10 km) rail line in rural Buckinghamshire, England. It was privately built in 1871 by the 3rd Duke of Buckingham as a horse tram line to help transport goods between his lands around Wotton House and the national rail network. Lobbying from the nearby town of Brill led to its extension to Brill railway station and conversion to passenger use in early 1872. Although locomotives were bought, the line had been designed for horses and thus trains travelled at average speed of only 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h). In the 1880s, the Duke of Buckingham planned to upgrade the route to main line standards and extend the line to Oxford, and in anticipation, the line was named the Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad. The extension to Oxford was never built. Instead, the Brill Tramway became part of London's Metropolitan Railway. In 1933 the Metropolitan Railway became the Metropolitan Line of London Transport, and thus the Brill Tramway became part of the London Underground, despite being 40 miles (65 km) from London and not underground. In 1935 the London Transport management closed the Brill Tramway and the infrastructure was dismantled and sold. Little trace remains other than the former junction station at Quainton Road, now the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. (Full article...)

Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes referred to as The Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding her half-sister, Mary I. She reigned over a period of deep religious division in English history. Elizabeth's reign is referred to as the Elizabethan era and was marked by several changes in English culture. Elizabeth was a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler. Like her father Henry VIII, she was a writer and poet. She granted Royal Charters to several famous organisations, including Trinity College, Dublin (1592) and the British East India Company (1600). (Full article...)

The following are images from various United Kingdom-related articles on Wikipedia.

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10 June 2025 – Fossil fuel phase-out
The British government announces it will invest £14.2 billion (US$19 billion) to construct the new Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk, England, to reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels. (AP) (Reuters)
10 June 2025 – War crimes in the Gaza war, Gaza humanitarian crisis
The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway impose sanctions on Israeli far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, including asset freezes and travel bans, due to their conduct during the Gaza war. (Reuters)
9 June 2025 – Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
The Israeli Navy seizes the June 2025 Gaza Freedom Flotilla's flagship vessel, the United Kingdom-flagged Madleen, and takes its occupants (including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and MEP Rima Hassan) to Israel. The humanitarian aid the ship was carrying en route to Gaza will still be sent into Gaza. (The Times of Israel)(CNN) (The Guardian)
1 June 2025 –
A ban on the sale of disposable vapes enters force in the United Kingdom. (BBC News)
23 May 2025 – European Union–United States relations, Tariffs in the second Trump administration
U.S. president Donald Trump announces the implementation of 50% tariffs on all goods imported from European Union countries starting June 1. European stock exchanges including the German DAX, the French CAC 40, and the British FTSE 100 report losses afterwards. (DW)
23 May 2025 – Israel–United Kingdom relations
British Minister of State for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard says that the UK "does not recognize" the comments made by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, where he accused British prime minister Keir Starmer, along with French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, of "siding with Hamas" and being on "the wrong side of humanity". (Sky News)
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