United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign state in Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of Great Britain (the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole country), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-southwest. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 93,800 square miles (243,000 km2), the UK is the 80th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 64.5 million inhabitants.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. Its capital city is London, an important global city and financial centre with an urban population of 10,310,000, the fourth-largest in Europe and second-largest in the European Union. The current monarch—since 6 February 1952—is Queen Elizabeth II. The UK consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The latter three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast, respectively. The nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the United Kingdom, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation.

The relationships among the countries of the United Kingdom have changed over time. Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the country, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The UK has fourteen Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British influence can be observed in the language, culture, and legal systems of many of its former colonies.

The United Kingdom is a developed country and has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP and tenth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. The UK is considered to have a high-income economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index, currently ranking 14th in the world. It was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific, and political influence internationally. It is a recognised nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fifth or sixth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a member state of the European Union (EU) and its predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC), since 1973; it is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7 finance ministers, the G7 forum, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Geography

The total area of the United Kingdom is approximately 243,610 square kilometres (94,060 sq mi). The country occupies the major part of the British Isles archipelago and includes the island of Great Britain, the northeastern one-sixth of the island of Ireland and some smaller surrounding islands. It lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea with the south-east coast coming within 22 miles (35 km) of the coast of northern France, from which it is separated by the English Channel. In 1993 10% of the UK was forested, 46% used for pastures and 25% cultivated for agriculture. The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London is the defining point of the Prime Meridian.

The United Kingdom lies between latitudes 49° to 61° N, and longitudes 9° W to 2° E. Northern Ireland shares a 224-mile (360 km) land boundary with the Republic of Ireland. The coastline of Great Britain is 11,073 miles (17,820 km) long. It is connected to continental Europe by the Channel Tunnel, which at 31 miles (50 km) (24 miles (38 km) underwater) is the longest underwater tunnel in the world.

England accounts for just over half of the total area of the UK, covering 130,395 square kilometres (50,350 sq mi). Most of the country consists of lowland terrain, with mountainous terrain north-west of the Tees-Exe line; including the Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District, the Pennines and limestone hills of the Peak District, Exmoor and Dartmoor. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber. England's highest mountain is Scafell Pike (978 metres (3,209 ft)) in the Lake District. Its principal rivers are the Severn, Thames, Humber, Tees, Tyne, Tweed, Avon, Exe and Mersey.

Scotland accounts for just under a third of the total area of the UK, covering 78,772 square kilometres (30,410 sq mi) and including nearly eight hundred islands, predominantly west and north of the mainland; notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The topography of Scotland is distinguished by the Highland Boundary Fault—a geological rock fracture—which traverses Scotland from Arran in the west to Stonehaven in the east. The faultline separates two distinctively different regions; namely the Highlands to the north and west and the lowlands to the south and east. The more rugged Highland region contains the majority of Scotland's mountainous land, including Ben Nevis which at 1,343 metres (4,406 ft) is the highest point in the British Isles. Lowland areas—especially the narrow waist of land between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth known as the Central Belt—are flatter and home to most of the population including Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, and Edinburgh, its capital and political centre.

Wales accounts for less than a tenth of the total area of the UK, covering 20,779 square kilometres (8,020 sq mi). Wales is mostly mountainous, though South Wales is less mountainous than North and mid Wales. The main population and industrial areas are in South Wales, consisting of the coastal cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and the South Wales Valleys to their north. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia and include Snowdon (Welsh: Yr Wyddfa) which, at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft), is the highest peak in Wales. The 14, or possibly 15, Welsh mountains over 3,000 feet (910 metres) high are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s. Wales has over 2,704 kilometres (1,680 miles) of coastline. Several islands lie off the Welsh mainland, the largest of which is Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in the northwest.

Northern Ireland, separated from Great Britain by the Irish Sea and North Channel, has an area of 14,160 square kilometres (5,470 sq mi) and is mostly hilly. It includes Lough Neagh which, at 388 square kilometres (150 sq mi), is the largest lake in the British Isles by area. The highest peak in Northern Ireland is Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains at 852 metres (2,795 ft).

Info:

Motto: Not Available
Anthem: God Save the Queen
Capital: London
Official Language: English 
Religion: Christianity
Demonym: British | Briton
Legislature: Parliament
Area: 242,495 km2
Currency: Pound sterling (£) (GBP)
Time Zone: GMT (UTC​)
Summer (DST): BST (UTC+1)
Date Format: dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the: left
Calling code: +44
ISO 3166 Code: GB
International TLD: .uk

Largest Cities/Towns/Districts of United Kingdom

1. London
2. Birmingham
3. Leeds
4. Glasglow
5. Sheffield
6. Bradford
7. Liverpool
8. Edinburgh
9. Manchester
10. Bristol
11. Kirklees
12. Fife
13. Wirral
14. North Lanarkshire
15. Wakefield
16. Cardiff
17. Dudley
18. Wigan
19. East Riding
20. South Lanarkshire

Flag of United Kingdom

The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is sometimes called the Union Jack. This red, white, and blue flag was first used in 1801.

Official Website: Gov.uk

Did You Know?

• The Queen of the UK is the legal owner of one-sixth of the Earth's land surface.
• In the UK, if you reach your 100th birthday, you get a personalized card from the Queen.
• The UK spent US$15.8 billion in a health service computer system that failed and was shut down in 2013.
• A Beer Wave of 388,000 Gallons (or 1.4m L) flooded London in 1814 after a huge vat ruptured.
• In the U.K., it is legal for kids over 5 years old to drink alcohol at home or on other private premises.
• UK's Internet Porn Filter Architect was Arrested On Child Porn Offences in 2014.
• In the UK, accents change noticeably about every 25 miles (40km).
• In the UK, all horses, ponies and donkeys must have a horse passport.
• In London, it is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
• Slavery was not made a statutory offense in the UK until April 6, 2010.
• Nearly 6,000 people per year get hurt or die in the UK after tripping over their trousers or falling down stairs while pulling them up.
• The UK is smaller than the U.S. state of Oregon.
• The death penalty was outlawed in the UK partly because a man was wrongfully executed for the murder of his wife and daughter in 1950.
• Nigeria has more English speakers than the United Kingdom.
• In the 16th century, a London law forbade wife beating after 9:00 P.M., but only because the noise disturbed people's sleep.
• KitKats' year production could stretch around the London Underground more than 350 times.
• The Queen Mary of Scotland became queen when she was only six days old.
• Since all British passports are issued in the Queen Elizabeth II's name, she herself doesn't have one.
• Concentration camps were first used by the British during the Second Anglo-Boer War.
• U.S. eggs are illegal in Britain because they are washed. British eggs are illegal in the U.S. because they are not.
• The average car in Britain is parked for 96% of the time.
• There's a 'Rent a Mourner' service in the UK to fill your funeral with fake friends.
• Centenarians are the fastest-growing demographic in the UK.
• Passports issued by the UK, Sweden and Finland offer visa-free travel to more countries than any other passports.
• In 1999, it was reported in the UK that over 3,000 people were hospitalized after tripping over a laundry basket.
• The average age in the UK for a first kiss is 15.
• The UK is the first country in the world to allow the creation of babies from the DNA of three people.
• Kate Middleton is credited with boosting the UK economy by £1 billion in 2012.
• On Sept. 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest-reigning UK monarch ever, surpassing Queen Victoria.
• The world's shortest scheduled airline flight lasts 2 minutes. It connects two islands in the UK.
• The average woman in the UK has 150 different hairstyles in her lifetime.
• The oldest house in the UK is nearly 6000 years old and has stone furniture that is still intact.
• The UK and Portugal hold the longest standing alliance in the world that is still in force. It was ratified in 1386.
• You can use Skype to call toll free numbers at no charge in the U.S., UK, Taiwan and France.
• There is a limit of 12 minutes of commercials, per hour of television, in the UK.
• Margaret Thatcher was reportedly more proud of becoming the first Prime Minister with a science degree than the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• British Pennies are used to adjust the time in London's Big Ben clock tower.
• The UK is the only country not required to name itself on its postage stamps.
• The terms "UK" and "Great Britain" are not interchangeable: the United Kingdom includes Northern Ireland, while Great Britain does not.
• The King of Norway is 73rd in line to the British throne.
• In the UK, you can never be more than 70 miles away from the sea.
• Prince Charles has been first in line as heir to the UK's throne for more than 64 years.

References

• Wikipedia
• Inovex Enterprises
• Fact Slides