It is also a principal subcontractor on the F35 Joint Strike Fighter – the world's largest single defence project – for which it designs and manufactures a range of components. (2004). Britannia is a national personification of the United Kingdom, originating from Roman Britain. [252] London also has the largest city GDP in Europe. This is unnecessary because UK is short for 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.' [417], In the 2001 census 71.6 per cent of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths being Islam (2.8 per cent), Hinduism (1.0 per cent), Sikhism (0.6 per cent), Judaism (0.5 per cent), Buddhism (0.3 per cent) and all other religions (0.3 per cent). The cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are separate council areas, as is the Highland Council, which includes a third of Scotland's area but only just over 200,000 people. [593] England is recognised by FIFA as the birthplace of club football, and The Football Association is the oldest of its kind, with the rules of football first drafted in 1863 by Ebenezer Cobb Morley. [225], Scots law is a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles. In the south it borders to the English Channel and in the east to the North Sea. [570][572], The BBC, founded in 1922, is the UK's publicly funded radio, television and Internet broadcasting corporation, and is the oldest and largest broadcaster in the world. [89][90][91], In the 18th century, cabinet government developed under Robert Walpole, in practice the first prime minister (1721–1742). [339][340][341], Access to improved water supply and sanitation in the UK is universal. The total area of the United Kingdom is 94,000 square miles (240,000 km2). [citation needed], After the defeat of France at the end of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815), the United Kingdom emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century (with London the largest city in the world from about 1830). The UK retains a significant, though much reduced fishing industry. [171], The organisation of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to local arrangements. [318][319] There are about 1,000 freight trains in daily operation.[when? The UK is also closely linked with the Republic of Ireland; the two countries share a Common Travel Area and co-operate through the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and the British-Irish Council. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK or U.K.)[15] or, informally, Britain,[note 10] is a sovereign country located off the north­western coast of the European mainland. A new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom came into being in October 2009 to replace the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. 97, 164 and 191, "Social Trends 41: Lifestyles and social participation", "Top 20 countries with the highest number of Internet users", "Los Angeles to build world's most expensive stadium complex", "Opening ceremony of the games of the XXX Olympiad", "Rugby Union 'Britain's Second Most Popular Sport, "The father of football deserves much more", "History and time are key to power of football, says Premier League chief", "Why is there no GB Olympics football team? This page was last edited on 19 April 2020, at 19:06. [615] Great Britain is still retained as the full national team. [597] England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland usually compete as separate countries in international competitions.[598]. [362] A 2006 genetic study shows that more than 50 per cent of England's gene pool contains Germanic Y chromosomes. [25] The union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, followed by the union in 1801 of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Daniel Owen is credited as the first Welsh-language novelist, publishing Rhys Lewis in 1885. [619] Shinty (or camanachd) is popular in the Scottish Highlands. Political and operational responsibility for healthcare lies with four national executives; healthcare in England is the responsibility of the UK Government; healthcare in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive; healthcare in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government; and healthcare in Wales is the responsibility of the Welsh Government. [368][369] The UK also has the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating to the arrival of Chinese seamen in the 19th century. The bulldog is sometimes used as a symbol of the United Kingdom and has been associated with Winston Churchill's defiance of Nazi Germany. [412] Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century,[413] while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam. [152] The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London was chosen as the defining point of the Prime Meridian[153] in Washington, D.C. in 1884, although due to more accurate modern measurement the meridian actually lies 100 metres to the east of the observatory. The history of British visual art forms part of western art history. This led to considerable unemployment and hardship in the old industrial areas, as well as political and social unrest in the 1930s, with rising membership in communist and socialist parties. It is worth noting, if you want to avoid bloomers with the residents, that neither the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm) nor the Isle of Man are part of either of the above entities! Two of the top ten performing schools in terms of GCSE results in 2006 were state-run grammar schools. Leading Welsh novelists of the twentieth century include Richard Llewellyn and Kate Roberts. [129] Over the next three decades, most colonies of the British Empire gained their independence, with all those that sought independence supported by the UK, during both the transition period and afterwards. [95] However, Parliament banned the trade in 1807, banned slavery in the British Empire in 1833, and Britain took a leading role in the movement to abolish slavery worldwide through the blockade of Africa and pressing other nations to end their trade with a series of treaties. [379] In the 2001 census, this figure was 7.9 per cent of the UK population. It consists of 11 teams from Northern England, and one each from London, Wales and France. Queen Elizabeth II is the monarch and head of state of the UK, as well as fifteen other independent countries. Gascoin, J. [262], The automotive industry employs around 800,000 people, with a turnover in 2015 of £70 billion, generating £34.6 billion of exports (11.8 per cent of the UK's total export goods). [372], Since 1948 substantial immigration from Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia has been a legacy of ties forged by the British Empire. [60], Settlement by anatomically modern humans of what was to become the United Kingdom occurred in waves beginning by about 30,000 years ago. [216] In practice, it would be politically difficult for the UK Parliament to abolish devolution to the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd, given the political entrenchment created by referendum decisions. Around 120,000 settled permanently in Britain, becoming the largest ethnic minority from outside the British Isles;[431][432] this population had increased to 370,000 by 1938. [263], The aerospace industry of the UK is the second- or third-largest national aerospace industry in the world depending upon the method of measurement and has an annual turnover of around £30 billion.

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