United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

Prime Minister: Tony Blair (1997)

Area: 244,820 sq. km

Population (2000 est.): 59,511,464 (average annual rate of natural increase: 0.1%); birth rate: 11.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 5.6/1000; density per sq. mi.: 631

Capital and largest city (1995 est.): London, 7,007,091

Other large cities: Birmingham, 1,009,100; Leeds, 721,800; Glasgow, 681,470; Liverpool, 479,000; Bradford, 477,500; Edinburgh, 441,620; Manchester, 434,600; Bristol, 396,600

Monetary unit: Pound sterling (£)

Languages: English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic

Ethnicity/race: English 81.5%; Scottish 9.6%; Irish 2.4%; Welsh 1.9%; Ulster 1.8%; West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

Religions: Church of England (established church); Church of Wales (disestablished); Church of Scotland (established church&emdash;Presbyterian); Church of Ireland (disestablished); Roman Catholic; Methodist; Congregational; Baptist; Jewish

Literacy rate: 99% (1978)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1998 est.): $1.252 trillion; $21,200 per capita. Real growth rate: 2.6%. Inflation: 2.7%. Unemployment: 7.5%. Arable land: 25%. Agriculture: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish. Labor force: 28.8 million (1998); services 68.9%, manufacturing and construction 17.5%, government 11.3%, energy 1.2%, agriculture 1.1% (1996). Industries: production machinery including 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, and other consumer goods. Natural resources: coal, oil, gas. Exports: $271 billion (f.o.b., 1998): manufactured goods, fuel, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco. Imports: $304 billion (f.o.b., 1998): manufactured goods, machinery, fuel, foodstuffs. Major trading partners: EU, U.S.

Geography:
The United Kingdom, consisting of England, Wales, 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&emdash;a land of steep hills and valleys&emdash;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 can be sailed up, 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 about 830 hereditary peers, 26 spiritual peers, about 270 life peers and peeresses, and 9 law lords, also life peers, and the House of Commons, which has 651 popularly elected members. Decisions are made by Parliament, which sits for five years. The House of Lords was stripped of most of its power in 1911, and now its main function is to revise legislation. There is a queen, but the power is held by the prime minister.

History:
Stonehenge and other examples of prehistoric culture are what remains 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 invaded by 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 Kings continued to rule until n 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&endash;88), had none of his ability and was thrown out by the Revolution of 1688, which made Parliament more powerful. James's daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, then became the rulers.

Kings and Queens then continued to rule, but elected parliaments were the real power. The navy was the most powerful on the seas, and the kingdom had many areas overseas that it ruled over.

The UK fought in both World War I and II, but was never invaded.