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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. [7] It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and more than 100 smaller adjacent islands.
Great Britain (commonly shortened to Britain) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of 209,331 km 2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles , the largest European island , and the ninth-largest island in the ...
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, [m] is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England , Scotland , Wales , and Northern Ireland .
The term Britain is widely used as a common name for the sovereign state of the United Kingdom, or UK for short. The United Kingdom includes three countries on the largest island, which can be called the island of Britain or Great Britain: these are England, Scotland and Wales.
England, which had subsumed Wales in the 16th century under Henry VIII, united with Scotland in 1707 to form a new sovereign state called Great Britain. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Following the Industrial Revolution , which started in England, Great Britain ruled a colonial Empire , the largest in recorded history.
The UK prime minister's website has used the phrase "countries within a country" to describe the United Kingdom. [8] Although the United Kingdom is a unitary sovereign state, it contains three distinct legal jurisdictions in Scotland, England and Wales, and Northern Ireland, each retaining its own legal system even after joining the UK. [9]
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the parliamentary constitutional monarchy occupying the island of Great Britain, the small nearby islands (but not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands), and the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland. Usually, it is shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK, or Britain. [5]
The history of the United Kingdom begins in 1707 with the Treaty of Union and Acts of Union. The core of the United Kingdom as a unified state came into being with the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, [1] into a new unitary state called Great Britain. [a] Of this new state, the historian Simon Schama said: