www.fgks.org   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

Jump to content

Portal:United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Portal:The United Kingdom)
The United Kingdom Portal
Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom
Coat of Arms for the United Kingdom
Coat of Arms for the United Kingdom
Map of the United Kingdom in the British Isles.

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. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is 94,354 square miles (244,376 km2), with an estimated population of nearly 67.6 million people in 2022.

In 1707, the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland united under the Treaty of Union to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. 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 name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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. At its height in the 1920s, the British 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. British influence can be observed in the legal and political systems of many of its former colonies, and British culture remains globally influential, particularly in language, literature, music and sport. English is the world's most widely spoken language and the third-most spoken native language.

The UK is a developed country and has the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP). It is a recognised nuclear state, and is ranked fourth globally in military expenditure. The UK has been a permanent member of the UN Security Council since its first session in 1946. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Council of Europe, the G7, the OECD, NATO, the Five Eyes, AUKUS and the CPTPP. (Full article...)

Featured article

The Doctor Who missing episodes are the many instalments of the long-running British science fiction television programme Doctor Who of which no known film or videotape copies exist. They were wiped by the BBC during the 1960s and 1970s for a variety of economic and space-saving reasons. In all, there are 27 serials that do not exist in complete form in the BBC's archives, because 108 of 253 episodes produced during the first six years of the programme are missing. Many more were thought to have been so in the past before episodes were recovered from a variety of sources, most notably overseas broadcasters. Doctor Who is not unique in this respect, as thousands of hours of programming from across all genres were destroyed up until 1978, when the BBC's archiving policies were changed. Unlike other series, Doctor Who is unique in having all of its missing episodes surviving in audio form, recorded off-air by fans at home. Additionally, every 1970s episode exists in some form, which is not the case for several other series. Efforts to locate missing episodes continue, both by the BBC and by fans of the series. Extensive restoration has been carried out on many surviving and recovered 1960s and 1970s episodes for release on VHS and more recently on DVD. (Full article...)

Featured biography
Samuel Johnson, circa 1740s

The early life of Samuel Johnson was marked by great intelligence and an eagerness for learning. Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, the sickly infant who grew up to become "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history" soon began to exhibit the tics that would colour how others viewed him in his later years. His early life was dominated by his family's financial strain and his abortive efforts to establish himself as a school teacher. Johnson spent a year studying at Pembroke College, Oxford, but was unable to continue his education there because of his lack of financial support. He tried to find employment as a teacher, but found it impossible to secure a long-term position. In 1735 he married Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, a widow 20 years his senior. The responsibilities of marriage made Johnson determined to succeed as an educator, and encouraged him to establish his own school. The venture was unsuccessful however, and so he decided to leave his wife behind in Lichfield and move to London, where he spent the rest of his life, and where his literary career began. Working initially as a minor Grub Street hack writer, he started to write essays for The Gentleman's Magazine, and authored the Life of Mr Richard Savage (his first successful literary biography), the powerful poem London (an 18th-century version of Juvenal's Third Satire), and the unsuccessful tragic drama Irene, which was not produced until 1749. (Full article...)

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

Related portals
WikiProjects
Things you can do
Visit the British Wikipedians' notice board.
The noticeboard is the central forum for information and discussion on editing related to the United Kingdom.
Comment at the British deletion sorting page.
This page lists deletion discussions on topics relating to the United Kingdom.
Featured pictures
Did you know - load new batch
In the news

Wikinews UK

9 July 2024 – Killings of Carol, Hannah and Louise Hunt
Three women are killed during a crossbow attack at a house in Bushey, United Kingdom. A 26-year-old man is wanted. (AP)
6 July 2024 –
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer officially cancels the Rwanda asylum plan, proposed by former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak. (Reuters)
5 July 2024 – 2024 United Kingdom general election
Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak concedes defeat to Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, ending 14 years of Conservative government. (Sky News) (BBC News)
Keir Starmer formally becomes Prime Minister after accepting an invitation from King Charles III to form a majority government. (Mirror) (BBC News)
Rachel Reeves is appointed as the UK's first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Starmer ministry. (ITV News)
4 July 2024 – 2024 United Kingdom general election
Voters elect all 650 members of the United Kingdom House of Commons. Keir Starmer's Labour Party is projected to win a landslide victory according to exit polls. (NPR) (The Washington Post)
Categories
Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories
Other UK-connected Wikipedias
Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals