Portal:United Kingdom/Header
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or United Kingdom, (Welsh: Y Deyrnas Unedig), (Scots Gaelic: An Rìoghachd Aonaichte), (Cornish: Rywvaneth Unys), (Irish: An Ríocht Aontaithe), (Scots: Unitit Kinrick) is a country in western Europe. It is a Commonwealth Realm, and a member of the European Union and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom or the UK, it is also often inaccurately called Great Britain, Britain or England (the most populous of the home nations). The UK is situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe, and has a land border with the Republic of Ireland, but is otherwise surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.
The UK has four constituent parts, three of which — the ancient nations of England, Wales and Scotland — are located on the island of Great Britain. The fourth part is Northern Ireland, which is located on the island of Ireland.
The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is also a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The UK also has overseas territories throughout the world, and relationships with several Crown dependencies.
The United Kingdom was formed by Acts of Union which united the Kingdom of England (which included Wales as a principality) with the Kingdom of Scotland and later the Kingdom of Ireland as a single state under the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The modern "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" was the result of the partition of Ireland in 1922 between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom. Until 1949, the British monarch was also King of Ireland.
The UK has a highly developed economy, the fifth largest in the world, making it one of the major powers. It is one of the more populous member states of the European Union, a founding partner of both the UN (with a permanent seat on the Security Council) and NATO.
