Portal:United Kingdom

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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.

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England	Northern Ireland	Scotland	Wales

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Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, and natural philosopher, regarded by many as the greatest figure in the history of science. His treatise Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687, described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, laying the groundwork for classical mechanics. By deriving Kepler's laws of planetary motion from this system, he was the first to show that the motion of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws. The unifying and deterministic power of his laws was integral to the scientific revolution and the advancement of heliocentrism.

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The British Airways London Eye, sometimes called the Millennium Wheel, was the first observation wheel (a type of Ferris wheel) to be built, and has been the only one in operation since its opening at the end of 1999. It stands 135 metres (443 feet) high on the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in Lambeth, London, between Westminster and Hungerford Bridges. It is adjacent to London's County Hall, and stands opposite the offices of the Ministry of Defence.

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• ... that the expression "pay on the nail" originated from the practice of closing deals by payment on brass tables called "nails" (pictured), which can still be seen at The Exchange, Bristol?
• ...that surgeon William Brydon was the only European of 16,500 British troops to survive the retreat to Jalalabad from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan War?
• ...that the 1917 Silvertown explosion may have been the largest explosion to ever occur in London?

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Isle of Man	Ireland	Europe

edit United Kingdom

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• UK geography
• UK subdivisions
• British Government
• Scotland
• London
• Peerage
• Baronetcies
• Clans of Scotland
• British military history
• Falklands War
• Football Clubs
• Cricket
• Sherlock Holmes
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld

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