| United Kingdom | |
This article is part of the series: |
|
|
|
|
|
Foreign policy
|
|
|
Other countries · Atlas |
|
British unionism is a political ideology favouring the continued existence of the United Kingdom as a sovereign state, consisting of four constituent countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Kingdom of Great Britain was formed with the Acts of Union 1707, two acts passed by the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland which created a political union between England and Wales (the Kingdom of England) and the Kingdom of Scotland on 1 May 1707. This event was the result of the Treaty of Union that was agreed on 22 July 1706,[1] Prior to this, the kingdoms had been separate states in personal union since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when James VI of Scotland succeeded his cousin Elizabeth I of England as James I of England.
The Acts created a single monarch of the United Kingdom and a single Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Following the partition of Ireland, with only Northern Ireland remaining part of the union, the kingdom became the modern United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
|
||||||||||