United Kingdom – from four nations to a modern constitutional monarchy
Monuments such as Stonehenge show how old human settlement in Britain is. Celtic peoples lived here before the Romans made much of the island the province of Britannia. After Roman rule ended, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms emerged, later challenged by Vikings, until the Norman Conquest of 1066 transformed England. Magna Carta in 1215 became a lasting symbol of limits on royal power.
England absorbed Wales, and in 1603 the crowns of England and Scotland were united under James I. After the Civil War and the Glorious Revolution of 1688, parliament gained the upper hand. The Acts of Union of 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, and Ireland was joined to it in 1801. Britain led the Industrial Revolution and built a vast global empire, which also involved the Atlantic slave trade and colonial rule over many peoples.
In the twentieth century the UK fought in both world wars and stood against Nazi Germany in 1940. Most of Ireland became independent in the 1920s, while Northern Ireland remained part of the UK; the conflict known as the Troubles ended largely with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. After 1945 came the welfare state, the dissolution of the empire into the Commonwealth, devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and membership of the European Union from 1973 until 2020.
Today the United Kingdom is shaped by its four nations, its parliamentary traditions and its diverse, multicultural society.
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