The full name of the United Kingdom is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. It is situated in North-West Europe and is separated from mainland Europe by the North Sea and the English Channel. Four nations make up the UK: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Many off-lying islands also belong to the UK, such as the Shetlands, north of mainland Scotland and the Scillies, off the West coast of Cornwall, in the South West of England. The capital cities are London for England, Cardiff for Wales, Edinburgh for Scotland and Belfast for Northern Ireland.
England became unified in the mid-thirteenth century. In 1282, England conquered Wales and full parliamentary union only took place in 1536.
England and Scotland were united in 1603 under one monarch, and eventually agreed on permanent parliamentary union, when Great Britain was created by the Act of Union in 1707.
Great Britain and Ireland united in 1801. A century later, a formal partition of Ireland took place in 1921 with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, when Northern Ireland associated with the UK.
Each nation of the UK has its own flag. The English flag is the red upright cross of Saint George (patron saint of England) on a white background. The Welsh flag is a red dragon on a white and green background. The Scottish flag is the white diagonal cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland) on a blue background. The patron saint of Ireland as a whole is Saint Patrick. The flag is a red diagonal cross on a white background. The national flag of the UK is the Union Jack. It is the association of the English, Scottish and Irish patron saints’ flags.
