Overview
The United Kingdom is composed of Great Britain and Northern Island. Great Britain, is an island state, with its only border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Great Britain is otherwise surrounded by the English Channel, which separates it from Continental Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sear and the North Sea.
The United Kingdom, or the UK, is a political entity known as a Constitutional Monarchy. Although the UK is a unified country, it is itself made up of four different countries, England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The capital city of the UK is London, where Parliament sits. In addition to the four sovereign countries of the UK there are also 14 territories which are what is left of the great British Empire of which it was said was composed of countries so far flung across the globe that “the sun never set.” In 1922, at the height of the United Kingdom’s global rule and influence, the British Empire was composed of 25% of the world’s land mass, making it historically the world’s largest empire. This accounts for the popularity of English across the world as a dominant language, as well as for influencing the culture and legal systems to a great extent around the world.
Finance Information
Central Bank Governor: Mervyn King