United Kingdom

The **United Kingdom** is a sovereign country located off the north western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. It is played by RoboRomb.

## History

Settlement by anatomically modern humans of what was to become the United Kingdom occurred in waves beginning by about 30,000 Earth years ago. By the end of the region's prehistoric period, the population is thought to have belonged, in the main, to a culture termed Insular Celtic, comprising Brittonic Britain and Gaelic Ireland. The Roman conquest, beginning in 43 AD, and the 400 year rule of southern Britain, was followed by an invasion by Germanic Anglo Saxon settlers, reducing the Brittonic area mainly to what was to become Wales, Cornwall and, until the latter stages of the Anglo Saxon settlement, the Hen Ogledd (northern England and parts of southern Scotland).

Most of the region settled by the Anglo Saxons became unified as the Kingdom of England in the 10th century. Meanwhile, Gaelic-speakers in north west Britain (with connections to the north-east of Ireland and traditionally supposed to have migrated from there in the 5th century) united with the Picts to create the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century.

The early modern period saw religious conflict resulting from the Reformation and the introduction of Protestant state churches in each country. Wales was fully incorporated into the Kingdom of England, and Ireland was constituted as a kingdom in personal union with the English crown. In what was to become Northern Ireland, the lands of the independent Catholic Gaelic nobility were confiscated and given to Protestant settlers from England and Scotland.

In 1603, the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in a personal union when James VI, King of Scots, inherited the crowns of England and Ireland and moved his court from Edinburgh to London; each country nevertheless remained a separate political entity and retained its separate political, legal, and religious institutions.

In the mid 17th century, all three kingdoms were involved in a series of connected wars (including the English Civil War) which led to the temporary overthrow of the monarchy, with the execution of King Charles the First, and the establishment of the short lived unitary republic of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. During the 17th and 18th centuries, British sailors were involved in acts of piracy, attacking and stealing from ships off the coast of Europe and the Caribbean.

## Government and Politics

The United Kingdom has a parliamentary government based on the Westminster system that has been emulated around the world, a legacy of the British Empire. The parliament of the United Kingdom meets in the Palace of Westminster and has two houses, an elected House of Commons and an appointed House of Lords. All bills passed are given Royal Assent before becoming law.

The position of prime minister, the United Kingdom's head of government, belongs to the person most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons. This individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber. The prime minister chooses a cabinet and its members are formally appointed by the monarch to form Her Majesty's Government. By convention, the monarch respects the prime minister's decisions of government.

The cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the prime minister's party or coalition and mostly from the House of Commons but always from both legislative houses, the cabinet being responsible to both. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, and become Ministers of the Crown.

## Military and Technology

The armed forces of the United Kingdom, the British Armed Forces, consist of three professional service branches. The Royal Navy and Royal Marines, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. The forces are managed by the Ministry of Defense and controlled by the Defence Council, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The Commander in Chief is the British monarch, to whom members of the forces swear an oath of allegiance. The Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the Kingdom's global security interests and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in the National Treaty Organisation, including the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, as well as the Five Power Defense Arrangements, and other worldwide coalition operations.