A Brief History
The British Isles have a long history which pre-dates the Roman invasion of 43 AD by many centuries.
Our shores have been invaded many times; by the Angles, Saxons, Vikings, Jutes, Normans and let's not forget the Romans. Our language and culture has grown from these invasions. When the Romans left in 410 AD our land was divided into many disparate fiefdoms, tribes and kingdoms. Through wars and alliances these merged to create three great Kingdoms; Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex; there were also the Pict tribes in Scotland and the Celts in Wales.
British history is not, at present, readily taught in British schools. However, there is a growing faction that wants our heritage taught to the young but as yet it is not part of the curriculum. It is important for us to know why our society is the way it is and what has helped shaped us. This will hopefully build a more tolerant society as we are a country created from outsiders.
Many people are unsure of what the United Kingdom is and will often use the terms 'Great Britain', 'Britain', 'The United Kingdom' and 'England' interchangeably.
Great Britain is in fact the name of the island which incorporates the countries of England, Scotland and Wales.
The British Isles is the group of islands and includes Great Britain, Ireland, The Hebrides and the Isle of Man (among others).
Since 1927 our country's official name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This is often abbreviated to just the United Kingdom, the UK or Great Britain. Our official abbreviated country codes are GB or GBR although our ccTLD is .uk which is a break from convention. (Convention would have our ccTLD as .gb)
From 1801 to 1927 we were the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, although the partition of Ireland took place in 1922, and from 1707 to 1801 our country was named the Kingdom of Great Britain. Prior to 1707, when we merged with the Kingdom of Scotland, we were called the Kingdom of England. Wales was an administrative region of the Kingdom of England and until 1967 the term England legally included Wales.
There is no official founding date for the Kingdom of England but it is generally recognised that it was founded in the 10th Century when the heptarchy of minor kingdoms merged.
The term 'heptarchy' was used by historians to refer to the period after the Anglo-Saxon conquest of the southern part of the British Isles. The heptarchy were seven minor kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. These kingdoms often contained sub-kingdoms which they ruled over either through conquest or alliances. For instance Hwicce was a sub-kingdom of Mercia and Deira was a sub-kingdom of Northumbria. During the 9th Century, the kings of Wessex became dominant over the others and Alfred the Great, who reigned from 871 to 899, was the first king to style himself as the King of England. When the last kingdom, Northumbria, fell to the then king of Wessex in 927, King Athelstan, became the first de facto king of England.
As a result of our history and empire, the UK has many crown dependencies and overseas territories. Although these belong to the UK, they are not part of the political entity that is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Since the fall of the empire, we created an association called the Commonwealth of Nations which is made up of former colonies and protectorates of the UK.
Countries in the United Kingdom
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom
Jersey
Guernsey
Alderney
Sark
Herm
Isle of Man
Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom
Anguilla
British Antarctic Territory
Bermuda
British Indian Ocean Territory
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar
Montserrat
St Helena and Dependencies (Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha)
Turk and Caicos Islands
Pitcairn Island
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus
The Commonwealth of Nations
Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Botswana
Brunei Darussalam
Cameroon
Canada
Cyprus
Dominica
Fiji Islands
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
India
Jamaica
Kenya
Kiribati
Lesotho
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Nauru
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Sri Lanka
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Swaziland
The Bahamas
The Gambia
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Kingdom
United Republic of Tanzania
Vanuatu
Zambia