The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It
has a long history as a major player in international affairs. United Kingdom is surrounded by the
Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Irish Sea.
The government system is
constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth realm; the chief of state is the queen, and the head
of government is the prime minister. It has an advanced open market economy in which the prices
of goods and services are determined in a free price system. United Kingdom is a member of the
European Union (EU).
The UK is a key global player diplomatically and militarily. It plays
leading roles in the UN and Nato, but voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.
The UK has been a major force in global youth culture since the heyday of the Beatles
and Rolling Stones in the 1960s.
It has a rich literary heritage encompassing the works of English
writers such as William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, Scot Robert Burns, Welshman Dylan
Thomas, and Northern Irishman Seamus Heaney, not to mention writers in the Gaelic and Welsh
languages.