United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or United Kingdom for short, with its capital in London, is the largest European island state with 243,610 km². It consists of four parts: England (130,395 km²), Wales (20,735 km²), Scotland (77,910 km²) and Northern Ireland (13,843 km²) - without Ireland. Colloquially, it is often referred to as the UK or Britain or even England. However, Great Britain only refers to the main island, on which only the parts of England, Scotland and Wales are located - without Northern Ireland.

The term "Commonwealth of Nations" (Commonwealth for short) refers to the political union of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. Of these, 15, the so-called "Commonwealth Realms", are united in personal union. These include Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Canada and New Zealand. The Dominions (territories) were the self-governing colonies and Ireland within the British Empire from the beginning of the 20th century.