History of United

Kingdom
• It is a unique country made up of four nations: England, Wales,
Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

• The name Britain is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom

as a whole.

• Great Britain (sometimes just referred to as ‘Britain’)

• Great Britain is not a country; it’s a landmass. It is known as

‘Great’ because it is the largest island in the British Isles and
houses the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales within its
shores.

• The capital is London

• The British are the creation of waves of invaders and migrants:
Picts First Britons (people who live in the United
Kingdom) were the Picts
Celts • Made up of farmers and hunters.
8th century B.C • They had a religion known as Druidism

Romans • Invaded and ruled for nearly 400 years

43 AD • They built roads, bathhouses, sewers, and large
villas.
Angle-Saxons • By their arrival, UK was known as England (Angle
449 AD land)
• English language
Vikings • 'Viking' comes from the Old Norse language
900s-1400s means “a pirate raid”.
• Raiding and trading from their homelands (Anglo-
Saxon Britain)
 By the 1800s
-Britain was one of the most powerful nations in the
world.

Early 20th century

-Drained by World War I and II, Britain could no
longer afford its empire, and most of its colonies became
independent. (United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Malaysia,
Canada)
 History of United Kingdom’s Name
The Kingdom of England
925 BC
Kingdom of England and Wales.
1536
Kingdom of Great Britain
1707
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
1801
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
1922 Ireland
 Currency: £
Popularly known: Pound
Formal name: British Pound
Also known: Sterling or Pound Sterling

Exchange Rate
1 Pound Sterling = 63.88 Philippine peso

• The pound sterling holds the title of the oldest currency still in
use today
• The fourth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market
• 5th strongest world currency
 Rankings in the world

1. Gross Domestic Product(GDP) – 5th ($2.906 trillion)

2. GDP per Capita – 22nd (39,720.44 USD)
3. Export – 10th ($487 billion) 1st -United States
4. Import – 5th ($644 billion) 1st - Germany
 Contributor in GDP of UK

Service Production Construction Agriculture

 Value ($USD, Value ($USD,
Rank Export Rank Import
millions) millions)

1 Cars 35,424 1 Machinery including computers 87 000

Refined
2
petroleum 30,125 2 Vehicles 75 100
Electrical machinery,
3 Crude petroleum 24,318 3
equipment 69 000
4 Mineral fuels including oil 66 900
4 Pharmaceuticals 22,058
5 Gems, precious metals 40 200
5 Gas turbines 14,141 6 Pharmaceuticals 30 300
6 Diamonds 9,983 7 Plastics, plastic articles 19 500
7 Aircraft panels 8,863 8
Optical, technical, medical
18 800
apparatus
8 Hard liquor 8,463
9 Articles of iron or steel 12 100
9 Petroleum gas 6,217
Furniture, bedding, lighting,
10 Vehicle parts 5,961 10
signs, 11 800
European Union
• European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
-Treaty of Paris
-Signed on 18 April 1951

• European Economic Community (EEC)

-Treaty of Rome
-Signed on 25 March 1957

• Treaty of Maastricht/ Treaty on European Union

-Signed on 7 February 1992
-The treaty founded the European Union and established its pillar
structure
-The treaty also greatly expanded the competences of the EEC/EU
and led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro.
• Two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European
Union (EU):
-Treaty of Maastricht/ Treaty on European Union
-Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union

3 pillar structure:
1. European Communities pillar handled economic, social and
environmental policies. It comprised the European Community
(EC), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, until its
expiry in 2002), and the European Atomic Energy Community
(EURATOM).
2. The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)
3. Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCCM)
• Countries included in European Union :

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Republic of

Cyprus
Czech Denmark Estonia Finland France
Republic
Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy
Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands
Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia
Spain Sweden United
Kingdom
• Governed by 3 bodies:
-EU Council
-European Parliament
-European Commission Staff
• Eurozone
-The Eurozone consists of all countries that use the euro.
- Created in 2005
-All EU members pledge to convert to the euro but only
19 have so far

• The Schengen Area

-Guarantees free movement to those legally residing
within its boundaries.
-Residents and visitors can cross borders without
getting visas or showing their passports.
 Brexit
• British exit = UK leaving the EU
• United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union on June 23,
2016
• It could take two years to negotiate the terms of the exit
• has been postponed until 31 October 2019, at midnight

Reasons for Brexit:

EU is no exception when having its share of controversies and
problems
• Immigrants
• Sovereignty
• Currency/Economy
 Effect to Economy of UK
• Reduced investment by businesses by approximately 6
percentage points
• Employment reduction by 1.5 percentage points.
• Whereas European firms reduced new investments in the UK
• Pushed up UK inflation by 1.7 percentage points
• Economic costs of the Brexit vote were 2% of GDP
Companies Originated in UK
 Contribution of UK in Globalization
• English language
• Many scientific & medical developments such as:
-The discovery of antibiotics
-The discovery of DNA
-Edward Jenner the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world's
first vaccine
-Alexander Fleming’s for his discovery of the world's first
antibiotic Penicillin.
-Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace and the modern theory of
evolution
• Music, Art, Science, Acting, Literature such as:
-The Beatles, Adele, Freddie Mercury, etc.
-Shakespeare, Jane Austen, William Blake, J.K. Rowling
-Mary Wollstonecraft, the first modern feminist.

• Sports
-Soccer, rugby, cricket, boxing, and golf were all invented
in Britain

• Industrial Revolution
The official title for the union of:

England Scotland Wales

is GREAT BRITAIN

Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Form the
 The United Kingdom is a unitary democracy governed within the
framework of a Constitutional Monarchy.

 Executive power is exercised by a Her Majesty’s Government,

on behalf of and by the consent of the Monarch, as well as by
the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland executive.
 Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of commons
and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish, Wales and
Northern Ireland assemblies.

 The judiciary is independent of the executive and legislature.

The highest national court is the Supreme Court of the
United Kingdom.
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary
Windsor
Born on April 21, 1926 in
Mayfair, London
Ascended the throne on
February 6, 1952
On June 2, 1953, she was
crowned as the Queen of
United Kingdom.
3 Sons and 1 daughter
 Domestic powers of the Monarch
The power to dismiss and appoint the prime
minister
The power to dismiss and appoint other
ministers
The power to dissolve parliament
The power to grant or refuse Royal Assent to
bills (making them valid and law)
 The power to commission officers in the armed
forces
 The power to command the Armed Forces of the
United Kingdom
 The power to appoint members to the Queen's
council
 The power to issue and withdraw passport
 The power to grant honours
 The power to create corporations via Royal Charter
 Foreign powers of the Monarch
The power to ratify and make treaties
The power to declare War and Peace
The power to deploy the Armed Forces overseas
The power to recognize states
The power to credit and receive diplomats
 Parliament of the United Kingdom
• it began in 1215 with the signing of the Magna Carta

The three parts of parliament

The regent
The House of Commons
The House of Lords
 The House of Commons
The countries of the United Kingdom are
divided into parliamentary constituencies of
broadly equal population by the four Boundary
commission.
Each constituency elects a Member of
Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons at
general elections.
 The House of Lords
• It was previously a largely hereditary
aristocratic
It consists of two different types of
members:
Lords Temporal
Lords Spiritual
• currently acts to review legislation
initiated by the House of Commons, with
the power to propose amendments, and
can exercise a suspensive veto.
 Political parties in United Kingdom
2 main political parties
 Conservative party
 Labour party
 Conservative party
Known informally as the Tories, and
historically also known as the Unionist
Party
It was founded in 1834.
The governing party since 2010, it is
the largest in the House of Commons,
with 288 Members of Parliament, and
also has 234 members of the House of
Lords
 Labour party
It is the main centre-left political party in
the United Kingdom
It was founded in 1900.
They are currently the second largest
party in the British House of Commons,
with 262 out of 650 seats.
RANK BELIEF SYSTEM SHARE OF BRITISH
POPULATION
1 Irreligious, Atheist or 49%
Agnostic
2 Anglican Christianity 17%
3 Non-Anglican, 17%
Protestant, Orthodoxy,
and other forms of non-
Catholic Christianity
4 Roman Catholic 8%
Christianity
5 Islam 5%
6 Other Beliefs 4%
updated on April 25, 2017
• Henry VIII started the process of
creating the Church 0f England after
his split with the Pope in the 1530s.

• Catherine of Aragon (Wife of Henry

VIII)

• In November 1534, Henry passed the

“Act of Supremacy”.
• Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII
and Jane Seymour.
• New practices:
• communion in both kinds.
• removing statues and altars from
churches.
• allowing of married priests.
• In 1549 mass in Latin was
abolished to be replaced by the
liturgy in English using Thomas
Cranmer’s Book of Common
Prayer.
• The liturgy was clearly
Protestant, influenced by the
ideas of Luther.
• Mary “Bloody Mary”, Daughter of Henry
VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

• a devout Catholic

• she tried to restore Catholic worship as

well as adherence to Rome.

• Many priests and bishops were dismissed.

Opponents were sentenced to be burnt
including several bishops and even Thomas
Cranmer, the former Archbishop of
Canterbury.
• Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII
and Anne Boleyn.

• She rejected Catholicism.

• She was brought to power thanks to

the Protestants

• During Elizabeth’s reign, the clergy and

the people gradually became
Protestant.
Primary languages: British English, Irish, Scottish & Welsh

In 1988, The National Curriculum (NC) was introduced.

Main Types of School:

1. State School
2. Private School
 Public School

Eton College

Harrow College

Cheltenham Ladies College

 Primary School
• All children aged 5 to 16 (4 yrs. old in Northern Ireland) must
receive full-time education.

• All children in the UK between the ages of 5 to 16 are entitled

to a free place at a state school.

• Children leave primary school at the age of eleven.

 Secondary Education
• From the age of 4 to 14, students in British state and private
schools study a broad range of subjects

• Among them are: English, Math, Science, Design and

Technology, Information and Communication Technology (ICT),
History, Art and Design and etc.

• After they finish the primary school they will have to take an
exam called “11 plus”.
Grammar School Secondary Modern
• More on Practical &
• More on Academic Vocational

Comprehensive School
• Does not select intake on the basis
of academic achievement or
aptitude.
• Secondary school graduation covers the period from age to 14
to 15.

• GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education)

- A single-subject examination, set and marked by
independent examination boards.

• They may continue at vocational or technical colleges, or

pursue higher education in a university.
 Sixth Form
• Between 16 to 18 years of age.

• Students may take A-Levels (Advanced Level Examinations)

• Generally take up 3 or 4 A-Levels.

• A-Levels state examinations and are recognized by all UK

universities, and by institution worldwide.
 Higher Education (HE)
• Bachelor’s Degree or an Undergraduate Degree that usually
takes 3 years (4 years in Scotland).

• BA (Bachelor of Arts), BEng (Bachelor of Engineering, and BSc

(Bachelor of Science ).

• A student may also apply for postgraduate programme and a

PhD.
 Further Education (FE)
• Stage of education between compulsory education and higher
education.

• Purposes:
-To prepare you for seeking a job
-To prepare you to get admitted into the university.
 Full English Breakfast

 Meal often served in UK includes, bacon,

sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked
beans, tomatoes and mushrooms and a
beverage such as coffee or tea.

 Popular in Britain and Ireland that may

cafés and pubs offer the meal at any time
of day as an “all-day breakfast”.
 Also known as sausages and mash

 Traditional dish consists of sausages and

mashed potato, and is often accompanied
with peas and gravy.

 Can usually be found on a menu in most

pubs across the country, or can be made
very easily at home.