Kingdom of Great Britain

Scots:	Great Breetain
Welsh:	Prydain Fawr
Cornish:	Breten Veur
Scottish Gaelic:	Breatainn
	1707–1801
	Flag Royal coat of arms
	Anthem: 'God Save the King'/'Queen'
	Location of Great Britain in 1789 in dark green; Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Hanover in light green
Capital	London; 51°30′N 0°7′W / 51°30′N 0°7′W / 51.500; -0.117
Common languages	English (official), Scots, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic
Religion	Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Judaism, others
Demonym(s)	British, Briton
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Monarch
• 1707–1714	Anne
• 1714–1727	George I
• 1727–1760	George II
• 1760–1801	George III
Prime Minister
• 1721–1742	Robert Walpole
• 1742–1743	Earl of Wilmington
• 1743–1754	Henry Pelham
• 1757–1762	Duke of Newcastle
• 1766–1768	William Pitt the Elder
• 1770–1782	Lord North
• 1783–1801	William Pitt the Younger
Legislature	Parliament of Great Britain
• Upper house	House of Lords
• Lower house	House of Commons
History
• Treaty of Union	22 July 1706
• Acts of Union	1 May 1707
• Union with Ireland	1 January 1801
Area
Total	230,977 km2 (89,181 sq mi)
Population
• 1707	7,000,000
• 1801	10,500,000
Currency	Pound sterling
ISO 3166 code	GB
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	England
	Scotland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Today part of	United Kingdom
	^ Monarch of England and Scotland from 1702 to 1707.; ^ Continued as monarch of the United Kingdom until 1820.;

The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially called Great Britain,^[1]^[2] was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 1 January 1801. The state came into being following the Treaty of Union in 1706, ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of England (which included Wales) and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. The former kingdoms had been in personal union since James VI of Scotland became King of England and King of Ireland in 1603 following the death of Elizabeth I, bringing about the "Union of the Crowns". Since its inception the kingdom was in legislative and personal union with Ireland and after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the kingdom was in a personal union with the Electorate of Hanover.

The early years of the newly united kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. In 1763, victory in the Seven Years' War led to the dominance of the British Empire, which was to become the foremost global power for over a century and slowly grew to become the largest empire in history.

From the mid-1750s the Kingdom came to dominate the Indian subcontinent through the aggressive expansion of the East India Trading Company, and until suffering defeat in the American War of Independence it claimed vast swathes of the North American continent through its burgeoning American colonies.

The Kingdom of Great Britain was replaced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801 with the Acts of Union 1800.^[3]

Etymology

The name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne) and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474.^[4]

The use of the word "Great" before "Britain" originates in the French language, which uses Bretagne for both Britain and Brittany. French therefore distinguishes between the two by calling Britain la Grande Bretagne, a distinction which was transferred into English.^[5]

The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain",^[6] and as such "Great Britain" was the official name of the state, as well as being used in titles such as "Parliament of Great Britain".^[2]^[7]^[8] Both the Acts and the Treaty describe the country as "One Kingdom" and a "United Kingdom", which has led some much later publications into the error of treating the "United Kingdom" as a name before it actually came into being in 1801.^[9]^[10] The websites of the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, and others, including the Historical Association, refer to the state created on 1 May 1707 as the United Kingdom of Great Britain.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15] The term United Kingdom was sometimes used during the 18th century to describe the state, but was not its name.^[16]^[17]