Kingdom of Great Britain

The Kingdom of Great Britain was created on 1 May 1707 by the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland (→ Act of Union 1707). A common parliament and a common government in the City of Westminster administered the country. Scotland and England had already been united in personal union since 1603. Before that, Wales had already become part of England (→ Acts for the incorporation of Wales 1535-1542).

In 1707, a "British monarchy" replaced the English and Scottish monarchies, which had previously been ruled by the same person through personal union. The Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England were dissolved. In their place was created the new Parliament of Great Britain. Both countries gained seats in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Scotland was able to send fewer representatives to the House of Commons, 45, and to the House of Lords, 16 Representative Peers, than was commensurate with its share of the population. From 1714 there was a personal union with Electoral Hanover, also called Great Britain-Hanover.

As early as 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain included numerous colonies in North America (the Thirteen Colonies from which the United States of America emerged) and the Caribbean (Barbados, Jamaica). Numerous trading companies existed for the purpose of settling and economically developing claimed territories. The kingdom extended its colonial space and sphere of influence by territories in North America (Canada), Australia, West Africa as well as on the Indian subcontinent (Calcutta, Ceylon), and thus transferred the British Empire, which was to reach its peak in the 19th century, into its second phase. It had to cope with the breakaway of the USA due to the lost American War of Independence, but was able to lay the foundation for replacing the Spanish colonial empire as the first world power of the modern era and to assert itself against other rising European maritime powers such as the Kingdom of France or the Netherlands.

There was no agreement on the official name of the state at the legislative level. The Act of Union 1707 refers in some places to a United Kingdom of Great Britain ("United Kingdom of Great Britain"). However, the Union with Scotland (Amendment) Act 1707 (which deals with the formalities of amalgamation) and the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Act 1707 (which enshrines the unchanged status of the Church of Scotland) refer to the Kingdom of Great Britain throughout.

The Kingdom of Great Britain was replaced by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 January 1801.

See also

• until 1707: Kingdom of England, History of England, List of the rulers of England
• 1707 to 1800: History of the Kingdom of Great Britain
• 1801 to 1927: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and History of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• since 1927: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• on the historical development of English law: common law or Anglo-American legal system