Great Britain and its borders

The constitutional construction of the territory of Great Britain dates from 1707, with the consolidation of the kingdoms of England, Wales, and Scotland, although prior to this, there had been a single Scottish and English monarch from the beginning of the 17th century. Ireland was effectively a British colony, until in 1801 the Act of Union created the state known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The division of Ireland in 1921 saw the emergence of the Irish Free State (later Eire), which left the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The devolution process in Great Britain implemented by the end of the 20th century has seen the creation of a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, with some shifting of political authority from London.

Within the chronological and geographic framework of this overview, therefore, notions of “Britishness,” particularly with regard to the Irish, are somewhat complex. Coupled with the existence of separate English, Welsh, and Scottish identities, with sets of cultural and social values, as well as the fluctuating importance of Welsh and Gaelic (Scots) languages, this can make for a complex framework of British history. Although the main emphasis in this encyclopedia is on immigration and migration beyond the boundaries of a state, some attention needs to be paid in particular to the movement of the Irish into mainland Britain, since this has had a dramatic impact upon British society and culture.