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The history of the British Isles has witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of Great Britain, Ireland, and the smaller adjacent islands, which together make up the British Isles, as well as with France, Germany, the Low Countries, Denmark, Scandinavia, etc.

Today, the British Isles contain two sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. There are also three Crown dependencies: Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The United Kingdom may be further broken down into four constituent Home Nations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Each of these nations bears its own history, with all but Northern Ireland having been independent states at one point. The History of the formation of the United Kingdom is very complex.

The British monarch was head of state of all of the countries of the British Isles from the Union of the Crowns in 1603 until the enactment of the Republic of Ireland Act in 1949, although it's important to note that the term "British Isles" was not yet current in 1603. Additionally, since the independence of Ireland, historians of the region often avoid the term British Isles due to the complexity of relations between the peoples of the archipelago (see: British Isles (terminology)).

Periods

• Ancient Britain (Prehistory–AD 43)
  • Prehistoric Scotland
  • Prehistoric Wales
• Roman Britain (44–407)
• Sub-Roman Britain (407–597)
• Britain in the Middle Ages (597-1485)
  • Anglo-Saxon England (597–1066)
  • Norman Conquest of England (1066)
  • Scotland in the High Middle Ages (900-1286)
  • Scotland in the Late Middle Ages (1286-1513)
    • Wars of Scottish Independence (1296-1357)
• Early modern Britain
  • Tudor period (1485-1603)
    • Tudor re-conquest of Ireland
    • English Renaissance
    • Elizabethan era (1558-1603)
  • First British Empire (1583-1783)
  • Union of the Crowns (1603)
  • Jacobean era (1603-1625)
  • Caroline era (1625-1642)
  • English Civil War (1642–1651)
  • English Interregnum (1651–1660)
  • Restoration (1660)
  • Glorious Revolution (1688)
  • Scottish Enlightenment
• History of the United Kingdom (1707- )
  • Second British Empire (1783-1815)
  • Georgian era (1714-1830)
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801-1922)
    • Britain's Imperial Century (1815-1914)
    • Regency (1811-1820)
    • Victorian era (1837-1901)
    • Edwardian period (1901-1910)
    • Britain in World War I (1914-1918)
    • Coalition Government 1916–1922
  • United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1922 - )
    • Conservative Government 1922–1924
    • Conservative Government 1924–1929
    • Labour Government 1929–1931
    • National Government 1931–1935
    • National Government 1935–1940
    • Britain in World War II (1939-1945)
    • History of the United Kingdom (1945–present)
    • Premiership of Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990)
    • Premiership of Tony Blair (1997-2007)
    • Premiership of Gordon Brown
• History of the Republic of Ireland (1922 to present)

Timeline history of the British Isles

Geographic

• History of England
  • History of Cornwall
  • History of London
• History of Scotland
• History of Wales
• History of Ireland
  • History of Northern Ireland
  • History of the Republic of Ireland
• History of the Isle of Man
• History of Jersey

States

• States in Medieval Britain
• Kingdom of England (to 1707)
• Kingdom of Scotland (to 1707)
• Kingdom of Ireland (1541 – 1801)
• Kingdom of Great Britain (1707 – 1801)
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 – 1927)
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 – )

• British Empire and the Commonwealth
• Isle of Man (unrecorded date to present)

See also

• British military history
• Economic history of Great Britain
• Geology of the United Kingdom - for history before human occupation
• History of British society
• List of natural disasters in the United Kingdom

Further reading

• A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 BC - 1603 AD by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2000 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6
• A History of Britain, Volume 2: The Wars of the British 1603-1776 by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2001 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6
• The British Isles: A History of Four Nations by Hugh Kearney, Cambridge University Press 2nd edition 2006, ISBN 978-0521846004
• A History of Britain - The Complete Collection on DVD by Simon Schama, BBC 2002
• The Isles, A History by Norman Davies, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-19-513442-7
• Shortened History of England by G. M. Trevelyan Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-023323-7
• This Sceptred Isle: 55BC-1901 by Christopher Lee Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-026133-8 (originally a radio series )
• The Reduced History of Britain - by Chas Newkey-Burden

External links

• World History Database
• The most comprehensive sites on British History
• Encyclopedia of British History
• 1000 years of British history
• British History Online
• Homepage of the BBC History website
• British History Interactive Timeline
• Rutgers University Libraries - American and British History
• British History at about.com
• English History and Heritage guide - History of England
• The British History Site with rss feed#
• Mytimemachine.co.uk
• The History Files

• British Isles
• History of the British Isles