Intercultural Studies I

THE UK

COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

In the north – west coast of Europe, there are two large islands and then smaller ones. The
largest one is called Great Britain and the other larger one is called Ireland. In this area there are
two states and one of those states governs most of the island of Ireland. This state is called The
Republic of Ireland. The other state has the authority over the rest of the area (the whole Great
Britain, the north – eastern of Ireland and most of the smaller islands). The official name is
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but it is referred as The United Kingdom.
The countries inside the United Kingdom are:
- England (London)
- Scotland (Edinburgh)
- Wales (Cardiff)
- Northern Ireland (Dublin)

British and English are not the same: British means that you can be either from England. Wales,
Scotland or Northern Ireland, while being English means that you are from England.

GEOGRAPHY

Climate: One of the most common British stereotypes is regarded to the weather. People think
that it rains all the time, which is not really true. London gets no more rain in a year than most
of other European cities, and less than some. The amount of rain depends on where it is. The
further west you go; the more rain you get. The difference between weather and climate is the
measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time
and climate is how the atmosphere behaves over long periods of time.
Snow is common in the higher areas only.
The winters are colder in the east than in the west, while in the summer the south is warmer
and sunnier than in the north.

Land: It is said that Britain has a lack of extremes because of the characteristics of the land and
climate. There are mountains but they’re not very high, it also has flat lands but you can’t travel
far without encountering hills. Regarding to climate: it doesn’t get very cold in the winter or very
hot in the summer.

Living areas: Much of the land is used for human habitation and places have changed because
of human influence: the forests that once covered the land have now disappeared.
English and Welsh don’t like living in blocks or flats in the city and the proportion of people that
do so is lower in continental European cities. As a result, cities in England and Wales have been
built outwards rather than upwards. However, most people live in towns or cities rather than in
villages or in the countryside.

Environment and pollution: pollution used to be a problem in Britain since it was the first
industrialized country and they suffered the contamination of the atmosphere. Air pollution was
a problem and so was water pollution (River Thames). During the 60s and the 70s, open coal

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fires were forbidden and that helped to stop pollution from factories, but one scene in a
Hollywood film was all it took to symbolize London.
The pollution problems nowadays are because of cars.

London: it is the largest city in western union and it dominates Britain. It is the home to the
headquarters of all government departments, the country’s parliament and the monarch. It is
also the country’s business and banking centre. It contains the headquarters of the national TV
networks and all the national newspapers. The majority of London people live in suburbs.
London has a big cultural variety since more than 300 languages are spoken there, its
restaurants offer cuisine from more than 70 different countries and nearly a third of people in
London were born outside Britain.

England can be divided into 3:

1. Southern England: this is the most densely populated area in the UK. Kent is known as
“the garden of England”. The Downs are a series of hills that are used for sheep farming.
Many retired people live along the south coast. Employment has always been mainly in
trade and manufacturing. There was never heavy industry.

2. The Midlands of England: here is Birmingham, the second Britain’s largest city. This
area developed into the country’s major engineering centre. Factories in Birmingham still
convert iron and steel into goods. On the east coast they have the country’s major fish
processing centre.
The place of birth of Shakespeare and Robin Hood.

3. Northern England: it was the place where industrial revolution first took place since
here they have deposits of coal, used to provide power, and iron, used to make machinery.
The Manchester area is connected to Liverpool by a canal. Manchester became the world’s
leader producer of cotton goods and woollen goods.

Scotland: part of the economy depends on sheep farming. There are highlands that consists of
mountains and deep valleys. Tourism is very important for the economy and so is the production
of whiskey.
The two major cities are: Glasgow (the largest one) is associated with heavy industry and some of
the worst housing conditions in Britain. It has a strong artistic heritage since this city is at the
front of European design and architecture. The other city is Edinburgh: it has a middle class
image and is also the capital of Scotland and the seat of its parliament. It is associated with
scholarship, the law and administration. It also has the annual festival of the arts.

Wales: as in Scotland, most people live in one small part of it. The capital is Cardiff. It is the
only part of Britain with a high proportion of industrial villages.

Northern Ireland: this region is mainly agricultural.

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THE FOUR NATIONS

The political unification took place when the Irish parliament joined the Parliament of England,
Scotland and Wales in Westminster, and the whole area became a single state: The United
Kingdom.
The dominant culture of people in Ireland, Wales and Highlands Scotland was Celtic whereas
people in England and Lowlands Scotland was Germanic. People in the Celtic areas spoke Celtic
languages and people in Germanic areas spoke Germanic dialects.

The dominance of England: the system of politics that is used in the four nations is of
English origin and English is the main language of the four nations, as well. Many aspects of
everyday life are organized according to English customs. The supply of money in Britain is
controlled by the Bank of England.

National loyalties: there has been a long history of migration from Scotland, Wales and
Ireland to England so as a result, there are millions of people who live in England but who would
never describe themselves as English.

IDENTITY

Ethnic identity: some people in England show their loyalty by joining social clubs for exiles
from one of the other nation. These clubs promote national folk music and organize parties on
special national days. For people living in Scotland, there are constants reminders of their
distinctiveness. For example, many aspects of their public life, such as education and the legal
system, are organized separately from the rest of Britain. The way of speaking English is
different. To be Scottish means that every 25 of January they attend “Burns suppers” where they
read from the work of the eighteenth century poet Robert Burns, wear kilts, sing traditional
songs and dance traditional dances. People of Wales don’t have as many reminders: the
organization of public life is similar to that of England and there are not so many well – known
symbols of Welshness. Nevertheless, there is one important symbol of identity: Welsh language.
Everybody in Wales can speak English, but it is not the first language, since the mother tongue
is Welsh. All children in Wales learn it in schools, there are local newspapers in Welsh, a Welsh
television channel and all public notices and signs are written in both Welsh and English. In
Northern Ireland, ethnicity, family, politics and religion are all inter – related, and social class
has a minor role in their identity. There are people from Lowlands or England and some people
that are native. Although they live together, they are very different, for example, they listen to
different radio programmes and watch different TV programmes. They march to commemorate
different anniversaries and children go to different schools.

British people are not actively patriotic. They often feel uncomfortable is, in a conversation with
somebody from another country, that person refers to them as being Britain or the British
government because they don’t feel that they are personally representing their country.
Nowadays the term “Britishness” is becoming more important and maybe it is because it reflects
the need to find common values in a multicultural society.

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There are many different ethnicities represented in Britain, for example, the Caribbean one.
Several forms of Caribbean music have taken root in Britain and have had influence beyond the
Caribbean community. The most popular street festival in Europe was started by Caribbean
immigrants.
The other group comes from the Indian continent. In Britain they are known as “Asians”.
Members of their communities have retained their languages, religions, music, dress and food.

Gender: British people invest about the same amount of their identity in their gender as people
in other parts of Europe. But, in terms of everyday habits and mannerism, British society
probably expects sharper difference between the sexes than most other European societies do.

Social life: the everyday contacts that British people make is something important for them
since there is a desire to belong. The clubs and pubs play an important role on people’s lives
because they can meet people with similar interests.

Religion and politics: in comparison to other European countries, neither religion nor politics
is an important part of a person’s social identity in Britain. This is because they don’t go together
in any way.

THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

The UK is a parliamentary monarchy, it means that Britain is a democracy, but its people are
not in control of the state. The people of Britain are subjects of the Crown, accepting the Queen
as the head of the state (she is also a symbol of unity) and the Queen receives her authority
from the Parliament. It means that she reins but doesn’t rule. The queen is visited regularly by
the Prime Minister to be consulted on matters of public life.
The monarchy is hereditary, it passes automatically to the oldest male child, and if there’s no
male child, it passes to the oldest female offspring of the monarch. By law, the monarch must be
a protestant and the succession is right after the monarch’s death. The powers of the monarch
nowadays are: to prorogue and dissolve Parliament, to give royal assent to legislation passed by
Parliament, to appoint government ministers, judges, officers of the armed forces, governors,
diplomats and bishops of church; to remit sentences passed on convicted criminals; and finally
to declare war on or make peace with an enemy.
In the UK, Parliament is the supreme legislative body of the state and it is in the Palace of
Westminster. Free from the constraints of a written constitution it may make any laws it
pleases, the only guarantee against parliamentary tyranny is the sense of tradition and
reasonableness of its members. The functions of the parliament are to pass laws, to raise
enough money through taxation, to examine government policy and administration and to
debate political issues. The government of the day can call for a general election at any time
during the five-year term. Each parliament is divided into annual sessions.
In the UK, parliament has two chambers: House of Lords and House of Commons. Members of
House of Lords are not elected, they qualify because they are bishops, aristocrats, people with
titles or judges, The Lords shares the task of making and shaping laws and checking and
challenging the work of the government. The House of Commons has seats that are occupied by
members of Parliament who are elected by the British. The House of Commons makes laws,
agrees on policy and decides what taxes people must pay. The members are chosen by the
people every five years.
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The Whitehall is the seat of government. The one person who is elected forms a government on
the queen’s behalf. The essential core is the Cabinet: it is formed by the ministers invited by the
Prime Minister to belong to it. The Prime Minister is the leader of the UK government and is
responsible for the policy and decisions of the government. He is the principal government
figure in The House of Commons (2020: Boris Johnson.)

The electoral and party system: the UK is divided into constituencies and each of them elects a
member of parliament to sit in the House of Commons.
All British citizens may vote provided they are 18, are registered and are not disqualified by
insanity, membership of The House of Lords or by being sentenced prisoners. Voting is not
compulsory. The one that gets the most votes is who turns a Member of the Commons. This
system is known as “first past the post” and other candidates, even if they come close to the
winner, won’t get a seat in the parliament.
Members of the parliament are normally chosen by the branch of the party from a list of
candidates.
It is essentially a two party system: The Conservative (right wing political system) and the Labour
party (more democratic. This is the party of social justice.)

The Queen, head of state, opens and closes Parliament. All new laws are debated by Members of
Parliament in The Commons, then debated in The Lords, and finally signed by the Queen. All
three are part of Parliament in Britain.
The House of Commons has a speaker; whose job is to keep The House in order.

To sum up, Parliament is the real government of Britain. It has two Houses: Commons and
Lords. Lords are not elected. They have little power now but still can suggest new laws and
change or delay laws that the Commons wants to pass. The Commons makes laws, agrees on
policy and decides what taxes people must pay. People choose the 650 members of the Commons
every five years. The party that gets the most members into parliament makes the new
government. The leader of the winning party is the Prime Minister who chooses the members of
the Cabinet, that are called ministers. Each minister has a special job, for example education or
health.

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

Education in Britain is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16. Parents can choose to send
their children to nursery school or pre-school. Children start primary school at the age of 5 and
continue until they are 11. At 11, most pupils go to secondary school called comprehensives
schools until they are 16. At 16 students take a national exam called General Certificate of
Secondary Education and then they can leave school if they want to. Others choose to go to a
college of further education to study for more practical diplomas relating to the world of work.
Universities take students with A levels from 18.
All state schools in Britain are free and schools provide their pupils with books and equipment.
Private schools are also called independent schools, they are for wealthy people and only 7% of
British children go there. Some independent schools are called prep schools because they
prepare the children for the Common Entrance Exam which they take at the age of 13 in order to
enter the best schools.
Public schools are for very wealthy people: aristocrats. Families have to put the child’s name in
a waiting list at birth to be sure the kid gets a place. The most famous school is Eton.
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Nowadays one of the problems is that universities complain about students for not having a
necessary basic knowledge. Britain also suffer from lack of teachers because not all people of the
teaching training courses remain in the profession and this is because teachers in England have
a low status. Another problem is equality: university education has become more important so
now universities accept students with poor exam results if they come from a disadvantage
background.

Primary education begins in the UK at age 5 and continues until age 11.

From age 11 to 16, students will enter secondary school. Primary and secondary education is
mandatory in the UK; after age 16, education is optional.

Once a student finishes secondary education they have the option to extend into further
education, from 16 to 18, to take their A-Levels exam in order to be able to attend college.

From age 18 they can study higher education (college/university)

THE USA

THE FIRST AMERICANS

Even though it is believed that Columbus was the first European in arrive in America, we know
now that people from Europe had already gone to North America long before Columbus arrived.
These European were the Vikings, but they stayed for a short period of time, maybe one or two
years.
When Columbus arrived in America, he thought it was Asia because he wanted to go to India. He
was interested in going far away because people believed that there were treasures, such as
spices, jewellery and gold. Europeans also wanted to spread their religion to new lands.
When Columbus returned to Europe, Spain sent soldiers to start colonies and trading centres in
North and South America.
When he arrived in America, he called the black people living there “Indians” because he thought
he was in India. Today we call these people Native Americans because they were the first people
to live in America, that’s why they are also called “The First Americans”.
The American Indians are part of the same racial group as the Chinese and Japanese, they are
related to the ancient people of Asia.
So, to sum up, people had lived in America for at least seventeen thousand years before
Columbus arrived. The first Americans were the Asians from Siberia, they probably arrived in
Alaska after following big animals to hunt. But then, the climate warmed and the glaciers
melted, so the descendants of the Asians hunters spread out over north and south America.
However, recent archaeological evidence suggests that the early migrants may have been people
from Europe, not Asia.

In the 60s, during the civil right movement, Native American groups had the chance to improve
their lives since they promoted an American Indian identity and renewed pride in their culture.

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They were given the right to use their tribal laws on the reservations. They also asked for
improvements in the economy and education so Indian tribal colleges were established and
native American languages were taught un public schools.

American Indians today: We know very little about them because when the Europeans arrived
in the late fifteenth century, they destroyed everything and killed lots of native Americans in
order to claim the land. Europeans also brought diseases that killed Americans as well.
Nowadays they have social, psychological and cultural problems, such as unemployment, lack of
education and health problems.
Some of them live in their own communities in areas called reservations, the government kept
those reservations only for American Indians use. The reservations are often poor lands that
nobody wanted and others are good for farming.

GEOGRAPHY

Artic and tropical climates are limited to high mountains tops (Alaska, Florida).
The middle latitudes are known for wide variations in temperature and rainfall.
The more distant a place is from the ocean, the more it has extreme temperatures in summer
and winter.
The areas between mountains and plains are arid.
In the east, rainfall increases. The rain often comes with heavy storms and hurricanes, with
rapid temperature changes as cold Canadian air collides with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico.

In winter, Canadian air moves south, spreading cold weather to the plain and lowlands and
causing storms in the southern edge. In summer, that stormy edge moves north as gulf air
brings hot weather that eliminates the temperature difference between the north and south.

Along the pacific, in the north west the climate is drizzly because of warm air that comes from
the coast of Alaska. In summer, it has mild air from the pacific and it doesn’t rain too much
there. In the south, summer is dry and hot.
In the north east, during autumn, the days are mild and the nights are frosty.

The north east: this region is densely populated and highly urban. It is the nation’s economic
and cultural centre.
Here, New England is divided into 2 parts: Southern New England (Massachusetts, Connecticut
and Rhode Island) has natural resources and a big population. There are institutions of higher
education and research. This region is also leader in business methods and technology industry.
The Northern of New England (Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire) is mountain area, part of
the economy depends on tourism. This region has harbours and it is the nation’s premier port
cities.

The south: this region includes the 11 states from Virginia to Texas. Agriculture is very
important. The industry moved to this region because of the energy it provides and the natural
resources, like oil and iron.

The mid – west: it includes the states bordering the Great Lakes. This is a farm region.

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The west: cattle and sheep ranching are important for the economy. Mining, the petroleum
industry and tourism are also important for the economy.

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

USA is a Federal Republic, it is representative democracy, meaning that people can vote to
choose the president, but it’s not compulsory. Under federalism, the principle of limited
government was achieved by dividing authority between the central government and the states.
USA has an elected head of state which is the President. The federal government has the power
to control communications among states, borrow money and declare war. But each state has its
own criminal justice system, public schools, marriage and divorce laws.
The function of the president of the USA is to be responsible for administering the laws passed
by congress. He presides the executive branch and is elected to a 4 – year term, having the
chance to be re-elected for a second term. He represents the country, entertains foreign leaders
and addresses the public. He appoints foreign ambassadors and make treaties with other
countries. He is also head of the political party. The election system is based on the “winner
take all”: only one candidate (the one with the most votes) is elected from any one district.
In the USA the power of the government is limited by the Constitution, that ensures that
government power won’t be usurped by small powerful groups. To protect the government
against this possibility, the USA has a federal government, has a division of powers between
three branches (legislative, executive and judicial) and has a system of checks and balances
to restrict the powers of each branch.
Legislative branch: the function is to make laws. This branch is made up of representatives
elected to Congress. The Congress is formed by two houses: The House of Representatives and
the Senate. The number of representatives each state sends to The House depends on the
number of districts in each state and each district chooses one representative. The most
populated states have more districts and, therefore, more representatives. Each representative is
elected to a 2-year term. The Senate is the smallest of the 2 bodies. Each state, regardless
population, has two senators. The senatorial term is 6 years and every 2 years, one third of the
senate stands for election.
How a bill becomes a law: each house of congress makes laws and each may initiate legislation.
A law first begins as a bill and once the bill is introduced, it is sent to a committee, because each
house of congress has committees that are specialized in a particular area of legislation. Once
the bill is in the committee, it is studied by the members, and then sent to the Senate. After a
debate, the bill is voted. If it passes, it is sent to other house where it goes through the same
process. The senate can reject a bill and, if it happens, a conference committee made up of
members from both houses tries to work it out. If both sides agree on the new version, the bill is
sent to the president for the signature ad the bill becomes a law.
Executive branch: the function is to be responsible for administering the laws passed by
congress.
Judicial branch: it is headed by The Supreme Court. The function of the judicial branch is to
determine whether laws of Congress or actions of the president violate the Constitution.
A US President is limited by the constitution to two four-year terms in office.

USA election problems: lack of unity, you need to be register, elections campaign tend to be
very long and people sometimes lose interest, elections are held on Tuesdays - a working day,
choices are limited because there are only two party system: republicans: conservatives, they
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believe in a system of government without any classes of privileges by birth o by occupational

class. And democrats: who are more liberal.

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

School attendance is compulsory for all children. From kindergarten to grade 12, education is
tax supported. In the US mandatory school age is from 5 to 18 years old.
Education opportunities are varied: high school students at the same level don’t take the same
courses because those who don’t plan to go to university may be enrolled in classes such as
basic accounting or typing, along with the core curriculum courses (maths, English, science and
social studies) and the ones who want to go to college may take college preparatory courses. The
reason why education is that varied is because there is no such thing as a national education
system in the USA. In public schools, all decisions are made by boards of education at the state
or district level and also what is spent for education is determined by state and local leaders,
that’s why education standards differ from state to state.
Even though there is no national curriculum, there are certain subjects that are taught in all
states and apart from this, students are able to choose elective courses of their areas of interest.
One of the main problems of the education in the USA is the fact that public schools receive
money from the funds of local property taxes, so districts that have a lower income will have less
money to spend in education so they will have less materials and the salaries are going to be
lower. Even though the federal government has increased its share of school financing and now
contributes a little bit more, inequalities are still there.

- kindergarten 5 year – olds

- primary school 6 - 12 year – olds
- middle class from 13 to 15
- high school from 16 to 18. They take the SAT exam in order to be able to attend college.

Schools were desegregated in 1954. Before that, black schools were given less money than white
schools.

There are public schools that depend on the taxed of the state and children can study for free,
whereas private schools depend on donations and they are run by religious people.

Ivy League is the popular name for the eight private schools and universities of the USA:
Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Dartmouth and Cornell. To some, ivy
league means elite institutions that have the purpose of maintaining the country’s ruling class.
To others, they are the pathway to top corporate and government jobs. There are others that
think of them as a way to gain prestige. The tuition is still very expensive but about half of the
students receive financial help.

UK AND USA DIFFERENCIES IN THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

Mandatory schooling in UK is from 5 to 16 years old while in the US mandatory school age is
from 5 to 18 years old.

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Students can study for free in the USA in the public schools, while in the UK those schools are
called state schools and the public schools are not for free but for wealthy and very important
people.

In the UK, at the age of 16 pupils take a national exam called General Certificate of Secondary
Education – GCSE – and then they can leave school if they want. Others prepare themselves
from the age of 16 to 18 for taking the A level exam so they can get into university, while others
choose to go to a college of further education to study for more practical diplomas relating to the
world of work. So in the UK you have to make decision about your future at a younger age than
in the USA. On the other hand, in America high school students who don’t plan to go to college
can be enrolled in classes such as basic accounting, typing, along with the core curriculum
courses such as math, science and English. And students who want to go to college can be
enrolled in college – preparatory courses.

UK AND USA SIMILARITIES IN THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

Both the USA and the UK have prestigious and known universities which are very expensive and
it takes a lot of previous work from students to get into one of them. In the USA they have the Ivy
League universities and in the UK the best known are Oxford and Cambridge.

Students can study for free in the schools that are supported by taxes and that pupils don’t go to
the school they want but to the one that’s near the area they live and that works that way in
both countries.

If you want to go to university you have to take exams in both places. The exam in the USA is
called SAT and the one in the UK is called “A” levels. You have to pass those exams in order to be
able to attend a good university.

THE BRITISH EMPIRE: it refers to the countries that were under the rule of Britain from the
15th century until the 20th century. Britain wanted to take over as much territory as it could, and
in order to do that, the British started to set up colonies around the world. Those colonies
included parts of North America, islands in the West Indies, India, Australia, New Zealand and
several countries in Africa.
Britain wanted to gain more territory because there were many countries in Europe, such as
Spain and France, that also were competing for trade and sources of materials.
Most of the colonies became independent in the 20 th century because it was not morally
acceptable to take over countries and exploit them.

The building of the empire started in 1497 when John Cabot reached Canada and claimed to
have found new land for king Henry VII.
The first British colony in North America was Virginia, which was settled in 1585.
After 1612, the East India Company began to build up a small empire of trading posts in India.

After a war with France, Britain was able to take control over Canada and also claimed several
islands in the West Indies, which then became Britain’s most valuable colonies because there
they produced sugar and tobacco. Also, the British victory was significant as it resulted in
France supporting America in the War of Independence just over a decade later. After the
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American Revolution (1765 – 1783) the British empire lost the US colonies but they discovered
Australia, where they established a penal colony.
By the 18th century, Britain had 13 colonies. In 1776, thirteen American colonies joined
together to form the United States of America and declare themselves independent from Britain.
They stopped paying taxes to Britain and no longer recognised Britain as being in charge of
them. As a result, Britain sent troops to fight them in a war. France, Spain and the Netherlands
took sides with the United States and eventually Britain surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown in
1781. America was no longer ruled by the British King, George III, and instead George
Washington was chosen as its first president.

In 1840, New Zealand came under British power.

In 1843, Hong Kong became a colony.
In 1857, India became the most important colony and Queen Victoria took the title of empress of
India.

The empire began as a commercial enterprise and the government gave companies the right to
trade in certain areas of the world. The most famous of these companies was East India
Company which took control of India.
During the slave trade, British merchants transported around 3 million people from West Africa
to America to work on plantations.
Over the end of the 19th century, many countries were fighting to take control over Africa. The
British took large areas of the south and the east of Africa and some western states.

During the 20th century, the idea of empire was very unpopular and also Britain couldn’t support
the cost of administering one anymore. Besides, the two world wars made Britain financially
weak and many countries of the empire wanted to be independent.
Britain faced economic problems because of the cost of the war, and it was becoming harder to
run the Empire. In addition to the mounting cost of running the empire, President Roosevelt
tried to encourage Britain to give freedom to its colonies in Africa. However, Britain didn’t want
to give up the colonies completely, so instead of granting them full freedom Britain began to
introduce democracy to local areas within the colonies.
Eventually, nationalists in the African colonies felt that enough was enough and started
protesting and rioting against the British. With all of their money problems, Britain could simply
not afford to deal with this as well. Eventually, independence was granted to these colonies and
luckily, between the 1950s and 1980s, Britain lost control of all of its colonies in Africa.
In 1931 Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa were officially independent
communities and the rest of the countries of the empire became independent after the second
world war, for example, India won its independence in 1947 and Hong Kong was restored to
China in 1997.

The commonwealth is an association of 53 independent nations and several British

dependencies, most of which used to be part of the British empire. This organization was set up
in 1931. The aims were: world peace, the defence of democracy and improve human rights,
health and education.
The head of the commonwealth is the king or queen of Britain, the base is in London and a
conference, organized by the secretary takes place every two years.

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The British Empire was dismantled and replaced by a voluntary organisation of former colonies
called the Commonwealth:

In 1926, the British government agreed the Balfour Declaration – that Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa were completely independent countries, "freely associated as members
of the British Commonwealth of Nations".
In 1947, India and Pakistan were given independence.
In 1960, British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan admitted there was a "wind of change" in
Africa. Most of Britain's African and Caribbean colonies achieved independence in the 1960s.
In 1973, Britain joined the European Economic Community and became part of a trading
community based on free trade between the countries of Europe.
In 1997, Britain formally handed Hong Kong back to China.

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