The Acts of Union (1707)

The path to full union began in 1603, when Queen Elizabeth I of England died without an heir. The throne passed to her cousin, James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England as well. This is known as the Union of the Crowns — England and Scotland shared the same monarch, but remained separate kingdoms with separate parliaments.

For over a century the two kingdoms were joined only through their shared monarch, but political and economic pressures eventually led to a more formal union.

In 1707, the Acts of Union were passed by both the English and Scottish parliaments, formally uniting England and Scotland as the Kingdom of Great Britain. Scotland's Parliament in Edinburgh was dissolved and Scottish MPs took their seats at Westminster in London. The two countries now shared a single Parliament, though Scotland retained its own legal and church systems.

The union brought economic benefits to Scotland, including access to English trade and overseas markets, but was controversial in Scotland and remains a subject of debate today.

In 1800, a further Act of Union brought Ireland into the union, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland had been under English and then British rule for centuries, but the Act of Union gave Irish MPs seats at Westminster. Most of Ireland later left the union in 1922, and the country was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.