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Great Britain (Scottish Gaelic Breatainn Mhòr, Welsh Prydain Fawr, Cornish Breten Veur, Scots Graet Breetain) is the political term describing the political union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland made on 1 May 1707 under King James I of England - "the two kingdoms of Scotland and England shall...be united into one kingdom by the name of Great Britain".[2] In pure geographic terms, the island is correctly referred to as "Britain", though in many instances it is referred to by its political name. Britain is the ninth largest island in the world. It is also the third most populated island on earth, with a population of 58 million people. It lies to the northwest of Continental Europe, with Ireland to the west, and makes up the largest part of the territory of the country known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Wales is a principality of the Kingdom of England and is thus included in this term. It is surrounded by over 1,000[3] smaller islands and islets. "Great Britain" is the eastern island of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Politically, "Great Britain" describes the combination of England, Scotland, and Wales, and therefore also includes a number of outlying islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland. It does not include the outlying islands of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands as they have independent legislative and taxation systems.[4][5] Great Britain evolved politically into a union of England and Scotland from a personal union in 1603 with the Union of Crowns under James VI of Scotland, I of England. The political union that merged the two countries happened with the Acts of Union in 1707 which merged the parliaments of each nation and thus resulted in the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain, which covered the entire island.
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