Сократить текст the united kingdom of great britain and northern lreland (the uk) is the official name of the state which is situated on the british isles thus, «great britain is often the same as kbritain or «the united kingdom or just kuk it consists of four countries which are england, scotland, wales and northern ireland. you can see them on the map their capitals are london, edinburgh, cardiff and belfast the uk is an island state. the two main islands are great britain (where england, scotland and wales are situated) and ireland northern ireland and the independent lrish republic are there. the two islands are separated by the irish sea the uk is separated from the continent by the english channel and the strait of dover. once the british lsles used to be a part of the continent. the nearest point to europe is the strait of dover the uk is also washed by the atlantic ocean in the north and the north sea in the east