At the height of its imperial power, Britain’s army was one of the largest on Earth. A century later, the same country fields fewer regular soldiers than Vietnam, Egypt, and dozens of others.
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Most people associate the colonial age in the Americas with England, France, or Spain. But Scotland had its own ambitious plans stretched across five locations from the Galápagos Islands to the jungles of Panama.
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Christianity fell below half the UK population in 2021. But that national number hides enormous regional differences. Northern Ireland is 80% Christian. Scotland is 51% non-religious. London contains a third of all British Muslims, 42% of Hindus, and over half of Jews.
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Recent polling from 15 Commonwealth realms shows huge differences in how people view having King Charles III as head of state. England leads at 76% monarchy support, with Tuvalu second at 73%. Quebec goes 70% for a republic, standing apart from other Canadian provinces. The Bahamas hits 65% republican sentiment, Jamaica 55%. Australia’s Capital Territory is the only part of that country preferring a republic at 59%. Caribbean nations cite colonial history as a major factor in their views.
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Break down the United States state by state, compare each one with major European countries on human development, and something unexpected appears. The variation between American states turns out to be bigger than many realize.
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Just weeks after victory in Europe, Winston Churchill commissioned a secret military plan so audacious it earned the codename “Unthinkable.” The proposal called for Western forces to launch a surprise attack against their Soviet allies on July 1, 1945. What drove Churchill to contemplate such a drastic action, and why was the plan ultimately shelved?
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Köppen-Geiger climate maps of the British Isles reveal mountain climate zones disappearing from 1930 to 2099. Tundra patches in the Grampians vanish by the 2070s, extreme cold zones disappear by the 2090s, and the Pennines lose their cool-summer classification entirely under the ssp2-4.5 scenario.
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Hudson Bay is large enough to swallow Great Britain entirely—and have space left over. Dive into this comparison of their surface area, depth, and height to learn just how massive Canada’s inland sea actually is.
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When Britain acquired Gibraltar in 1713, it was just a rocky military outpost. Today, it’s much more than that – and bigger too. Through centuries of careful expansion and land reclamation, Gibraltar has literally grown beyond its original borders, creating space for a thriving community of 33,000 people.
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From Doggerland to future flood scenarios, explore how the British Isles’ geography has evolved and what climate change means for its iconic coastlines.
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