Formation of the Union of South Africa

The formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has involved personal and political union across Great Britain and the wider British Isles.^¹ The United Kingdom is the most recent of a number of sovereign states that have been established in Great Britain at different periods in history, in different combinations and under a variety of polities.^¹ Historian Norman Davies has counted sixteen different states over the past 2,000 years.^¹