<P> Though previous attempts at uniting the two kingdoms within Great Britain in 1606, 1667, and 1689 had proved unsuccessful, the attempt initiated in 1705 led to the Treaty of Union of 1706 being agreed and ratified by both parliaments </P> <P> On 1 May 1707, the united Kingdom of Great Britain came into being, the result of Acts of Union being passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland to ratify the 1706 Treaty of Union and so unite the two kingdoms . </P> <P> In the 18th century, cabinet government developed under Robert Walpole, in practice the first prime minister (1721--1742). A series of Jacobite Uprisings sought to remove the Protestant House of Hanover from the British throne and restore the Catholic House of Stuart . The Jacobites were finally defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, after which the Scottish Highlanders were brutally suppressed . The British colonies in North America that broke away from Britain in the American War of Independence became the United States of America, recognised by Britain in 1783 . British imperial ambition turned towards Asia, particularly to India . </P> <P> During the 18th century, Britain was involved in the Atlantic slave trade . British ships transported an estimated two million slaves from Africa to the West Indies . Parliament banned the trade in 1807, banned slavery in the British Empire in 1833, and Britain took a leading role in the movement to abolish slavery worldwide through the blockade of Africa and pressing other nations to end their trade with a series of treaties . The world's oldest international human rights organisation, Anti-Slavery International, was formed in London in 1839 . </P>

The united kingdom of england wales and northern ireland