'''British''' refers to a person being a citizen of the [[United Kingdom]]. It is not usually used as an expression of nationality by [[British]] citizens, as many will prefer to use the expressions ''[[English]]'', ''[[Scottish]]'', ''[[Welsh]]'' or ''Northern Irish''/''[[Irish]]'' referring to which constituent country of the UK they self-identify with. In [[Northern Ireland]] "British" is usually associated with the [[Unionist]] community, with [[nationalists]] and [[republicans]] generally regarding themselves as exclusively ''Irish''.
Historically, ''British'' was also the name given to the largest empire the world has ever seen, administered in the United Kingdom in the name of the British monarch. British colonies were established all over the world, covering roughly a quarter of the world's land surface area in 1921, even after losing much of its North American territory after the [[American Revolutionary War]]. The large empire was possible because Britain "ruled the seas" through the strong domination of the [[Royal Navy]], and used this to ensure free trading for British interests. With up to a quarter of the world as British subjects, the Empire was also the world's foremost military power. For many centuries, populations lived under a period of relative peace and prosperity that was the ''Pax Brittannica'', though from a modern perspective, the methods used to control and ensure this superiority on occasion were on occasion particularly vicious.