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Britain from the continent) or the "island of the Albiones", first mentioned in
the Massaliote Periplus by Pytheas. The name Britain descends from the
Latin name for Britain, Brittania or Brittnia, the land of the Britons.
Brittania was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British
Isles taken together. England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th
century; the union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 and was
formalized in 1536 with an Act of Union; in another Act of Union in 1707,
England and Scotland agreed to permanently join as Great Britain ; the
legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with
the adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;
the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six northern
Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland and
the current name of the country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927.
Stonehenge and other examples of prehistoric culture are all that remain of
the earliest inhabitants of Britain. Celtic peoples followed. Roman invasions
of the 1st century B.C. brought Britain into contact with continental Europe.
When the Roman legions withdrew in the 5th century A.D seven large
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were established, and the original Britons were
forced into Wales and Scotland. It was not until the 10th century that the
country finally became united under the kings of Wessex. Following the
death of Edward the Confessor (1066), a dispute about the succession arose,
and William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England, defeating the Saxon
king, Harold II, at the Battle of Hastings (1066). The Norman Conquest
introduced Norman French law and feudalism.
kingdom that existed between 1707 and 1800 as the "Kingdom of Great
Britain".
In 1801, under a new Act of Union, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom
of Ireland, over which the monarch of Great Britain had ruled. The new
kingdom was called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In
1922, 26 of Ireland's 32 counties attained dominion status within the British
Empire, forming a separate Irish Free State. The remaining truncated
kingdom is named the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland.
The four lands
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants
account for more than 83% of the total UK population, while its mainland
territory occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great
Britain. England is bordered by Scotland to the north, Wales to the west and
the North Sea, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, Bristol Channel and English Channel.
The capital is London, the largest urban area in Great Britain, and the largest
urban zone in the European Union by many measures.
England became a unified state in the year 927 and takes its name
from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled there during the 5th
and 6th centuries. It has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the
wider world being the place of origin of the English language, the Church of
England, and English law, which forms the basis of the common law legal
systems of countries around the world. In addition, England was the birth
place of the Industrial Revolution, thus being the first country in the world to
industrialize. It is home to the Royal Society, which laid the foundations of
modern experimental science. England has the world's oldest parliamentary
system, and consequently, other constitutional, governmental and legal
innovations that stemmed from England have been widely adopted by other
nations.
The Kingdom of England (including Wales) continued as a separate
state until 1 May 1707, when the Acts of Union resulted in political union
with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain.
In 1800, Great Britain was united with Ireland through another Act of Union
and became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, the
Irish Free State was created, and the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act in
Until 1998, the Humber Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world.
England has a temperate climate, with plentiful rainfall all year round.
Temperatures rarely fall below 23F (-5C) or rise above 86F (30C),
although they can be quite variable. The prevailing wind is from the southwest, bringing mild and wet weather from the Atlantic Ocean. It is driest in
the east and warmest in the south, which is closest to the European
mainland. Snowfall can occur in winter and early spring.
England's best-known river is the Thames, which flows through London. At
215 miles (346km), it is the longest river in England.
The capital city of England is London, which is the largest city in Great
Britain, and the largest city in the European Union by most measures. The
ancient City of London still retains its tiny medieval boundaries; but the
name "London" has long applied more generally to the whole metropolis
which has grown up around it. An important settlement for around two
millennia, London is today one of the world's leading business, financial and
cultural centers, and its influence in politics, education, entertainment,
media, fashion, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the major
global cities.
Birmingham is the second largest, both in terms of the city itself and its
urban conurbation. A number of other cities, mainly in central and northern
England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Manchester,
Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, Bristol, Coventry, Leicester,
Nottingham, and Hull.
The City of London is a business and commercial center, ranking alongside New York
City as the leading center of global finance.
Trafalgar Square in London is one of the most famous public places in England
with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the
Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to
the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland consists of over 790
islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
The main land of Scotland comprises the northern third of the land mass of
the island of Great Britain, which lies off the northwest coast of Continental
Europe. The total area is 78,772 km2 (30,414 sq mi), comparable to the size
of the Czech Republic, making Scotland the 117th largest country in the
world. Scotland's only land border is with England, and runs for
96 kilometers (60 mi) between the basin of the River Tweed on the east coast
and the Solway Firth in the west. The Atlantic Ocean borders the west coast
and the North Sea is to the east. The island of Ireland lies only 30 kilometers
(19 mi) from the southwestern peninsula of Kintyre; Norway is
305 kilometers (190 mi) to the east and the Faroes, 270 kilometers (168 mi)
to the north.
Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's
largest financial centers. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish
Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of
the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow,
Scotland's largest city was once one of the world's leading industrial cities
and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish
waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea,
containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union.
The population of Scotland in the 2001 census was 5,062,011. This has risen
to 5,168,500 according to June 2008 estimates. This would make Scotland
the 112th largest country by population if it were a sovereign state. Although
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland it is not the largest city. With a
population of just over 584,000 this honor falls to Glasgow. Indeed, the
Greater Glasgow conurbation, with a population of over 1.1 million, is home
to over a fifth of Scotland's population.
The Central Belt is where most of the main towns and cities are located.
Glasgow is to the west, while Edinburgh and Dundee lie on the east coast.
Scotland's only major city outside the Central Belt is Aberdeen, on the east
coast to the north. Apart from Aberdeen, the Highlands are sparsely
populated, although the city of Inverness has experienced rapid growth in
recent years. In general only the more accessible and larger islands retain
human populations, and fewer than 90 are currently inhabited. The Southern
Uplands are essentially rural in nature and dominated by agriculture and
forestry. Because of housing problems in Glasgow and Edinburgh, five new
towns were created between 1947 and 1966. They are East Kilbride,
Glenrothes, Livingston, Cumbernauld, and Irvine.
Bi-lingual road signs are becoming increasingly common throughout the Scottish
Highlands.
Although Scotland has a long military tradition that predates the Treaty of
Union with England, its armed forces now form part of the British Armed
Forces, with the notable exception of the Atholl Highlanders, Europe's only
legal private army. In 2006, the infantry regiments of the Scottish Division
were amalgamated to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Other
distinctively Scottish regiments in the British Army include the Scots
Guards, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the Scottish Transport
Regiment, a Territorial Army Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps.
Three frontline Royal Air Force bases are also located in Scotland. These are
RAF Lossiemouth, RAF Kinloss and RAF Leuchars, the last of which is the
most northerly air defence fighter base in the United Kingdom.
Llyn y Fan Fawr, Carmarthenshire, mountain range near Llyn y Fan Fach
Cymru is the native name for the country, while Cymro (singular) and
Cymry (plural) is the name for its people. This is likely derived from a
(reconstructed) Brythonic word Combroges/Combrogos/Combrogi meaning
"compatriots". The name competed for a long time in Welsh literature with
the older name Brythoniaid (Britons/Brythons). Only after 1100 did the
former become as common as the latter.
The Latin name for Wales is Cambria and an archaic English name is
Cymric both deriving from the Brythonic. The names Cumbria and
Cumberland are also derived from the Brythonic, as these areas remained
Brythonic-speaking much longer than the rest of England.
Nationalist revival
In the 20th century, Wales saw a revival in its national status. Plaid Cymru
was formed in 1925, seeking greater autonomy or independence from the
rest of the UK. In 1955, the term England and Wales became common for
describing the area to which English law applied, and Cardiff was
proclaimed as capital city of Wales. The Welsh Language Society was
formed in 1962, in response to fears that the language may soon die out.
British one Pound coin (reverse), depicting the Welsh dragon (Welsh: Y Ddraig Goch).
The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998
provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated on a basis of
equality. However, even English has only de facto official status in the UK
and this has led political groups like Plaid Cymru to question whether such
legislation is sufficient to ensure the survival of the Welsh language. English
is spoken by almost all people in Wales and is therefore the de facto main
language. However, northern and western Wales retain many areas where
Welsh is spoken as a first language by the majority of the population and
English is learnt as a second language. 21.7% of the Welsh population is
able to speak or read Welsh to some degree (based on the 2001 census),
although only 16% claim to be able to speak, read and write it, which may
be related to the stark differences between colloquial and literary Welsh.
According to a language survey conducted in 2004, a larger proportion than
21.7% claim to have some knowledge of the language. Today there are very
few truly monoglot Welsh speakers, other than small children, but
individuals still exist who may be considered less than fluent in English and
rarely speak it. There were still many monoglots as recently as the middle of
the 20th century. Road signs in Wales are generally in both English and
Welsh; where place names differ in the two languages, both versions are
used (e.g. "Cardiff" and "Caerdydd"), the decision as to which is placed first
being that of the local authority.
During the 20th century a number of small communities of speakers of
languages other than English or Welsh, such as Bengali or Cantonese, have
established themselves in Wales as a result of immigration. This
phenomenon is almost exclusive to urban Wales. The Italian Government
funds the teaching of Italian to Welsh residents of Italian ancestry. These
other languages do not have legal equality with English and Welsh, although
The island of Ireland was partitioned in 1921 under the terms of the
Government of Ireland Act 1920. Six of the nine Ulster counties in the
north-east formed Northern Ireland and the remaining three counties
(including County Donegal, despite it having a large Protestant minority as
well as it being the most northern county in all of Ireland) joined those of
Leinster, Munster and Connacht to form Southern Ireland. Whilst Southern
Ireland had only a brief existence between 1921 and 1922, a period
dominated by the Anglo-Irish War and its aftermath, Northern Ireland was to
continue on.
The Ireland Act of 1949 gave the first legal guarantee to the Parliament and
Government that Northern Ireland would not cease to be part of the United
Kingdom without consent of the majority of its citizens.
The Troubles, starting in the late 1960s, consisted of about thirty years of
recurring acts of intense violence between elements of Northern Ireland's
nationalist community (principally Roman Catholic) and unionist
community (principally Protestant) during which 3,254 people were killed.
The conflict was caused by the disputed status of Northern Ireland within the
United Kingdom and the discrimination against the nationalist minority by
the dominant unionist majority. The violence was characterized by the armed
campaigns of paramilitary groups, including the Provisional IRA campaign
of 1969-1997 which was aimed at the end of British rule in Northern Ireland
and the creation of a new "all-Ireland", "thirty-two county" Irish Republic.
The Troubles were brought to an uneasy end by a peace process which
included the declaration of ceasefires by most paramilitary organizations and
the complete decommissioning of their weapons, the reform of the police,
and the corresponding withdrawal of army troops from the streets and from
sensitive border as agreed by the signatories to the Belfast Agreement
(commonly known as the "Good Friday Agreement"). This reiterated the
long-held British position, which had never before been fully acknowledged
by successive Irish governments, that Northern Ireland will remain within
the United Kingdom until a majority votes otherwise.
As part of the United Kingdom, people from Northern Ireland are British
citizens. They are also entitled to Irish citizenship by birth which is covered
in the 1998 Belfast Agreement between the British and Irish governments,
which, provides that: it is the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland
to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they
may so choose, and accordingly [the two governments] confirm that their
right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both
Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of
Northern Ireland.
As a result of the Agreement, the Constitution of Ireland was amended so
that people born in Northern Ireland are entitled to be Irish citizens on the
same basis as people from any other part of the island of Ireland.
This does not however, account for the complex identities within Northern
Ireland, given that many of the population regard themselves as "Ulster" or
"Northern Irish", either primarily, or as a secondary identity. A 2008 survey
found that 57% of Protestants described themselves as British, while 32%
identified as Northern Irish, 6% as Ulster and 4% as Irish. Compared to the
same survey carried out in 1998 this shows a fall in the percentage of
Protestants identifying as British and Ulster, and a rise in those identifying
as Northern Irish. The 2008 survey found that 61% of Catholics described
themselves as Irish, with 25% identifying as Northern Irish, 8% as British
and 1% as Ulster. These figures were largely unchanged from the 1998
results.
The Union Flag (also known as the Union Jack) represents the United Kingdom. This is
the only flag with official status in Northern Ireland
Flag of Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland (also known as the
Ulster Banner; no official status in Northern Ireland since 1972)