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British Isles (terminology)

British Isles (terminology)

] The various terms used to describe the different (and sometimes overlapping) geographical and political regions of the islands traditionally referred to collectively as the British Isles are often a source of confusion for people from other parts of the world, and even for the inhabitants of those islands themselves. The purpose of this article is to explain the meanings of and inter-relationships between those terms. The terms with technical meanings are:
- British Isles (as a geographical term) = an archipelago consisting of Great Britain + Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands. This term is disputed, please see below.
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland = the official name for one of two sovereign states of the British Isles
- United Kingdom = an abbreviation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Great Britain (as a geographical term) = the largest island of the British Isles
- Great Britain (as a political term) = England + Wales + Scotland
- Britain = an informal term that may refer to the United Kingdom or to Great Britain
- British = an adjective for the above term (with the same ambiguity)
- Ireland (as a political term) = Republic of Ireland, the other sovereign state
- Ireland (as a geographical term) = the second largest island of the British Isles
- Northern Ireland = a political region of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Unfortunately, these various terms can not only be confusing in themselves (partly due to the similarity between some of the actual words used), but also because they are often used loosely or inaccurately. Furthermore, to some extent the choice of terminology, especially in relation to Ireland, is determined by political stance.

Terminology in detail


- Great Britain (abbreviation: GB) = the largest of the British Isles and the political union of three nations, these being: ::
- England (see also the historical Kingdom of England = England (and later, Wales) prior to 1707) ::(NB: The use of England to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom or Great Britain is incorrect and may cause offence.) ::
- Wales (see also England and Wales) ::
- Scotland :
- The historical Kingdom of Great Britain = Britain, 1707-1801. :
- Britannia = the Roman province of Britain, or is a poetic reference to later Britain, or is a national personification of Britain. :On the history of the name, see Britain.
- The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually shortened to the United Kingdom (abbreviation UK) = Great Britain + Northern Ireland since 1927. (The Partition of Ireland took place in 1922, but the consequent change in the official title of the UK was only made by Act of Parliament five years later.) ::(NB: While "United Kingdom" is normally abbreviated UK, the official ISO 3166 two-letter country code is GB and the three letter code is GBR. The UK's internet top-level domain is .uk, a break from the normal practice of following ISO 3166.) :
- The historical United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland = Great Britain + Ireland, 1801-1927. :See also United Kingdom (disambiguation) for other united kingdoms and UK (disambiguation) for other meanings of the abbreviation.
- Ireland or Éire refers to the island of Ireland, or to any of the following: :Historically: :
- The Kingdom of Ireland = Ireland, 1541-1801. :
- The Irish Republic = unilaterally declared 32-county republic encompassing the entire island, 1919-22. During this period, Ireland remained part of the UK. :
- Southern Ireland = proposed Home Rule state under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Never came into existence, being superseded by: :
- The Irish Free State = Ireland excepting Northern Ireland, 1922-37. :
- Ireland = Ireland excepting Northern Ireland, 1937-1949 :Present: :
- The Republic of Ireland = Ireland excepting Northern Ireland, 1949-present. :
- Northern Ireland or the North of Ireland = that part of the island of Ireland north of the line of partition of 1922. Also known by some as "the six counties". :
- Ulster = may be either a synonym for Northern Ireland, or may refer to a larger area in the northern part of the island of Ireland i.e. the province of Ulster which includes the 6 counties of Northern Ireland as well as 3 counties of the Republic of Ireland and primarily used in sporting contexts. See Ulster (disambiguation).
- The British Isles = the traditional term used mean the island of Great Britain + the island of Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands, including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey). Due to possible political confusions, it is a disputed term, see British Isles.
- Islands of the North Atlantic= a suggested replacement term for the British Isles, without the same political connotations. However, its convoluted state, a popularity of the older term and its vagueness have meant that it is not in common use, (its acronym IONA, is also a small island off the coast of Scotland)
- British Islands (a political term not in common usage) = the UK, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey (which in turn includes the smaller islands of Alderney, Herm and Sark).
- Brittany, the historical Duchy in the West of France, now a French région; for this modern administrative sense, see Bretagne. See also List of United Kingdom-related topics.

Geographical distinctions

The British Isles

The British Isles is a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Continental Europe. It includes Ireland and Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands Guernsey and Jersey. Also included are the thousands of small islands off the coast of both the larger islands such as the Shetlands and the Orkneys. This is the oldest of any of the terms discussed here, being recorded in a Greek text of 325 BC in the form Pretanikai nesoi (Pretanic isles). As this term predates any known political conflict on the islands, many people feel they can use it neutrally. To others, however, especially in Ireland, it is seen as a misnomer because it implicitly favours (and could appear to be derived from) just one of the islands, namely Britain. Since the traditional term British Isles is seen by some as having a political connotation and can give offence to people in Ireland, alternative forms are sometimes used. This was evidenced during the Irish Presidency of the European Union in 2004, when the United Kingdom's Foreign Office was reported to have advised its own diplomats to avoid using the term British Isles in public or in working sessions in order not to offend their Irish counterparts. One alternative often used is Great Britain and Ireland, but this has its own difficulties. See also below. Since 1978, the term British Islands (as opposed to British Isles) has been used by the UK's governments and assemblies to define the United Kingdom, together with the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. In Ireland the term "these islands" is used whenever it is useful to refer in aggregate to the islands in question. Another term proposed in the late 20th century, which has received mixed acceptance, is Islands of the North Atlantic.

Great Britain

Great Britain refers to the largest of the British Isles. The word "Great" simply means "larger" (so no connection with "greatness" is intended) in contrast to Brittany, a historical term for a peninsula in France that largely corresponds with the present day French province of Bretagne. This region was settled by Britons (from Cornwall) around 500, fleeing from the Anglo-Saxons, and named "Little Britain" by them. The French term "Bretagne" now refers to this French "Little Britain", not to the British "Great Britain".

Ireland

The second largest island in the British Isles is Ireland. Being part of the British Isles does not imply that Ireland is British, although the majority of the population of Northern Ireland consider themselves British by virtue of being part of the United Kingdom. Geographically Ireland is divided into four provinces — Leinster, Connacht, Munster and Ulster. Ireland is also poetically known as "the Emerald Isle".

Channel Islands

Although the Channel Islands are considered to be part of the British Isles politically, geographically they are clearly an outcrop of the nearby French geology, and are indeed the last remaining parts of the former Duchy of Normandy still under the crown of the United Kingdom.

Political distinctions

The United Kingdom

"United Kingdom" is short for The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which makes it self-explanatory. Great Britain is also widely, but incorrectly, used as a synonym for the UK. Great Britain is often shortened to Britain when used as a political term, but less often when used geographically. Confusingly, Britain may also be used when referring to the UK, for example in newspaper articles. The United Kingdom is a sovereign state. Its four component parts, whilst having equal rights to elect Members of Parliament on (nominally) the same terms (see West Lothian Question) are sometimes considered to be of different status. This view may be supported by the existence of devolved governments with different levels of power in Scotland and Wales. Due to historical precedence, England, Scotland, and Wales are considered to be countries and nations in their own right (although none of these is sovereign today) (see also Constituent Countries). Wales is also a principality of the United Kingdom (the Prince of Wales is usually the heir to the British throne). Northern Ireland is considered the "junior" partner of the United Kingdom, but ironically, until 1972, enjoyed a far greater degree of self-government than the other constituent parts. These four are also known to some as Home Nations; sporting contests between them are known as "Home internationals" (for example in football, see the British Home Championship). However, in Rugby Union, the four Home Nations are England, Ireland (the whole island, i.e. the Republic of Ireland plus Northern Ireland), Scotland, and Wales. Culturally, many consider the Cornish to be distinct from the English, but, politically, Cornwall is considered by the UK government to have the same status as any other county in England. However some have raised questions concerning the constitutional status of Cornwall. Thus, Great Britain is both a geographical and a political entity. Geographically, it is one island, but politically it also contains the islands that belong to its constituent nations — England, Wales and Scotland (most notably England's Isle of Wight, Wales' Anglesey and Scotland's Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands). However, the abbreviation GB is sometimes officially used for the UK (for example in the Olympics — where athletes from Northern Ireland may choose whether to represent the UK or the Republic of Ireland — and as the vehicle registration plate), however the internet code ".gb", although allocated to the UK, is unused (the UK uses ".uk"). UK teams in the Olympics have competed under several different names — most recently in Athens the athletes were presented at the Opening Ceremony under a banner which said simply Great Britain, rather than the full Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Since the Good Friday Agreement, and the subsequent implementation legislation, sporting organisation (and several other organisations, e.g. tourism, and Irish Gaelic and Ulster Scots language boards) on the island of Ireland has increasingly been "cross-border". Citizens of the UK are called British, Britons, or Brits (colloquial); whether these terms include residents of Northern Ireland depends on the speaker's political stance (Unionist or Republican). Brits may sometimes used pejoratively, for example by supporters of Scottish independence. Some rather dated slang names for Britons are Tommy (for British soldiers), Pom, Anglo and Limey. Anglo properly refers only to England; but it is sometimes, incorrectly, used as a broader reference as an element in compound adjectives: "Anglo-French relations" may be used in newspaper articles when referring to relations between the political entities France and the United Kingdom, however the correct term is "British-French relations". Anglo-Saxon may be used when referring to the whole English-speaking world, the (correctly named, as it refers to the English language, not a "British language") Anglosphere, although culturally or ethnically very few of the world's one billion English-speakers are of Anglo-Saxon origin (e.g. the Scots, Irish, Welsh and Cornish are largely of Celtic origin).

Ireland

Ireland is the name since 1937 of the independent state which covers the island of Ireland apart from Northern Ireland. Since 1949, the "description" "Republic of Ireland" has been widely used, but the official name is Ireland, or, in the Irish language, Éire. In Ireland (as everywhere), the naming of places often raises political issues. The Republic of Ireland is often referred to by Irish republicans by the term, "the Twenty-six Counties", with the connotation that the state constituted as such forms only a portion of the ideal political unit, which would consist of the entire thirty two counties into which the island is divided. Until 1937, the state comprising those twenty six counties was officially known by the term, Irish Free State. Many people object to these two terms, as they are seen to imply that the Republic of Ireland is not a fully independent country. Conversely, republicans and others refer to Northern Ireland as "the Six Counties" (in reference to the province's six counties of the 32 of the whole island) a name that avoids the disputed link with Great Britain. Some even call it "the occupied six counties". Some nationalists use the terms, "the North of Ireland" and, "the North", instead of Northern Ireland; these are terms also used by the Irish national broadcaster RTE. Many unionists refer to the territory as Ulster, even though the province of Ulster includes an additional three counties, which are in the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster (and "the Province") are preferred by Unionists, because it suggests an origin of the polity that pre-dates 1922, referring back to the Act of Union 1800, the Glorious Revolution of 1689, the Plantation of Ulster in 1610, the ancient migrations between Ulster and Scotland, and even to biblical tradition. So, it is understandable (though not commendable) that certain local place names should still be in dispute: see Derry/Londonderry name dispute.

Historical aspects

The Greeks called the British Isles Pretaniké and the Romans initially called Great Britain Britannias or Alba, and they called Ireland and other smaller islands Britanniae. After the successful invasion of AD 41 they called their province on the island of Great Britain Britannia (this province eventually covered roughly the same area as present-day England and Wales). The Romans then named Scotland Caledonia and Ireland Hibernia to differentiate them from the land that had been conquered — they never conquered either. The diagram on the right gives an indication of the evolution of kingdoms in the British Isles. Earlier, un-marked kingdoms are the more difficult to define Celtic, Saxon and Viking kingdoms such as Reghed, Strathclyde and Wessex. Wessex In 1603 the Scottish King James VI inherited the English throne as James I of England (he styled himself as James I of Great Britain, even though there was not a state called the Kingdom of Great Britain until 1707), although both countries retained their independent parliaments and sovereignty. Scottish histories often refer to this monarch as James VI and I (James the Sixth and First), while conversely English historians may refer to the same monarch as James I and VI (James the First and Sixth). Many Scots (and not just nationalists) were upset in 1953, when at the coronation of the present monarch, Elizabeth Windsor, she gained the title Elizabeth II, when in fact neither the former Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1801), nor the current United Kingdom (1801–present day), have ever had an Elizabeth I. The former Kingdom of England (927–1707), however, had a monarch titled Elizabeth I. British overseas territories such as Bermuda, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, the Falkland Islands, and the British Antarctic Territory have (or have had) various relationships with the UK. The Commonwealth of Nations (formerly the British Commonwealth) is a loose confederation of nations roughly corresponding to the former British Empire, mostly for economic co-operation, formalised in 1931. (The Commonwealth of England and the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland have nothing to do with this and were temporary republics (or, sometimes known as "countries without a King"), replacing the previous kingdoms during the Interregnum (1649–1660).)

Adjectives

The adjectives used to describe the contents and attributes of the various constituent parts of the British Isles also cause confusion. British is generally used to refer to the United Kingdom. However, in a specifically physical geographical sense, British is used to refer to the island of Great Britain. The cumbersome adjective Great British is very rarely used to refer to Great Britain, other than to contrive a pun on the word great, as in "Great British Food". Irish, in a political sense, is used to refer to the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland, as a constituent part of the United Kingdom, would be included within the umbrella of the term British. However, in order to be more specific, the somewhat cumbersome Northern Irish is in common usage. The term Ulster can also be used as an adjective (e.g. "Royal Ulster Constabulary"), but this is more likely to be used by Unionists and has political connotations in the same fashion as its use as a proper noun (because only six of the nine counties of Ulster are included in Northern Ireland, with the other three forming part of the Republic of Ireland. Likewise, Nationalists might describe, say, a lake in Northern Ireland as Irish. However, some Nationalists might attribute what they see as less attractive aspects of Northern Ireland to Britain or even to England (e.g. "The Northern Ireland squad is an English football team"). Thankfully, Scottish, English and Welsh are self-explanatory, although it should be noted that the term English is commonly (and completely incorrectly) used to mean British by many Anglophones, both within and without the British Isles.

Furthermore

Celtic names

The Celtic languages in the region — Cornish, Irish, Scots Gaelic and Welsh each have names for the various subdivisions of the British Isles. Some of the above are: ; England :Cornish: Pow Sows :Irish: Sasana ('Saxon') :Scottish Gaelic: Sasainn :Welsh: Lloegr ; Scotland :Cornish: Alban :Irish: Alba/Albain :Scottish Gaelic: Alba :Welsh: Yr Alban ; Wales :Cornish: Kembra :Irish: An Bhreatain Bheag ('Little Britain') :Scottish Gaelic: a' Chuimrigh :Welsh: Cymru ('The People') ; Cornwall :Cornish: Kernow :Irish: Corn na Breataine :Scottish Gaelic: a' Chòrn :Welsh: Cernyw ; Ireland :Cornish: Ynys Iwerdhon :Irish: Éire :Scottish Gaelic: Èirinn :Welsh: Iwerddon ; Republic of Ireland :Cornish: Repoblek Iwerdhon :Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann :Scottish Gaelic: Poblachd na h-Èirinn :Welsh: Gweriniaeth Iwerddon ; Northern Ireland :Cornish: Kledhbarth Iwerdhon :Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann :Scottish Gaelic: Eirinn a Tuath :Welsh: Gogledd Iwerddon Note: In Irish there are actually several terms for Northern Ireland: An Tuaisceart, meaning "the North", is usually used, but a more recent term for official use is Tuaisceart Éireann. Ulaidh, the Irish word for Ulster, is also sometimes used, though the geographical region of Ulster also includes 3 counties which are not included in the political region of Northern Ireland. As well as this, the term Ulster is generally used only by Unionists, who would tend to refrain from using the Irish word. The English word Welsh is from a Germanic root meaning "foreigner" (almost the same word was used in Mediaeval German to refer to the French and Italians). The English names Albion and Albany are related to Alba and used poetically for either England or Scotland, or the whole island of Great Britain. English Erin is a poetic name for Ireland derived from Éire (or rather, from its dative form Éirinn)

Rockall

The island of Rockall is a disputed territory in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a small, uninhabited island lying some 301.4 km (187.3 miles) west of St Kilda (Outer Hebrides) and 424 km (229.1 miles) north-west of Ireland. It is claimed by the United Kingdom, whilst its surrounding continental shelf (but not the island itself) is claimed by the Republic of Ireland, Iceland and Denmark (through the Faroe Islands). Its remote position, however, means that it is open to question whether or not, geographically, it belongs to the British Isles.

Europe

Finally, it should be noted that while the term "Europe" includes the British Isles, it may be used to refer only to Mainland Europe, sometimes called "continental Europe" or simply "the continent" by some people in the British Isles.

See also


- Alternative words for British

External links


- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ Another explanation of the subject]
- [http://ned.ucam.org/~sdh31/misc/uk.html The Great British Venn Diagram] Category:British Isles B

British Isles

:For an explanation of often confusing terms like (Great) Britain, United Kingdom and England see also British Isles (terminology). :The "British Isles" is also an old name for the British and Irish Lions rugby team. British and Irish Lions The British Isles is a term traditionally given to the group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe including Great Britain (containing England, Scotland, and Wales), Ireland, and several thousand smaller adjacent islands. The name was extensively used historically, derived from when the island of Great Britain was called Britannias, and Ireland and the other islands near Great Britain were called Britanniae (the Latin genitive case meaning of Britannias.) In 1922 most of the island of Ireland ceased to be in the United Kingdom and became the independent sovereign state of the Republic of Ireland. However, even before this, and especially since, the usage of the term British Isles has been seen by many people, especially in Ireland, as problematic, due to an implied continued British sovereignty over the whole of Ireland, or more generally as referring to Ireland as being British in any sense. This is not a result of anti-British sentiment, but simply a reflection that Irish people do not regard themselves or their country as British. The term is also considered by some to be offensive to people in Wales and Scotland. In terms of geography the term British Isles is understood to refer to the whole archipelago, from Scilly to Shetland, containing more than 6,000 islands and totalling 315,134 km² (121,674 square miles) of land. These islands were originally inhabited by the ancient Britons (hence the name "British Isles"). The historic name British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe the island group. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (iv.xvi.102) records of Great Britain that "it was itself named Albion while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae".

List of the British Isles

Albion]] :Main article: Complete list of the British Isles
- Great Britain
  - Northern Isles (including Orkney, Shetland and Fair Isle)
  - Hebrides (including the Inner Hebrides, Outer Hebrides and Small Isles)
  - Islands of the lower Firth of Clyde (including the Isle of Arran and Bute)
  - Anglesey (in Welsh: Ynys Môn)
  - Lundy
  - Isles of Scilly
  - Isle of Wight
  - Lindisfarne
- Ireland
  - Ulster: Rathlin Island
- , Arranmore, Tory Island
  - Connacht: Achill Island, Clew Bay islands, Inishturk, Inishbofin, Inishark, Aran Islands
  - Munster: Blasket Islands, Valentia Island, Cape Clear , Sherkin Island, Great Island
  - Leinster: Lambay Island, Ireland's Eye
- Isle of Man
- Channel Islands1
- Rockall Many other small islands are not listed.
- Rathlin Island is the only Irish island part of Northern Ireland and hence the UK.

Origin of the term British Isles

In classical times, foreign sources used "Brit-" or "Prit-" with various endings and native sources used oceani insulae meaning "islands of the ocean" or insularum meaning "islands". Only in modern times has British Isles entered the English language.

Classical geographers

The inhabitants of the British Isles in classical times were the Celtic Bruthin or Priteni, later known as the "Brythons", who were in Great Britain and Ireland some time before the 5th century BC, whether as a result of cultural changes in the native population or of immigration, possibly through conquest. The classical writers of geographies named the group of islands after these inhabitants, using a transliteration into their own language such as Latin (e.g. Bretannae) or Greek (e.g. Βρηττανων). Throughout Book 4 of his Geography, Strabo is consistent in spelling the island Britain (transliterated) as Prettanikee; he uses the terms Prettans or Brettans for the islands as a group. For example, in Geography 2.1.18, "...οι νοτιωτατοι των Βρηττανων βορηιοτηροι τουτον ηισιν". (...the most southern of the Brettans are further north than this)2. He was writing around AD 10, although the earliest surviving copy of his work dates from the 6th century. Pliny the Elder writing around AD 70 uses a Latin version of the same terminology in section 4.102 of his Naturalis Historia. He writes of Great Britain: Albion ipsi nomen fuit, cum Britanniae vocarentur omnes de quibus mox paulo dicemus. (Albion was its own name, when all [the islands] were called the Britannias; I will speak of them in a moment). In the following section, 4.103, Pliny enumerates the islands he considers to make up the Britannias, listing Great Britain, Ireland, and many smaller islands. Ptolemy is quite clear that Ireland – he calls it Hibernia – belongs to the group he calls Britannia. He entitles Book II, Chapter 1 of his Geography as Hibernia, Island of Britannia.

Native sources

The early surviving discussion of the geography is almost exclusively in classical languages. The "British Isles" terminology of the classical geographers is found in English only in documents written after the Reformation. The earliest native source to use a collective term for the archipelago is the Life of Saint Columba, a hagiography purporting to record the missionary activities of the sixth century Irish monk Saint Columba among the peoples of Great Britain. Written in the late seventh century by Adomnán of Iona, an Irish monk living on a Scottish island with considerable Pictish and English interests, it must be considered an authority as regards the totality of relationships within the archipelago at that time. The collective term for the archipelago used within this work is oceani insulae meaning "islands of the ocean" (Book 2, 46 in the Sharpe edition = Book 2, 47 in Reeves edition) and it is used sparingly. Another early native source to use a collective term is the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum of Bede written in the early eighth century. The collective term for the archipelago used within this work is insularum meaning "islands" (Book 1, 8) and it too is used sparingly. The term does not appear to have entered English usage until after the Reformation. The earliest quotation of "British Isles" given by the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary is in 1621.

Renaissance mapmakers

Continental mapmakers Gerardus Mercator (1512), Balthasar Moretus (1624), Giovanni Magini (1596), Abraham Ortelius (1570) and Sebastian Munster (1550) produced maps bearing the term "British Isles". Ortelius makes clear his understanding that England, Scotland and Ireland were politically nominally at least separate in 1570 by the full title of his map: "Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio" which translates as "a description of England, Scotland and Ireland, or the British Isles", additionally many maps from this period show Cornwall as a separate nation, most notably those of Mercator.

Modern historians

:There were four groups of Celtic invaders of Ireland, viz., beginning with the earliest: :(1) The Cruthin (Priteni), after whom these islands were known to the Greeks as the Pretanic Islands. In early historical times they preserved their individuality best in the North of Britain, where they were known to Latin writers as "Picti". O'Rahilly, T. F. (1984). Early Irish history and mythology. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. pp. 40–2 :The first group of invaders of which we know anything were the "Bruthin" or "Priteni", a group of P-Celts, who invaded both Great Britain and Ireland, presumably from Europe, some time before the fifth century B.C. They maintained their individuality best in North Britain, where they were known as Picts to the Latin writers. It was their presence which made Greeks like Ptolemy and Pytheas refer to the British Isles as "the Pretanic Isles". Needham, C. (1963). The life of St. Patrick. Camden, NJ: The St. Patrick Fathers. :"The Brettans" appears to be an older term than Brettanike, and suggests that the earliest sources viewed Britain together with adjacent islands under this name; ... Strabo spells this with a P (Prettans)... Pliny seems to use the same terminology... "cum Brittaniae vocarentur omnes") It is quite possible that this goes back to Pytheas... Certainly it would not be unreasonable for mariners using the Western Seaway between Ireland and Britain to group all the outlying islands together with the large ones under a single term... (Roseman, C H (1984) Pytheas of Massalia: On the Ocean Text, Translation and Commentary Chicago, Illinois: Ares Publishers, Inc. p. 45) The term "British" had been used to describe the Brythonic Celts, now known as Brythons, who inhabited Brittany ("Little Britain") and most of the largest island of the archipelago, Great Britain. Ireland was inhabited by Goidelic Celts. :use of the initial P is considered to reflect the Brythonic branch of Keltic, and ... the change in spelling from Pre- to Brit- [may be] based on a misconception of Caesar's arising from his familiarity with Britanni occupying the Gaulish coast around Boulogne. (Roseman, op.cit., footnote 34, chapter IV)3

Subsequent political history

Thus at the time the name Priteni was first applied to it, the archipelago was inhabited by the P-Celts. By the time the Romans left in the 7th century they were differentiated into the Brythonic Celts (Brythons) in the lands that would become England, Cornwall, Wales and southern Scotland and the Picts in northern Scotland, while Ireland was dominated by Goidelic Celts who, as Scotti (Scots) had by then established Dalriada in western Scotland. In the following centuries Anglo-Saxons formed the kingdom of Wessex, pushing the Brythonic Celts back into Wales, Cumbria, south-west Scotland and Dumnonia later to become Kernow (or Cornwall). Angles took over Northumbria and south-east Scotland. Viking invaders formed the Danelaw in eastern England and took over Caithness, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man and north-east Ireland, forming a settlement at Dublin. The Scots amalgamated with the Picts forming a Scottish Kingdom which by the early 11th century expanded to include the area of modern Scotland and Cumbria. The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought England under Norman rule and their 1072 foray into Scotland left the first of a series of arguments as to whether the Scots accepted the suzerainty of the English kings. From then on Scottish kings were Anglo-Norman rather than Celtic. In 1171 King Henry II of England invaded Ireland, asuming the title Lord of Ireland. The Anglo-Normans settled as a ruling elite controlling much of Ireland, but over time the native Irish regained some territory and, outside the area of English authority around Dublin called the Pale, the Norman lords adopted the Irish language and customs and became known as the "Old English". In 1140 the Hebridean Islands, the Isle of Man and Antrim came under the Norse-Gael rule of the Lord of the Isles who kept a varying degree of independence until the Hebrides were forfeited to Scotland in 1493. From the early 13th century the Scots language of south east Scotland was spread throughout the Lowlands, but the Scottish Highlands remained Gaelic speaking and developed the semi-independent Scottish clan system. Wales came under English control with the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. The English Kings became Kings of Ireland as well in 1541, ruling through an Irish Parliament. Scotland was still independent despite a series of disputes and wars with England, then in 1603 King James VI of Scotland inherited the title James I of England, unifying the countries under a personal union of the crowns. While the governments of England and Scotland remained separate, King James proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine" on October 20th 1604, apparently with the political aim of creating a shared identity under his autocratic rule. Ireland was effectively being ruled as a colony of England and James expanded an existing policy of English settlers, adding Scots Presbyterians and creating the "Plantation of Ulster" at the expense of the existing Roman Catholics, both the native Irish and the "Old English". As the century progressed the Civil Wars of the Three Kingdoms brought Irish rebellion with massacres alienating Protestants from Catholics and making Irish Catholics embittered about the English, tensions further reinforced in the Jacobite war in Ireland. Scottish economic weakness against English protectionism lead to merger of the governments in the 1707 Act of Union when the official name became The Kingdom of Great Britain, with pro-Hanoverian Scots enthusiastically adopting the term "North Britain" as an alternative to "Scotland" for example "The Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons" were renamed "The Royal North British Dragoons" (later examples included the North British Magazine and the North British Railway). The Scottish Highlanders were still Gaelic speaking and were derisively called "Erse" (Irish) by the Lowlanders, but to end Jacobitism the Scottish clan system was crushed and they became fully British. A French-aided rebellion in Ireland in 1798 was defeated and Ireland was brought firmly under British government control by the 1800 Act of Union in what became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. During the 19th century famine and emigration affected the Irish and the Scottish Highlanders. Irish nationalist attempts to win independence peaked in the early 20th century with the Anglo-Irish war of independence and the 1922 separation of the Irish Free State, later becoming the Republic of Ireland. The mostly Protestant northeast continued to be part of what was now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with a Northern Ireland Assembly which is at present suspended. Inspired by the Irish movement, nationalist parties developed in Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. More recently Scotland has gained Home Rule with a Scottish Parliament and Wales a degree of home administration with the Welsh Assembly, but both remain part of the unitary United Kingdom. Cornwall has not been granted any devolved power but a petition calling for a Cornish assembly has collected more than 50,000 signatures.

Problems with modern usage

Today the term British is usually used to describe people or things belonging to either Great Britain or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However the whole island of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are still commonly included in the 'British Isles', despite the fact that the greater part of Ireland has, since 1922, been independent of the United Kingdom, first as the Irish Free State and now the Republic of Ireland, and that the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not a part of the UK but crown dependencies. Many Irish people, as well as some Scottish, Welsh and Cornish nationalists, find the term British Isles proprietorial and unacceptable as being inconsistent with the modern meaning of the word British, and, as such, offensive. However, Unionists in Northern Ireland attach great importance to their 'British' identity. Other people see it as a geographical term that does not imply ownership or control by the British. Hostility to the term British Isles has often been caused by its misinterpretation; this was exemplified by an embarrassing and controversial faux pas by the then American First Lady Nancy Reagan during an Irish visit. The confusion caused by the term was also highlighted during a stop-over visit to the Republic of Ireland by then Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, when he indicated that he presumed Ireland's head of state was Queen Elizabeth II, given that she was the British Queen and his officials said that Ireland was a part of the British Isles. The term British Isles is no longer used in Irish state documents, has been abandoned in schoolbooks in the Republic of Ireland and is being phased out of textbooks4. Its usage is also decreasing in official British state documents, out of sensitivity to the concerns of some Irish, Scottish and Welsh people and the evolving geo-political relationships.

Alternative terms

Many have suggested replacements for the term British Isles but none has yet won universal acceptance. Sometimes, an ambiguous phrase such as "these Isles" or "the Isles" is used, thus utilising the same logic used when referring to the Persian Gulf as the "Gulf". In cases where what is being referred to is the two largest islands, the term "Great Britain and Ireland" can be used, but this risks confusion with the common term "Great Britain and Northern Ireland". The phrase "Great Britain, Ireland, and surrounding islands", is also occasionally used, but lacks brevity. In the context of the Northern Ireland peace process the term Islands of the North Atlantic (IONA), a term initially created by former Conservative Party MP Sir John Biggs-Davison, has been used as a neutral term to describe the 'British Isles', but in a wider context the term might be misunderstood as including Iceland, Greenland, the Azores and other islands. A more geographically accurate and slightly less ambiguous phrase, "North-Western Europe", is starting to find favour, especially in Ireland; however, the term has often been used before to refer to northern France, Germany and the Low Countries. The phrase "North European Archipelago" is somewhat whimsical, but even more accurate. Both of these suffer, however, from political issues associated with the word "European", particularly in the United Kingdom. The phrase "the Anglo-Celtic Isles" has also been suggested and is in some use, being both ethnically and geographically accurate and elegantly concise. The term British Islands is not a potential alternative; this is an official term used for the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, i.e. all of the isles except the Republic of Ireland.

Footnotes

#The Channel Islands are included here by convention. Some people do not consider them part of the archipelago, as they are closer to France than to Great Britain. #Translation by Roseman, op.cit. #The author also refers to related discussion in Chadwick, H.M. 1949, repr. 1974, Early Scotland Octagon Books; (November 1974), ISBN 0374913579 #The problems caused by how one refers to the isles was highlighted when the historian Norman Davies produced a book examining the history of the archipelago. The title chosen was the neutral The Isles: A History though the cover carries a picture of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland from Abraham Ortelius's 1570 map. Indeed the term British Isles does not even feature in the index of the book. The index simply refers to The Isles. Norman Davies, The Isles: A History (Palgrave/Macmillan, 1999) ISBN 033376370X

Further reading


- A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 BC - 1603 AD by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2000 ISBN 0786866756
- A History of Britain - The Complete Collection on DVD by Simon Schama, BBC 2002
- [http://fax.libs.uga.edu/DA90xB358A/ ARCHAIC ENGLAND]: an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions, by Harold Bayley. Publisher: London, Chapman & Hall ltd., 1919
- The Isles, A History by Norman Davies, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0195134427
- Shortened History of England by G. M. Trevelyan Penguin Books ISBN 0140233237

See also


- UK topics
- History of Great Britain
- Acts of Union 1536-1543
- Act of Union 1707
- Act of Union 1800
- Anglo-Irish Treaty
- List of bays of the British Isles

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/coast Coast] - The BBC explores the coast of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- [http://www.geograph.org.uk Geograph British Isles] - Creative Commons licenced, geo-located photographs of the British Isles
- [http://www.roman-britain.org Roman-Britain.Org]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/_Periods/Roman/home.html Roman Britain at LacusCurtius] (includes 3 complete books)
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/.Texts/Ptolemy/2/1
- .html The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy: Book II, Chapter 1]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/4
- .html#102 Pliny, Book 4 section 102ff.]
- [http://www.roman-britain.org/pliny.htm Pliny excerpts]
- [http://www.maphist.com/artman/uploads/04520_002.jpg Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio. - Ortelius, 1570]
- [http://www.bergbook.com/htdocs/woda/data/demo/descriptions/14983.htm Britannicarum Insularum Typus - Ortelius 1624]
- [http://www.walkingtree.com/ Mercator's Atlas] Maps of Cornwall & Wales ("Cornewallia & Wallia"), Ireland ("Irlandia"), Scotland ("Scotia") and England ("Anglia") circa 1564.
- [http://www.antiquemaps.co.uk/book/chapter18.html Early maps of the British Isles – Munster 1550 et al.]
- [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/L201040/text082.html Excerpt from Reeves edition of Life of Saint Columba.]
- [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/bede1.html#8 Excerpt from Bede in Latin]
- [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html Excerpt from Bede in English translation]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations]
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Category:British Isles ko:영국 제도 ja:ブリテン諸島

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

:For other meanings of the terms "United Kingdom" and "UK" , see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation). :For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is a country located off the north-western coast of continental Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is composed of four constituent parts: three constituent countries—England, Scotland, and Wales—on the island of Great Britain, and the province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The UK has several overseas territories and the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands come under the UK's sovereignty. The UK also has close relationships with the fifteen other Commonwealth Realms, as they all share the same head of state. The UK is also one of the largest member states of the European Union and a founding partner of both the UN and NATO.

Terminology


- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The official name for the sovereign state
- United Kingdom: an abbreviation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Britain: an informal term that sometimes means United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means Great Britain
- British: an informal term that sometimes means from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means from Great Britain
- Great Britain (as a geographical term): the largest island of the British Isles
- Great Britain (as a political term): England + Wales + Scotland
- British Isles (as a geographical term): Great Britain + Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands. This term is disputed, please see below.
- Ireland (as a geographical term): the second largest island of the British Isles
- Ireland (as a political term): an abbreviation of the Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state on the island of Ireland
- Northern Ireland: a political region of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Ulster (as a geographical term): Often used to refer to Northern Ireland. It is derived from the Irish Language term 'Ulad.' It was one of the ancient Irish provinces (the others were Connaught, Leinster and Munster.). Although it is normally used to refer to Northern Ireland, Ulster also (traditionally) includes Counties Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, which lie in the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster is often favoured by the Protestant community.

History

Protestant Today's state is the latest of several unions formed over the last 1000 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate unified entities since the 10th century. Wales, under English control since the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1922, after bitter fighting which echoes down to the current political strife, the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, with the latter remaining part of the United Kingdom. As provided for in the treaty, Northern Ireland, which consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, immediately opted out of the Free State and to remain in the UK. The nomenclature of the UK was changed in 1927 to recognise the departure of most of Ireland, with the current name being adopted. 1927 The United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing Western world ideas of property, liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy - to say nothing of its part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one quarter of the Earth's surface and encompassed a third of its population. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted from the effects of World War I and World War II. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous nation. The UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. Its attitude towards further integration is conservative, and there is significant Euroscepticism in UK politics. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro, owing to internal political considerations and the government's judgement of the prevailing economic conditions.

Government and politics

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the Queen by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the Prime Minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be "supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors). The UK is one of the few countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on customs and separate pieces of constitutional law. While the monarch is Head of State and holds all executive power, it is the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable chiefly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister is drawn from this chamber of Parliament by constitutional convention. The majority of cabinet members will be from the House of Commons, the rest from the House of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from Parliament, though that is the modern day custom. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. The Prime Minister is chosen as the MP who can command a majority in the House of Commons - usually the leader of the largest party or, if there is no majority party, the largest coalition. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997. In the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament") and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent [http://www.mori.com/mrr/2000/c000616.shtml]. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members (though this number is not fixed): hereditary peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. The Church of England is the established church of the state in England. established church]] The two largest political parties are the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The UK has long had a two-party system, but in the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats have re-emerged as a large third party. The electoral system used for general elections is first-past-the-post. The constitution of the United Kingdom is un-codified and partially unwritten, which means that no single document regulates how the government works, and unwritten constitutional conventions are used extensively. The constitution is based on the principle that Parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country. There has long been a widespread sense of national identity in the Celtic nations. Throughout the late 19th century the UK debated giving Ireland home rule. The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) in 1925. Referenda for devolution succeeded in 1997 for Scotland and Wales and in 1998 for Northern Ireland. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales were established, the former having primary legislative power. Proportional representation is used for the elections, which has resulted in a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Scotland. Due to internal disagreements, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2002.

Subdivisions

The United Kingdom is a country that is divided into four constituent parts:
- England
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
- Wales The constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative subdivisions as follows:
- The regions and administrative counties of England
- The council areas of Scotland
- The counties and county boroughs of Wales
- The districts of Northern Ireland The Laws in Wales Act 1535 incorporated Wales and England into England and Wales for legal purposes. Although all four have historically been divided into counties, England's population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain, as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in a referendum. Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas. Wales consists of 22 Unitary Authorities, styled as 10 County Boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Northern Ireland is divided into 26 Districts. Also sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

Military

The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. Ministry of Defence The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive military forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Armed Forces. The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines, while the Royal Marines provide infantry units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range, currently deployed in over 80 countries. The UK's special forces, principally the SAS, provides elite commandos trained for quick, mobile, military responses; often where secrecy or covert operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide ranging capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which military action was initiated by Argentina and the UK was fighting a defensive, rather than offensive, campaign. The British army has been actively involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, a programme of demilitarisation is being gradually implemented.

Geography

Troubles World Factbook Map of the United Kingdom]] Most of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by more mountainous terrain in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with France. There is no peak in England that is 1000 metres (3,300 ft) or greater. Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales. Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain at 1343 metres (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The largest city is Glasgow. Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The main cities are Belfast ('Beal Feirste' in Irish) and Londonderry / Derry ('Doire' in Irish). The province is home to one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feett (12 m) high. In total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by natural waste building up over time.

Economy

artificial island The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. Over the past three decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial state. Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, between China (33) and Austria (19.1), the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world. The Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.

Society

Demographics

At the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages five through sixteen. referendum The Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official national religions in their respective countries, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom. Anglicanism is the state religion that has been established in England since 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. During his reign, England broke ties with the Roman Catholic church and established the Church of England as the offical religion of England. Reforms to the nature of the church's relationship to the state have been ongoing, especially concerning the nature of the House of Lords and the appointment of a fixed amount of the lordships going to Lords Temporal, bishops of the Church of England. A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended from Old English, featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.The other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep. Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. The United Kingdom has the largest number of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub continent.

Culture

Urdu The United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University of London (which incorporates, amongst others, Imperial College and University College London), and has produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with many inventions including the locomotive, vaccination, television, vacuum, and both the internal combustion and the jet engine. The English language has spread to all corners of the world (primarily because of the country’s empire) and is referred to as a ‘global language’. It is now taught as a second language more than any other around the world. Over the next few decades, it is estimated that approximately half the world’s population will be proficient in the language. Playwright William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in the history of the English language; other well-known writers from the United Kingdom include the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, William Thackeray, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Milton, H. G. Wells and Charles Dickens. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord Tennyson and William Blake. Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner, William Lawes, John Dowland, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten in the 19th and 20th. George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in England. The BBC is the oldest and perhaps the most respected broadcasting network on the globe, with the BBC World Service radio channel and its news output held in particularly high regard. The other main television networks are ITV, Channel 4, five (TV) and Sky Television. Popular programmes in the UK include the three soaps Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as the comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You and Reality TV shows Big Brother and The X Factor. Various British TV formats have been exported to other nations, notably Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Weakest Link and The Office. The UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous rock stars, including the Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, The Who and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron Maiden. In mid to late '90s, the Britpop phenomenon has seen bands such as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Coldplay gain international fame. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as Aphex Twin, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom was also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK.

Sport

A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket, rugby, tennis and boxing. The national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However, a united team will probably take part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, as these are hosted in London. The English and Northern Irish football associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA and the Welsh FA have declined to participate. The UK also hosts many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in England and Rangers and Celtic in Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby League originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played all over Britain. In Rugby League the UK plays as one nation - Great Britain - whilst in union it is represented by the four nations. England are the current holders of the Rugby Union World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) tour other countries. Cricket is also played in the UK, although it is focussed in England. The Wimbledon Championships are an international tennis event held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar. Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK and St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course.

Miscellaneous topics

External links


- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] History of the nations within the UK.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html CIA World Factbook: UK.]
- [http://www.direct.gov.uk Gateway to UK governmental services and websites.]
- [http://www.number-10.gov.uk Number 10 Downing Street]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]
- [http://www.opsi.gov.uk Office of Public Sector Information] Source for all UK legislation 1987-present (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office).
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Independent view of the UK.
- [http://www.royal.gov.uk The British Monarchy]
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The United Kingdom Parliament]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5703&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272 Official Yearbook of the UK] factbook produced by the Office for National Statistics (years 2000 to 2005 available online).
- [http://www.ukcities.co.uk UK Cities] lists a variety of useful resources for every city in the UK.
- [http://www.justuk.org UK travel guide] United Kingdom for travellers.
- [http://www.world66.com/europe/unitedkingdom World66 Guide to United Kingdom] A travel guide written by its users.
- [http://www.multimap.co.uk www.multimap.co.uk] provides online maps and aerial photographs of the UK.
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk www.streetmap.co.uk] an alternative to multimap.
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/united-kingdom/map.html Physical map of United Kingdom.]
- [http://www.upmystreet.com www.upmystreet.com] detailed localised information about places in the United Kingdom.
- [http://www.parks.it/world/UK/Eindex.html UK Parks] National parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas. ----
Category:British Isles Category:European countries Category:European Union member states Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies A als:Grossbritannien und Nordirland zh-min-nan:Liân-ha̍p Ông-kok ko:영국 ms:United Kingdom ja:イギリス simple:United Kingdom th:สหราชอาณาจักร

State

:This article discusses states as sovereign political entities; for other meanings, see state (disambiguation). A state is an organized political community occupying a definite territory, having an organized government, and possessing internal and external sovereignty. Recognition of the state's claim to independence by other states, enabling it to enter into international agreements, is often important to the establishment of its statehood, although some theories do not make this a requirement - for instance, the Montevideo Convention. The "state" can also be defined in terms of domestic conditions, specifically, as conceptualized by Max Weber, "a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory." [http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/xweb.htm] The exact meaning of this definition depends on what is understood by "legitimate". For more information see government.

Introduction

The word "state" in contemporary parlance often means the "Westphalian state", in reference to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. In this sense, the modern state is an entity that enjoys extensive autonomy in its domestic economic and social policy, largely free from interference from other states and powers. A number of modern commentators have claimed that we are experiencing the decline of the Westphalian state as the principal actor of the international system, pointing to economic, cultural, political, and technological changes in the world, such as globalization and the emergence of regional and supernational groupings such as the European Union. The term "state" is also used to describe subnational territorial divisions within a federal system, as in the case of the United States of America. See state (law) and state (non-sovereign). In common speech, the terms country, nation and state are casually used as synonyms, but in a more strict usage they are distinguished:
- country is the geographical area.
- nation designates a people (however, national and international both confusingly refer as well to matters pertaining to what are strictly states, as in "national capital", "international law").
- state refers to the government, and an entity in international law. Currently, the entire land surface of the Earth is divided among the territories of the roughly two hundred states now existing, with the special case of Antarctica, a variety of disputed territories, and a number of areas where state power exists in theory, but not in practice (the most significant of these being Somalia and Iraq).

Etymology

The word "state" originates from the medieval state or throne upon which the head of state (usually a monarch) would sit. By process of metonymy, the word state became used to refer to both the head of state and the power entity he represented (though the former meaning has fallen out of use). A similar association of terms can today be seen in the practice of referring to government buildings as having authority, for example "The White House today released a press statement..."

Formation of the state

The birth of the state, in the broadest sense of the word, coincides with the rise of civilization. For most of the existence of the human species, people lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. That lifestyle began to change with the invention of agriculture around the 9th millennium BC. The practice of agriculture made it necessary for human beings to build permanent settlements and spend most of their lives in close proximity to the land they cultivated. Thus, control over land became an issue for the first time. To express that control, various forms of property rights developed, with people claiming different kinds of rights over various areas of land. Disagreements over the nature and extent of such claims of ownership degenerated into violence and the first "wars". In some parts of the world, notably Mesopotamia and the Nile valley, natural conditions favoured the concentration of land ownership in few hands. Eventually, a small group of people found themselves owning the land on which many other people worked for a living. This control over the land meant control over the people whose livelihoods depended on the land; thus, the first primitive states arose. These states were usually despotic and unstable, with the ruler(s) holding absolute power over their subjects until some other ruler(s) displaced them. Since there were no laws and no infrastructure, and since power was exercised arbitrarily, some political theorists and historians do not consider such early forms of despotic rule to have been states in the proper sense of the word; they are sometimes called proto-states. One of the earliest known sets of laws, the Code of Hammurabi, has been dated to ca. 1700 BC. It was around this time that the concept of law - one of the foundations of the modern state - began to appear. But the rulers of the Ancient Near East had a long tradition of holding absolute power and claiming the status of god-kings (see hydraulic despotism). Thus, laws limiting the power of monarchs did not develop very far in that region. The city-states of Ancient Greece were the first to establish states whose powers were clearly defined in laws (even if the laws themselves could usually be changed quite easily). Also, notabl