GEOGRAPHY

A. General Information
 The British Isles – geographical area of Great Britain, all of Ireland and around 5500
offshore isles. The area of 314,000 sq km, 58 million people.
 The two main islands are Britain and Ireland.
 Politically, these islands are divided into the following political entities: the UK,
Republic of Ireland, Crown Dependencies (Isle of Man, Channel Islands).
 Crown Dependencies – they are self-governing possessions of the British Crown.
they are independent jurisdictions, they do not form part of the UK or EU. They are
not sovereign nations in their own right but they have the power to pass their own
legislation with the assent of the Crown.
 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland refers to the political
state that includes the countries of: England (London), Wales (Cardiff), Scotland
(Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (Belfast). It does not include the Isle of Man or the
Channel Islands, which are Crown dependencies. The UK was formed in 1801 when
the Irish parliament was joined with the parliament for England, Wales and Scotland
in London.

B. Etymology/Names
1. Britain – The name Britannia is recorded in Julius Ceasar’s books. The first to
mention Britain was Pytheas in 4th c. BC, Prydein ‘the land of painted people’.
2. Great Britain – this name appeared in 1603 for the first time (personal union of
England and Scotland). It became an official name in 1707 (the Acts of Union).
3. Wales – OE wealh, pl. wēalas ‘slave, foreigner’. It was a word common to all
Germanic languages still in the continental times and was applied to the speakers of
Latin. The word was never used in reference to the speakers of the Germanic
languages. In the early phases of Anglo-Saxon settlement wealh need not always
meant a slave. The OE wealhstod clearly means ‘an interpreter’.
4. Cymru/Cymru – the land of the Cymry. Brittonic combrogi ‘fellow countrymen’.

C. Symbols of Wales etc.

WALES ENGLAND SCOTLAND IRELAND
flag Dragon of St George’s Cross St. Andrew’s St Patrick’s cross
Cadwallader Cross
plant leek/daffodil rose thistle shamrock
colour red white blue green
animal dragon lion unicorn -
Patron St David St George St Andrew St Patrick
saint
Saint’s 1 March 23 April 30 November 17 March
Day

Welsh flag - the exact representation of the dragon is not standardised; The flag incorporates
the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd, along with the Tudor colours of green and
white. It was used by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 after which it was
carried in state to St Paul's Cathedral. The red dragon was then included in the Tudor royal
arms to signify their Welsh descent. It was officially recognised as the Welsh national flag in
1959.

English flag – the origin of the flag goes back to the Middle Ages, to the Crusades, when
English crusaders were represented by a white cross on a red background. This flag achieved
a status of a national flag of England in the 16th c. St. George was adopted as a patron saint of
England in the 13th c.

Scottish flag – St. Andrew’s Cross/Saltire; According to legend, St. Andrew was crucified on
an x-shaped cross. The flag first appeared in 1180 during the reign of William I. The shade of
blue is not specified.

Irish National Flag - has its origins in the French Revolution and the French flag. The
Tricolour was designed to signify the peace (white) between Nationalists (green) and
Unionists (orange). It was hoisted above the General Post Office in Dublin during the 1916
Easter Rising, and has since been used by Ireland's Nationalists and Republicans North and
South of the border.

Government of Northern Ireland Flag - This flag is based upon the St. George's Cross (see
above) and has similarities to the Province of Ulster Flag (see above). However this particular
flag of Northern Ireland is seen as staunchly Loyalist because of the Crown, the Star of David,
and the Red Hand of Ulster. A number of other flags were based upon this design (see the
alternative 'Ulster' flag below).

St. Patrick's Cross - Even on St. Patrick's day, this flag is not widely flown by Irish people
who, for the most part, do not recognise it as their own. It is seen as a British symbol, and is
used by regiments of the British Army. [Additional note: The flag was first designed by
British authorities in Dublin Castle in the 17th century as a counterpart to St. George's Cross.
The flag also forms part of the coat of arms of the Duke of Leinster.]

Province of Ulster Flag (nine counties) - The Ulster Flag represents the nine counties of the
ancient province of Ulster, and is one of the four provincial flags of Ireland. The flag is based
on the crest of the O'Neill Chieftains of Ulster, who were renowned for their strong resistance
to English rule, hence the flag is regarded as being Nationalist.

Leinster Flag/ Naval Jack - This flag represents one of the four provinces of Ireland,
Leinster, whose capital is Dublin. The flag was previously used by the United Irishmen in
1798, Daniel O'Connel's Repeal of the Union campaign in the 1830s and 1840s, and the Irish
Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Contrary to popular belief, this flag was also used in the 1916
Rising, however the colour green was seen as exclusively Catholic, thus Sinn Fein favoured
the Tricolour in 1918, as a flag embracing both Catholic and Protestant communities in
Ireland.

Cornish flag – St. Piran’s Flag; Adopted as the Standard of Cornwall in 1838. The flag is
attributed to Saint Piran, a 6th century Cornish abbot. Saint Piran is supposed to have adopted
these two colours from seeing the molten tin spilling out of the black ore in his fire.This
occurred during his supposed discovery of tin in Cornwall, thus becoming the patron saint of
tin miners.