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Great Britain

{{Infobox Islands |name = Great Britain |native name = |nickname = |image name = Satellite image of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in April 2002.jpg |image caption = True colour image of Great Britain, captured by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA satellite on 6 April 2002. |image size = 200px |locator map = LocationIslandGreatBritain.png |map_custom = no |location = Northern Europe |coordinates = |archipelago = British Isles |area = http://www.intute.ac.uk/worldguide/guide_largestislands.html |rank = 9th |highest mount = Ben Nevis |elevation = 1344 m |country = |country admin divisions title = |country admin divisions =

|country largest city = London |country largest city area = 609 sq mi (1,577.3 km²) |population = approximately 61,500,000 (as of mid-2008) |density =277 |ethnic groups = British people|British (Cornish people|Cornish, English people|English, Scottish people|Scottish & Welsh people|Welsh)}}
Great Britain is an islandIslands by land area, United Nations Environment Programme situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area|ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people in mid-2008, it is List of islands by population|the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000says 803 islands which have a distinguishable coastline on an Ordnance Survey map, and several thousand more exist which are too small to be shown as anything but a dot. smaller islands and islets. The island of Ireland lies to its west. Politically, Great Britain may also refer to the island itself together with a number of surrounding islands which comprise the territory of England, Scotland and Wales. All of the island is Territory (country subdivision)|territory of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and most of the United Kingdom's territory is in Great Britain. The term "Great Britain" (and the abbreviation 'GB') is the traditional 'short form' of the full country title 'the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland', although usage of 'the UK' has increased more recently. Most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island of Great Britain, as are their respective capital cities: London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff. The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the political union of the kingdoms of Kingdom of England|England and Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland with the Acts of Union 1707 on 1 May 1707 under Anne of Great Britain|Queen Anne. In 1801, under a new Act of Union 1800|Act of Union, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After the Irish War of Independence, most of Ireland seceded from the Union. Currently the kingdom is named the United Kingdom|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Political definition

Great Britain is the largest island of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Politically, Great Britain also refers to England, Scotland and Wales in combination, and therefore also includes a number of outlying islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands which are not part of the United Kingdom, instead being self-governing dependent territories of that state with their own legislative and taxation systems. The union of the kingdoms of Kingdom of England|England and Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland began with the 1603 Union of Crowns, a personal union under James VI of Scotland, James VI of Scotland|I of England. The political union that joined the two countries happened in 1707, with the Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union merging the parliaments of each nation, and forming the Kingdom of Great Britain, which covered the entire island.

Geographical definition

Great Britain lies to the northwest of Continental Europe and east of Ireland. It is separated from the continent by the North Sea and by the English Channel, which narrows to at the Straits of Dover.http://www.eosnap.com/?tag=strait-of-dover accessed 14 November 2009 The island is physically connected with continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel, the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world which was completed in 1993. It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north-south axis, and occupies an area of 209,331 km² (80,823 square miles).United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) ISLAND DIRECTORY TABLES "ISLANDS BY LAND AREA". Retrieved from http://islands.unep.ch/Tiarea.htm on 13 August 2009 Geographically, the island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. It is the List of islands by population|third most populous island after Java (island)|Java and Honshū.See Geohive.com Country data; Japan Census of 2000; United Kingdom Census of 2001. The editors of List of islands by population appear to have used similar data from the relevant statistics bureaux, and totalled up the various administrative districts that comprise each island, and then done the same for less populous islands. An editor of this article has not repeated that work. Therefore this plausible and eminently reasonable ranking is posted as unsourced Wikipedia:Common knowledge|common knowledge. The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by the breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline, a ridge which held back a large proglacial lake, now submerged under the North Sea. Around 10,000 years ago, during the Wisconsin glaciation|Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level, Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of northwestern Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about lower than today, and the bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge to Europe, now known as Doggerland. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland became submerged beneath the North Sea, cutting off what was previously the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500BC.Vincent Gaffney, "Global Warming and the Lost European Country" An alternative hypothesis is that much of the land was inundated about the same time by a tsunami, caused by a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway known as the Storegga Slide.Bernhard Weninger et al., The catastrophic final flooding of Doggerland by the Storegga Slide tsunami, Documenta Praehistorica XXXV, 2008

History

The island was first inhabited by people who crossed over the land bridge from the European mainland. Traces of early humans have been found (at Boxgrove Quarry, Sussex) from some 500,000 years ago and modern humans from about 30,000 years ago. Until about 10,000 years ago, Great Britain was joined to Ireland, and as recently as 8,000 years ago it was joined to the continent by Doggerland|a strip of low marsh to what is now Denmark and the Netherlands. In Cheddar Gorge near Bristol, the remains of animal species native to mainland Europe such as antelopes, brown bears, and wild horses have been found alongside a human skeleton, 'Cheddar Man', dated to about 7150 B.C. Thus, animals and humans must have moved between mainland Europe and Great Britain via a crossing.Lacey, Robert. ''Great Tales from English History''. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004. ISBN 0-316-10910-X. Great Britain became an island at the end of the Pleistocene ice age when sea levels rose due to isostatic depression of the crust and the melting of glaciers. Its Iron Age inhabitants are known as the Britons (historic)|Britons, a group speaking a Celtic languages|Celtic language. The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall, in northern England) and this became the Ancient Rome|Ancient Roman province of ''Roman Britain|Britannia''. For 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic peoples|Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons). At about the same time Gaelic Ireland|Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons (historical)|Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to, after the Angles, as the English people. Germanic speakers referred to Britons as ''Welsh''. This term eventually came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace (surname)|Wallace, and in the second syllable of Cornwall. ''Cymry'', a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria. The Britons living in the areas now known as Wales and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into modern times. At the time of the Germanic invasion of Southern Britain, many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany, where Breton language|Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish language|Cornish and descended from the language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England. In 1066, England was Norman Conquest|conquered by the Normans, who introduced a French ruling élite that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century. On 20 October 1604 King James (who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland) proclaimed himself as "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland", a title that continued to be used by many of his successors.Proclamation styling James I King of Great Britain on 20 October 1604 However, England and Scotland each remained legally in existence as separate countries with their own parliaments until 1707, when an Act of Union 1707|Act of Union joined both parliaments. That act used two different terms to describe the new all-island state, a "United Kingdom" and the "Kingdom of Great Britain". However, the former term is regarded by many as having been a ''description'' of the union rather than its formal name at that stage. Most reference books therefore, describe the all-island kingdom that existed between 1707 and 1800 as the "Kingdom of Great Britain".

Terminology

Toponymy

The oldest mentions of terms related to the formal name of Britain was made by Aristotle (c. 384–322 BC), in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, "... in the ocean however, are two islands, and those very large, called Bretannic, Albion and Ierna". The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2,000 years: the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. Pliny the Elder (c. 23–79 AD) in his '' Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History'' (iv.xvi.102) records of Great Britain: "It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae." The earliest known name of Great Britain is ''Albion'' (Ἀλβίων) or ''insula Albionum'', from either the Latin ''albus'' meaning white (referring to the white cliffs of Dover, the first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island of the ''Albiones''", first mentioned in the ''Massaliote Periplus'' and by Pytheas. The name ''Britain'' descends from the Latin name for Britain, ''Brittania'' or ''Brittānia'', the land of the Britons. Old French ''Bretaigne'' (whence also Modern French ''Bretagne'') and Middle English ''Bretayne, авBreteyne''. The French form replaced the Old English ''Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten'' (also ''Breoton-lond, Breten-lond''). Brittania was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of the ancient Greece|ancient Greek Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far North as Thule (probably Iceland). The peoples of these islands of ''Prettanike'' were called the Πρεττανοι, ''Priteni'' or ''Pretani''.Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, ''Britain'', which has the same source as the Goidelic languages|Goidelic term Cruithne (people)|Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic languages|Brythonic speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Ancient Rome|Romans.

Derivation of "Great"

After the Old English period, ''Britain'' was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Pseudohistory|pseudohistorical ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (''c.'' 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as ''Britannia major'' ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from ''Britannia minor'' ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany. The term "Great Britain" was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily Neville|Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, and James IV of Scotland|James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee." It was used again in 1604, when James I of England|King James VI and I, in a deliberate attempt to impose a term which would unite his double inheritance of the kingdoms of Scotland and England, proclaimed his assumption of the throne in the style "King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland ..."Denys Hay, ''The use of the term "Great Britain" in the Middle Ages'', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1955-56, pp.55-66

Use of the term ''Great Britain''

"Great Britain" refers to the majority of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" (UK). It refers to the largest island only, or to England, Scotland and Wales as a unit (though these three countries also include many smaller islands). It does not include Northern Ireland.Britain 2001:The Official Handbook of the United Kingdom, 2001, ONS/Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London, ISBN 011 621278 0 In 1975 the government affirmed that the term Britain, not Great Britain, could be used as a shortened form of the United Kingdom.Britain 2001: The Official Handbook of the United Kingdom, 2001, ONS/Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London, ISBN 011 621278 0 British (disambiguation)|British refers, however, to all citizens of the United Kingdom — including Welsh, Scottish, English, and Northern Irish.Britain 2001: The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom, 2001, Office of National Statistics/Her Majesty's Stationary Office ISN 011 621278 0 The abbreviations '''GB''' and '''GBR''' are used in some international codes as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Examples include: Universal Postal Union, international sports teams, NATO, the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO 3166-2:GB|ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3, and List of international license plate codes|international licence plate codes, among others. On the Internet, '''.uk''' is used as a country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. A '''.gb''' top-level domain was also used to a limited extent in the past, but this is now effectively obsolete because the domain name registrar will not take new registrations.

Biodiversity

Fauna

Animal Biodiversity|diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last Ice Age and the island's physical separation from continental Europe, and the effects of seasonal variability. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Great Britain has also gone through industrialisation and increasing urbanisation, which have contributed towards the overall loss of species. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. A DEFRA study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate.DEFRA, 2006 However, some species, such as the brown rat, red fox, and introduced grey squirrel, are well adapted to urban areas. Rodents make up 40% of the total number of List of mammals of Great Britain|mammal species in Great Britain. These include squirrels, mice, voles, brown rat|rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver. There is also an abundance of European Rabbit|rabbits, European Hare|hares, West European Hedgehog|hedgehogs, Common Shrew|shrews, European Mole|moles and several species of bat. Carnivorous mammals include the red fox|fox, Eurasian Badger|badger, otter, weasel, stoat and elusive European Wildcat|wildcat.Else, ''Great Britain'', 85. Various species of pinniped|seal, whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer. The red deer is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans.The Fallow Deer Project, University of Nottingham Habitat loss has affected many species. List of extinct animals of Britain|Extinct large mammals include the brown bear, grey wolf and wild boar; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times. There is a wealth of List of birds of Great Britain|birdlife in Britain, 583 species in total, Retrieved on 16 February 2009. of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter. Retrieved on 16 February 2009. Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly ducks, goose|geese and swans. Retrieved on 16 February 2009. Other well known bird species include the golden eagle, grey heron, Common Kingfisher|kingfisher, Rock Pigeon|pigeon, House Sparrow|sparrow, Common Pheasant|pheasant, Grey Partridge|partridge, and various species of crow, finch, gull, auk, grouse, owl and falcon. Retrieved on 16 February 2009. There are six species of List of reptiles of Great Britain|reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slow worm. One snake, the adder, is venomous but rarely deadly. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. List of amphibians of Great Britain|Amphibians present are common frog|frogs, common toad|toads and Smooth newt|newts.

Flora

In a similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora of Great Britain is impoverished compared to that of continental Europe. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. Great Britain's flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced into the island.Frodin, ''Guide to Standard Floras of the World'', 599. The island has a wide variety of trees of Britain and Ireland|trees, including native species of birch, beech, fraxinus|ash, Crataegus|hawthorn, elm, oak, Common Yew|yew, pine, cherry tree|cherry and apple tree|apple. Retrieved on 2 March 2009. Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, Sweet Chestnut|chestnut, Acer platanoides|maple, Norway Spruce|spruce, Acer pseudoplatanus|sycamore and fir, as well as cherry plum and European Pear|pear trees. The tallest species are the Douglas firs; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 meters or 212 feet. Retrieved on 2 March 2009. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower in Britain, Retrieved on 23 February 2009. Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. These include Common Poppy|red poppies, Common Bluebell|bluebells, Bellis perennis|daisies, Narcissus (genus)|daffodils, Bog Rosemary|rosemary, gorse, Iris (plant)|iris, ivy, Mentha|mint, orchids, brambles, thistles, buttercups, Primula vulgaris|primrose, thyme, tulips, Viola (plant)|violets, Primula veris|cowslip, Calluna vulgaris|heather and many more. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. Retrieved on 23 February 2009. There are also many species of algae, lichens, fungi and mosses across the island. Retrieved on 23 February 2009.

Religion

Christianity is the largest religion on the island and has been since the Early Middle Ages, though its existence on the island dates back to the Roman introduction in antiquity and continued through Early Insular Christianity. The largest form practiced in present day Britain is Anglicanism (also known as Scottish Episcopal Church|Episcopalism in Scotland), dating from the 16th century English Reformation|Reformation period, the religion regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed. Head of the Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England|Supreme Governor. It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. The second largest Christian practice in Britain is the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church which traces its formal, corporate history in Great Britain to the 6th century with Augustine of Canterbury|Augustine's mission and was the main religion on the island for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents in Britain today; 4.5 million in Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales|England and Wales Retrieved on 1 February 2009. and 750,000 in Roman Catholic Church in Scotland|Scotland. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. The Church of Scotland, a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity is the third most numerous on the island with around 2.1 million members. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox, it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented prominently by a Lord High Commissioner. Methodist Church of Great Britain|Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, also amongst tin miners in Cornwall. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. The Calvinistic Methodism form is the largest denomination in Presbyterian Church of Wales|Wales. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, Congregational church|Congregationalists, Unitarianism|Unitarians and more. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban.Dawkins, ''The Shakespeare Enigma'', 343. He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and was sacrificed to the Roman mythology|pagan gods.Butler, ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'', 141. In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of Aidan of Lindisfarne|Saint Aidan as another patron saint of Britain. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Originally from Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria. Three constituent countries of the United Kingdom located on the island have patron saints; Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of Flag of England|England and Flag of Scotland|Scotland respectively. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. These two saintly flags combined form the basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. There are many other British saints, some of the best known include; Cuthbert of Lindisfarne|Cuthbert, Saint Columba|Columba, Saint Patrick|Patrick, Saint Margaret of Scotland|Margaret, Edward the Confessor, Saint Mungo|Mungo, Thomas More, Petroc, Bede and Thomas Becket. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. There are also some non-Christian religions practiced. Jews have a history of a small minority on the island since 1070. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. They were Edict of Expulsion|expelled from England in 1290 only to be allowed back in 1656. Their history in Scotland is quite obscure until later migrations from Lithuania. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Especially since the 1950s Eastern religions from the British Empire|former colonies have began to appear; Islam is the most common of these with around 1.5 million adherents in Britain. Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism are next in number, introduced from India and South East Asia. Prior to the rise of Christianity — Celtic polytheism|Celtic, Roman polytheism|Roman, Anglo-Saxon polytheism|Anglo-Saxon and Norse polytheism was practiced.

Settlements

Capital cities

- United Kingdom: London Capitals of countries of the United Kingdom in Great Britain:
- England: London
- Scotland: Edinburgh
- Wales: Cardiff

Other major cities

Cities with a population of over 300,000 in Great Britain (not including the capital cities listed above): Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester, Leicester, Coventry and Kingston upon Hull.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

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External links

- Interactive map of Great Britain
- Coast – the BBC explores the coast of Great Britain
- Administrative map of Great Britain – from the Ordnance Survey; various formats
- BBC Nations
- The British Isles
- CIA Factbook United Kingdom Category:Great Britain| Category:Islands Category:Northern Europe Category:Western Europe nds-nl:Groot-Brittannie simple:Great Britain bat-smg:Dėdliuojė Brėtanėjė

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