By Martin Brisland.
I recently tried to explain what Great Britain meant when asked how we came to describe ourselves as Great.
It is an often misunderstood and misused term, but the Great in Great Britain refers to geography not superiority.
The ‘United Kingdom’ refers to a political union between England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The Act of Union with Scotland dates from 1707. The conquest of Wesh land dates to 1301 when Edward 1 gave the title of Prince of Wales to his first-born son to assert English supremacy.
Although the UK is a fully independent sovereign state, the four nations that make it up are also countries and have a certain extent of autonomy. England is the largest part of the UK, home to around 84% of the UK’s population.
All four countries have their own identity and traditions and are often considered separate in the minds of locals. There are even regional languages like Welsh and Gaelic, though English is spoken throughout.
From 1801 to 1922, the United Kingdom included the whole of Ireland. It now only includes the six counties that make up Northern Ireland. Interestingly, Donegal is in the north of Ireland but not part of Northern Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland operates as a sovereign state, although it shares a border with the UK.
The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are what we call ‘Crown Dependencies.’ They are not part of the UK. A Jersey pound is not legal tender in the UK.
‘Great Britain’ is the collective name for the countries that make up England, Scotland, Wales, and their surrounding islands.
Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain. However, the official title of the Conservatives is the Conservative and Unionist Party to reflect its support of Northern Ireland.
It is said that ‘Great’ was originally put on the front of ‘Britain,’ which derives from the Roman word Britannia, to distinguish Britain from its similar-sounding neighbour, Brittany, in Northern France.
The British Isles is purely a geographical term that refers to the entire island of Great Britain and Ireland. So, it also includes the Republic of Ireland, along with the 5,000 small islands scattered around our coastlines.
Yet although the Republic of Ireland is technically part of the British Isles, the people who live there are not British but Irish.
When it comes to sports such as rugby and football, each part of Great Britain has its own team yet in other sports teams can compete under the GB badge. The British and Irish Lions rugby team is selected from the four national rugby teams!
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