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The term 'British Isles' can be confusing and may be objectionable to some people. See the Terminology section below for details of the controversy.

Location of the British Isles.
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Location of the British Isles.

Great Britain, Ireland and several thousand smaller surrounding islands form an archipelago off the northwest coast of continental Europe which is most commonly known as the British Isles, though in certain circles this term is considered controversial. The islands include two sovereign states, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, and numerous crown dependencies. The Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland) became independent of the United Kingdom in 1922. Both states are members of the European Union.


The islands encompass an area south to north from Pednathise Head to Out Stack, Shetland in the United Kingdom, and west to east from the Tearaght Island in the Republic of Ireland to Lowestoft Ness in the United Kingdom, containing more than 6,000 islands, amounting to a total land area of 315,134 km² (121,674 sq. miles). The islands are largely low lying and fertile, though with significant mountainous areas in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the north of England. The regional geology is complex, formed by the drifting together of separate regions and shaped by glaciation. The history of the islands is one of emergence of nations, and tends to be considered on a national basis.


As the adjective "British" means 'of the United Kingdom', the term 'British Isles' can cause objection, particularly in Ireland, as the term can be mistakenly interpreted to imply that the Republic of Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. Official Irish government documents and the media there rarely use the term. Some British and other international sources also either do not include the island of Ireland at all in the definition, or else just include Northern Ireland. The archipelago is often simply described within the islands as 'These islands', although the alternative term 'Anglo-Celtic Isles' is in limited use. 





Contents





Geography






Satellite Image of the British Isles (excluding the Shetland Islands) and part of northern Continental Europe.

Enlarge

Satellite Image of the British Isles (excluding the Shetland Islands) and part of northern Continental Europe.







The archipelago is made up of more than 6,000 islands, the two biggest being Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain, to the east, covers 216,777 km² (83,698 sq. miles), over 2/3 of the total archipelago; Ireland, to the west, covers 84,406 km² (32,589 sq. miles). The other larger islands are situated to the north-west of the archipalego, in the Hebrides and Shetland Islands. 


The islands that constitute the archipelago include:




The following islands are sometimes also included, though officially are not geographically part of the archipelago:

The islands are at relatively low altitudes, with central Ireland and southern Great Britain particularly low lying. The Scottish Highlands in the northern part of Great Britain are mountainous, with Ben Nevis being the highest point on the archipelago at 1,344 m (4,409 ft). Other mountainous areas include Wales and parts of the island of Ireland, but only seven peaks in these areas reach above 1,000 m (3,281 ft). Lakes on the islands are generally not large, although Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is an exception, covering 381 km² (147 sq. miles); the largest freshwater body in Great Britain is Loch Lomond at 71.1 km² (27.5 sq. miles). Neither are rivers particularly long, the rivers Severn at 354 km (219 miles) and Shannon at 259 km (161 miles) being the longest.


The islands have a temperate marine climate, the North Atlantic Drift ("Gulf Stream") which flows from the Gulf of Mexico brings with it significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 degrees Celsius above the global average for the island's latitudes.  Winters are thus warm and wet, with summers mild and also wet. Most Atlantic depressions pass to the north of the islands, combined with the general westerly circulation and interactions with the landmass, this imposes an east-west variation in climate. Ibid., pp. 13-14.



Geology


The British Isles lie at the juncture of several regions with past episodes of tectonic mountain building. These orogenic belts form a complex geology which records a huge and varied span of earth history.  Over the preceding 500 million years the land which forms the islands has drifted northwest from the southern hemisphere, crossing the equator around 370 million years ago to reach its present northern latitude. Ibid., p. 5.


The islands have been shaped by numerous glaciations during the Quaternary Period, the most recent being the Devensian. As this ended, the central Irish Sea was de-glaciated (whether or not there was a land bridge between Great Britain and Ireland at this time is somewhat disputed, though there was certainly a single ice sheet covering the entire sea) and the English Channel flooded, with sea levels rising to current levels some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, leaving the archipalego in its current form.


The islands' geology is highly complex, though there are large amounts of limestone and chalk rocks which formed in the Permian and Triassic periods. The west coasts of Ireland and northern Great Britain that directly face the Atlantic Ocean are generally characterized by long peninsulas, and headlands and bays; the internal and eastern coasts are "smoother".



History



Terminology



The term British Isles is in widespread use, and in much of the world is defined as "Great Britain and Ireland and adjacent islands".[Definitions from Dictionary.com] This has some validity as a geographical and ecological region, similar to Scandinavia or Iberia. However the term carries additional meanings; political, economic, cultural, geopolitical, legal and cultural, reflecting historical divisions and the fact that the British Isles in general coincided with the former United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922). The need for clarity is emphasised by the BBC style guide, which states that "The British Isles is not a political entity. It is a geographical unit".[BBC News style guide]  (pdf)


The disparity between the geographical usage and the political reality leads to a range of meanings being applied, as shown in both the titles of history books and in references in encyclopaedias. For example, Kathleen Burk  The British Isles Since 1945 (Short Oxford History of the British Isles) (Oxford University Press, 2003) 0199248389; and on a website called [Britannia.com] which describes itself as "American's Gateway to the British Isles since 1996" and covers government, parliament, the law, the monarchy, the media and other topics with reference only to the UK, and only includes "English humour" which will leave readers baffled by Chewin' the Fat The division of the former United Kingdom into two states in 1922, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandThough the Irish Free State exited the former United Kingdom in 1922, the name of the new United Kingdom was not changed until 1927. and the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland) complicated usage of the term British Isles.


This is because British, as an adjective, now means 'of the United Kingdom'. Thus, the term British Isles can be understood as meaning 'the islands of the United Kingdom'. A United States organisation called the Utah British Isles Association unambiguously equates the term British Isles with Britishness on its [website] even when in passing mentioning Ireland, with references to exclusively British symbols, including the Union Jack, and a booklet called Rules, Brittania reflecting the British nationalistic song Rule Brittania. However, as stated previously, parts of the archipelago include the Republic of Ireland, the other sovereign state in the archipelago; and the crown dependencies, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey, which are direct possessions of the British Crown and not part of the United Kingdom. British Isles is one of the few cases outside the United Kingdom where the adjective British is still used, albeit controversially. In similar examples, notably the British Commonwealth, a new name was adopted (the Commonwealth of Nations) in the 1940s to avoid a perception that the United Kingdom was the dominant state in the community of nations. Norman Davies, op.cit.



Attitudes in Ireland


In many circles the term is considered controversial.See Norman Davies, The Isles (Macmillan, 1999); FSL Lyons, Ireland Since the Famine (Fontana edition); National Archives of Ireland, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (Institute of Public Administration); Garret FitzGerald, All in a Life (Gill and Macmillan, 1991); Oliver Macdonagh, States of Mind: Two Centuries of Anglo-Irish Conflict, 1780—1980 (Pimlico, 1983); Dorothy Macardle, The Irish Republic (Corgi, 1968), etc.[The Sunday Business Post] holds somewhat more republican views than many Irish newspapers. On 18 July 2004 its Last Post Column covered the issue of Ireland's status in or out of the British Isles. The opening paragraph noted:

[The] "Last Post has redoubled its efforts to re-educate those labouring under the misconception that Ireland is really just British. When British Retail Week magazine last week reported that a retailer was to make its British Isles debut in Dublin, we were puzzled. Is not Dublin the capital of the Republic of Ireland?


It challenged a statement that the British Isles was simply a geographic statement, finishing with the sentence, "The fight for independence continues . ." Retrieved 17 July 2006


The sensitivity of many Irish people to the term was referred to a gathering of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (15th plenary session, in 1998). Referring to a plan for a "Council of the Isles" which was being supported by both Nationalists and Unionists, British MP for Falkirk West Dennis Canavan was paraphrased by official notetakers as having said in a caveat:

He understood that the concept of a Council of the Isles had been put forward by the Ulster Unionists and was referred to as a "Council for the British Isles" by David Trimble. This would cause offence to Irish colleagues; he suggested as an acronym IONA-Islands of the North Atlantic.[British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body. 15th Plenary Session. 30 March 1998.]


Attitudes in Ireland have led to a general reduction in the use of the term and this is best demonstrated by the GFA of 1998 between the British and Irish states where the "British Isles Council" is deliberately not used in favour of the British-Irish Council,  http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/docs/agreement.htm#strand3 Strand Three though some usage does still occur, principally with regard to history where the topics under discussion may both pre- and post-date Irish independence.['The Christ Church History Project' by Dr Kenneth Milne, The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 2001.] The occasional usage of the term in Ireland may mean just those islands that are still British (i.e. part of the United Kingdom [Reform of Irish Insurance Market: Presentation]:  Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. Retrieved 25 June 2006.


For purposes of government and the law, the term has been superseded by more precise definitions. The British government currently uses British Islands, as defined in the Interpretation Act, 1978) to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, together with the Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwicks of Jersey and of Guernsey (which in turn includes the smaller islands of Alderney, Herm and Sark) in the Channel Islands; and the Isle of Man. 
According to the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, British Isles is not an officially recognised or used term, and no branch of the Irish government, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Irish Embassy in London, uses the term. "[Written Answers - Official Terms"], Dáil Éireann - Volume 606 - 28 September, 2005. In his response, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs added that "Our officials in the Embassy of Ireland, London, continue to monitor the media in Britain for any abuse of the official terms as set out in the Constitution of Ireland and in legislation. These include the name of the State, the President, Taoiseach and others." 


Because of the complexity, many bodies avoid describing the Republic of Ireland as being part of the British Isles. Some believe that Ireland left the British Isles when it left the United Kingdom in 1922 Norman Davies, op.cit p.xxii."Irish Genealogical Sources No. 25 - History of the Royal Hibernian Military School, Dublin" uses the term "then British Isles" to refer to Ireland's relationship association with it prior to 1922. Rare mentions of the term "British Isles" do occasionally occur at governmental level in Ireland, with a cabinet minister, Síle de Valera, delivering a speech containing the term, contrary to stated government policy, in 2002. Síle de Valera, Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, 31 March 2002. 
[Department website]. 


The different Irish attitudes towards the usage of the term British Isles can be gauged in a conference held in mid 2005, on the complex relationships between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and between Britain and Ireland. Of the range of academics from North and South, only one, a political scientist from Queens University Belfast, used the term "British Isles" when describing their areas of expertise, in a monograph.Mapping frontiers, Plotting pathways: Routes to North-South cooperation in a divided island”. June 2005. All the others avoided usage of the term, using terms like "Anglo-Irish relations" (the issues being discussed by Dr. McCall did not cover any other parts of the archipelago except the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Politicians from the Irish Unionist and Northern Ireland Unionist traditions do readily use the term "British Isles"[Speech by Rt. Hon. David Trimble to the Northern Ireland Forum] Retrieved 16 July 2006.[Speech by Mr. David Trimble to the AGM of the Ulster Unionist Council, 20 March 1999]. Retrieved 16 July 2006. The contrast between Unionist and Nationalist approaches to the term was shown in December 1999 at a meeting of the Irish cabinet and Northern Ireland executive in Armagh. The First Minister of Northern Ireland, David Trimble, told the meeting

This represents the Irish government coming back into a relationship with the rest of the British Isles. We are ending the cold war that has divided not just Ireland but the British Isles. That division is now going to be transformed into a situation where all parts work together again in a way that respects each other.[The Irish Independent. 14 December 1999.] Retrieved 16 July 2006.


In contrast, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, avoided any use of the term in his address to the meeting.ibid.


In a series of documents issued by the United Kingdom and Ireland, from the Downing Street Declaration to the Belfast Agreement, relations on the archipelago were referred to as the East-West strand of the tripartite relationships defined.Three sets of relationships were defined. (i) Within Northern Ireland. (ii) North-South for the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and (iii) East-West for relationships on the islands.



Alternative terms

There have been several suggestions for replacements for the term British Isles but no single one has yet won any wide 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".[Surf the Isles.com]: Commercial website for finding Products from the North-West European Archipelago. Retrieved 26 June 2006 "These Islands" was used in Strand Three of the Belfast Agreement to establish the British-Irish Council, and has featured in newspaper articles. Linnean, Hugh; 'The Islands in the Stream'; The Irish Times; July 15, 2006'  In cases where what is being referred to is just the two largest islands, the term "Great Britain and Ireland", [The Royal Anthropological Institute]. Website. Retrieved 25 June 2006 reflecting the names of the two largest islands, is generally used.


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, [Open Republic]. Retrieved 5 July 2006. 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.


The term British Islands is not a potential alternative; this is an official term used for the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, [GREAT BRITAIN, THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE BRITISH ISLES, BRITISH ISLANDS]: Know Britain Website. Retrieved 25 June 2006. i.e. all of the archipelago except the Republic of Ireland.


The term British Isles and Ireland, in which both are referred to as separate entities, is also used increasingly widely, by among other sources, the BBC[BBC World Music site] on occasion, the publishers Collins,For example, Bacon, Touring Map Scotland (Collins British Isles and Ireland Maps), sport[www.infosci.org/MS-UK-MSSoc/race.html Multiple Challenge - Teesside Round British Isles and Ireland Yacht Race 1994.], religion,[Prayer Association of British Isles and Ireland.] registered charities,[Medic Alert Foundation British Isles And Ireland.] registered charity: #233705 nursing,Macey & Morgan, Learning on the road: nursing in the British Isles and Ireland (Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, 1988) zoological publications, Badham, M., and Richards, V. (1991). Gibbon Regional Studbook: British Isles and Ireland, 13th Edition, Twycross Zoo, East Midland Zoological Society, Twycross. academia,[FOLK 547 640 Folklore of the British Isles and Ireland]. A course in the University of Pennsylvania; [British archaeology] and other sources. This form of title is also used in some book titlesFor example, P. North, The Private International Law of Matrimonial Causes in the British Isles and the Republic of Ireland (1977). and in various legal publications.See "Law Society Gazette", July 2001.


There is an alternative traditional name for these islands: THE WEST EUROPE ISLES. It is the name in Irish Gaelic (Oileain Iarthar Eorpa)(source: Dinneen Irish - English Dictionary, Dublin 1927)and in Manx Gaelic (Ellanyn Sheear ny hOarpey) (Source: Any Manx Tourist Board Publications in Manx and English). The objection that this name excludes Iceland and the Faeroe Islands has no basis. These islands are considered geograpically northern only, and in fact their inhabitants consider our own islands to be western. The Icelandic name for these islands is 'The Western Lands' (Vestr-lond)(Source: any Icelandic- English dictionary). An inhabitant of Ireland or Great Britain was known as as 'Westman'(Vestmann), and the name appears in place-names all over Iceland and the Faeroes (mostly because of Irish monks who settled there). For example, islands off the south coast of Iceland are called the Vestmanna-eyjar (Isles of the Westmen), and one of the main towns in the Faeroes is called Vestmanhavn (Port of the Westman)(Source: any good atlas). If the inhabitants of Iceland and the Faeroes consider 'these islands' to be western, it follows that they can have no objection to the term 'the West Europe Isles'. 


The nub of the issue is that there are two different views of these islands. The first is that Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man form a unique unit, effectively separate from Europe. This is essentially a British perspective, which regards it as a natural extension to see Great Britain as the 'mainland' because it is the greatest island. The second view is that these islands, while forming a distinct group, are essentially European islands situated off the mainland of Europe. This was the traditional view of the Irish and the Manx. The term 'The West Europe Isles' is both accurate and inclusive on geographical, historical and cultural grounds, and its adoption would provide a modern, clear solution that ended the disgreement and confusion for good.



Errors in Use

Even those who should be familiar with its use are prone to mistakes, such as the BBC in an article on the British weather, which refers to the "country" of the British Isles.[British Weather (Part One)]: BBC Weather. Retrieved 25 June 2006.



Origin of the term British Isles


In classical times, The prefix "Brit-" implied a Celtic connection[Definition], AskOxford.com: Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 25 June 2006.  and was used, when describing the whole archipelago of islands. Native sources used oceani insulae meaning "islands of the ocean" or insularum meaning "islands".[[Citing sources citation needed]] The phrase British Isles only appears in the English language from the 17th Century onwards but has gained common usage within the United Kingdom.[[Citing sources citation needed]]



Classical geographers

The inhabitants of Great Britain in classical times were called the Priteni or Pretani by classical writers of geographies, who named it after these inhabitants, using a transliteration into their own language such as Latin (e.g. Bretannae) or Greek (e.g. Βρηττανων).[[Citing sources citation needed]] Irene was the word they used for the island of Ireland, after the Érainn of its southern coasts. [[Citing sources citation needed]]


Throughout Book 4 of his Geography, Strabo is consistent in spelling the island Britain (transliterated) as Prettanikee; he uses the terms Prettans or Brettans loosely to refer to the islands as a group - a common generalisation used by classical geographers. 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). Translation by Roseman, op.cit. 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 includes Ireland, which he calls Hibernia, in the island 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 is found in modern English only in documents written after the Reformation in England, the earliest quotation of "British Isles" given by the Oxford English Dictionary is in 1621. [Definition of British Isles]: OED online, The Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 26 June 2006.


The earliest indigenous source to use a collective term for the archipelago is the Life of Saint Columba, a hagiography recording the missionary activities of the sixth century Irish monk Saint Columba among the peoples of modern Scotland. It was written in the late seventh century by Adomnán of Iona, an Irish monk living on the Inner Hebridean island. 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), it is used sparingly and no Priteni-derived collective reference is made.


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.



Renaissance mapmakers

Continental mapmakers Gerardus Mercator (1512) [[Citing sources citation needed]], Balthasar Moretus (1624), Giovanni Magini (1596), Abraham Ortelius (1570) and Sebastian Munster (1550) [[Citing sources citation needed]] produced maps bearing the term "British Isles" [[Citing sources citation needed]]. Ortelius makes clear his understanding that England, Scotland and Ireland were politically  separate in 1570 by the full title of his map: "Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio" which translates as "England, Scotland and Ireland, that I describe [to be] the British islands", additionally many maps from this period show Wales and Cornwall as separate nations, most notably those of Mercator.



Political history

By the time the Romans left in the fifth century the peoples of the archipelago were differentiated into the Brythons in the lands that would become England, Wales and southern Scotland and the Picts in northern Scotland, while Ireland was dominated by several peoples (Attacotti, The Connachta, Ulaidh) including the Scotti (Scots) confederation who would shortly establish Dál Riata in western Scotland. In the following centuries Anglo-Saxons formed the kingdom of Wessex, confining indigenous control to Wales, Cumbria, south-west Scotland and Dumnonia, (later to become Devon and 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 the Kingdom of Alba, which by the early 11th century had 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. 


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 title was forfeited by the crown in 1493.


In 1051, the English king, Edward the Confessor, had, possibly illegally, promised that the Norman, William, would have the throne of England upon his death. There was great resistance to this in England, and, on Edward's death in 1066, Harold Godwinson was crowned instead, leading to the Norman invasion of England. William was victorious and crowned William I. Although childless, The Confessor had had a potential English heir in 15-year old Edgar Ætheling, grandson of King Edmund Ironsides, who had been born in Hungary where his father had been exiled following the invasion of England by Canute. Edgar's father had been murdered following their return to England, but he survived to be declared King by the Witan, following Harold's defeat at Hastings. Edgar was too young to lead a resistance to William, however, and soon acknowledged the Norman's rule. Although William allowed him, and his family, to live unmolested, Edgar joined in an attempt to overthrow Norman rule in 1068. This was unsuccessful, and Edgar attempted to flee to Hungary with his family. Fate took them, instead, to Scotland, where his sister, Margaret, married the Scottish King, Malcolm III. Scotland had already absorbed many Anglo-Saxon, including refugees from Norman and earlier invasions. Margaret influenced her husband to invite Anglo-Saxon, and later Norman, nobles to immigrate, leading to the introduction of continental-style feudalism. This also lead to the steady replacement of Gaelic by Scots English, as the language of the ruling class within Scotland. Having been raised, in Hungary, as an ardent adherent to the Church of Rome, she also used her influence to introduce Roman christian orders, and to complete the replacement of the last vestiges of the Celtic Church with the Church of Rome.


From the early 13th century the Scots language of south east Scotland, a dialect of English, 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 conquest by King Edward I, and 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, although this parliament was a product of the English settler community.


In 1171 King Henry II of England invaded Ireland, assuming for himself 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". This meant that Irish kingdoms such as Tir Eoghan, Tir Connall, Thomond, Laois, Ui Failghe and others remained free of English rule till the early 17th century. 


Despite a series of disputes and wars with England, Scotland remained independent until in 1603 King James VI of Scotland became 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 20 1604, apparently with the political aim of creating a shared identity under his rule. Ireland was effectively being ruled as a colony of England and James expanded an existing policy of English settlers, adding  Lowland Scots 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 further embittered about the English, tensions even 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. Some attempt was made to rename Scotland as "North Britain", with no lasting success.  "The Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons" were renamed "The Royal North British Dragoons" (later examples included the North British Hotel and the North British Railway). The Scottish Highlanders were still Gaelic speaking and were derisively called "Erse" (Irish) by the Lowlanders, but the crushing of the old clan system ended the last vestiges of their cultural independence after 1746. 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 covering what was then named 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 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.



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