British Culture Summary

British culture
+ all powerpoints Toledo



Geography
+ blind maps toledo
Names
 The British Isles
 The United Kingdom (U.K.)
 Great Britain
 England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland

The British Isles (geographical term)
 Group of islands:
o Great Britain: main island (England + Wales)
o Ireland: Republic + Northern Ireland (part of UK)
o Smaller islands:
 Shetland islands
 Orkneys
 Hebrides
 Isle of Man
 Channel islands
 Isle of Wight
 Anglesey
 Scilly islands
 …

,The United Kingdom (political name)
 Official name: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 4 nations (England, Scotland, Wales, N.I.) + several smaller islands
o Not all islands! E.g. Isle of Man =/= UK
o  many banks in Man (no tax laws)
 14 overseas territories and 3 crown dependencies (e.g. Isle of Man)

Great Britain / Britain (geographical name used to refer to entire country (=UK)
 Main island of the British Isles
 England + Scotland + Wales

The people
 The British; Britons; Brits (informal)
 The English; Englishmen/Englishwomen
 The Scots; the Scottish; Scotsmen/Scotswomen
o =/= Scotch!! (whisky)
 The Welsh; Welshmen/Welshwomen
 The Irish; Irishmen/Irishwomen

Adjectives
 British: +- the UK or (Great) Britain
 English: only +- England
 Scottish: +- people and things in Scotland
 Scots: +- people, law and language of Scotland
 (Northern) Irish
 Welsh

England
 Only PART of the island
 London = capital of England and Britain
 Nature: varied, hilly, mountains, green

Scotland
 Islands included!
 Capital: Edinburgh (‘Edinbruh’)
 Near border with England: Hadrian’s Wall (built by Romans)
 Ben Nevis mountain, highest in Britain (4406ft  1342m)m)
 Glen Coh
 Lochs, castles, fog

Wales
 Western part of mainland Britain
 1/3 size of Belgium
 Celtic roots

,  Capital: Cardiff
 Mount Snowden: 1000m
 Sheep

Northern Ireland
 Capital: Belfast
 Also known as Ulster  do not use Ulster in N.I. (only used by unionists/protestants)
 Part of the UK
 Giant’s Causeway
 Sheep
 Lough Neagh
 Irish Gaelic
 Biggest freshwater lake in UK

Geographical position
 0° longitude (chosen)  Greenwich (‘Grenitch’) meridian
 Between 50°N and 60°N latitude (decided by equator)
 Latitude: Scotland ~ Norway  same darkness during winter

How big?
 Figures powerpoint
 John O’ Groats – Land’s End (length island): culturally important, eg charities walk, cycle,..

, History of the British Isles
Selective (!) overview, not much detail

Only history linked with present



Prehistory and the Celts
 10y ago we thought 2m)50,000 BC y/a, now 800,000 BC
 BC  BCE before common era (not used often)
 BC and AD: before Christ and anno domini
 End of ice age  island
o Island mentality, origin of Brexit
 3,000 BC: Neolithic people
o Barrows: artificial hills  graves
o Henges: circle of stone/wooden objects
o Stone Henge was NOT built by druids bc they came long after Stone Henge
 Made out of blue stone from Wales (1000km away) before invention of the
wheel  difficult!
 2m),400 BC: Beaker people  found lots of beakers
 700 BC: arrival of the Celts  still play important role (language, …)
o Celts came from Europe, (physically) different from English tribes
o Brought agriculture, more advanced, dominated island
o Named Britain ‘Albion’
o Own culture with druids (priest + soothsayer) and bards (artists)
o Art (until today) eg Celtic cross

The Romans
 Caesar 55BC: first general to come to Britain  chased away
 Came back up to Thames  did not stay, but made deals with tribes  allies  sent
hostages back with him to EU  hostages got Roman education + culture  spread
knowledge
 Claudius invades Britain  resistance: Boadicea (queen), symbol, won battles, underdog
 Romans never conquered Scotland (Caledonia)  Picts (people)
o Hadrian’s Wall (70 miles long) built by Romans on border with Scotland
 Rome brought:
o System of governing (modern government)
o Written language
o Calendar
o Infrastructure: 10,000 miles of roads
o Rapid change
o Names in -chester/-cester/-caster referring to Roman encampments (‘castrum’)
 Romans stayed for 100+ years  mixed with native Celts
 Scottish Celts could feel Roman Might going down  Celts feel confident again  attacks 
collapse of Roman Empire  big piece of land open for new people (409 AD)

The Anglo-Saxons (450-1066)