British
Culture
01 Country and people
Geographically: Two large islands and hundreds of much smaller ones.
The largest Island is called Great Britain and the other is called Ireland.
Politically: There are two states. One of these is Ireland or ‘’Eire’’. The
other state has authority over the rest of the area, The United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Nortern Ireland. (UK/.uk). The normal everyday adjective,
when talking about something to do with the UK is ‘’British’’.
Why is British ‘’Great’’?
The origin of the adjective ‘’great’’ was first used to distinguish it from the
smaller area in France which is called Brittany in modern English.
Looking for a name
Geographically speaking, it’s clear that Great Britain, Ireland and all those
smaller islands belong together. During the 19th and 20th centuries they
were generally called ‘’The British Isles’’. But now they regard this name
as outdated because it calls to mind the time when Ireland was politically
dominated by Britain.
More names were used for these islands:
- The north-east Atlantic archipelago
1
, - The north-west European archipelago
- IONA (Islands of the North Atlantic)
- The Isles
But none of these become widely accepted.
Most common term at present is ‘’Great Britain and Ireland’’. This is not
strictly correct, because geographically it ignores all the smaller islands
and politically it’s not correct because of the special political
arrangements. (Channel Islands & Isle of Man) They are crown
dependencies and not officially part of the UK. Each has internal self-
government, including its own parliamanet and tax system, ruled by a
Lieutenant Governor appointed by the British government.
Historical and poetic names”
Albion: used by poets and songwriters to refer to England or Scotland or
Great Britain as a whole. Comes from a Celtic word and was a Greek and
Roman name for Great Britain. (albus=white chalk cliffs)
Britannia: name of the southern British province of the Romans. It’s also
given to the female embodiment of Britain (always shown wearing helmet
and holding a trident, power of the sea).
The four nations
England is only one of ‘the four nations’ in this part of the world. The
others are Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The politcal unification was
completed in 1800 when the Irish parliament was joined with the
parliament for England, Scotland and Wales in Westminster, so that the
whole area became a single state.
The dominant culture of people in Ireland, Wales and Highland Scotland
was Celtic and that of England and Lowland Scotland was Germanic. The
difference was reflected in the languages they spoke. (different accents)
The nations became independent of each other.
Although there is only one government for the whole of Britain, and
everybody gets the same passport regardless of where in Britain they live,
many aspects of government are organized seperately in the four parts of
the UK.
Other signs or tokens of national identity
Briton
Caledonia, Cambria, Hibernia
Erin, The Emerald Isle
John Bull
2
Culture
01 Country and people
Geographically: Two large islands and hundreds of much smaller ones.
The largest Island is called Great Britain and the other is called Ireland.
Politically: There are two states. One of these is Ireland or ‘’Eire’’. The
other state has authority over the rest of the area, The United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Nortern Ireland. (UK/.uk). The normal everyday adjective,
when talking about something to do with the UK is ‘’British’’.
Why is British ‘’Great’’?
The origin of the adjective ‘’great’’ was first used to distinguish it from the
smaller area in France which is called Brittany in modern English.
Looking for a name
Geographically speaking, it’s clear that Great Britain, Ireland and all those
smaller islands belong together. During the 19th and 20th centuries they
were generally called ‘’The British Isles’’. But now they regard this name
as outdated because it calls to mind the time when Ireland was politically
dominated by Britain.
More names were used for these islands:
- The north-east Atlantic archipelago
1
, - The north-west European archipelago
- IONA (Islands of the North Atlantic)
- The Isles
But none of these become widely accepted.
Most common term at present is ‘’Great Britain and Ireland’’. This is not
strictly correct, because geographically it ignores all the smaller islands
and politically it’s not correct because of the special political
arrangements. (Channel Islands & Isle of Man) They are crown
dependencies and not officially part of the UK. Each has internal self-
government, including its own parliamanet and tax system, ruled by a
Lieutenant Governor appointed by the British government.
Historical and poetic names”
Albion: used by poets and songwriters to refer to England or Scotland or
Great Britain as a whole. Comes from a Celtic word and was a Greek and
Roman name for Great Britain. (albus=white chalk cliffs)
Britannia: name of the southern British province of the Romans. It’s also
given to the female embodiment of Britain (always shown wearing helmet
and holding a trident, power of the sea).
The four nations
England is only one of ‘the four nations’ in this part of the world. The
others are Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The politcal unification was
completed in 1800 when the Irish parliament was joined with the
parliament for England, Scotland and Wales in Westminster, so that the
whole area became a single state.
The dominant culture of people in Ireland, Wales and Highland Scotland
was Celtic and that of England and Lowland Scotland was Germanic. The
difference was reflected in the languages they spoke. (different accents)
The nations became independent of each other.
Although there is only one government for the whole of Britain, and
everybody gets the same passport regardless of where in Britain they live,
many aspects of government are organized seperately in the four parts of
the UK.
Other signs or tokens of national identity
Briton
Caledonia, Cambria, Hibernia
Erin, The Emerald Isle
John Bull
2
