Wales

Wales makes as constituent country with England, Northern Ireland and Scotland in the United Kingdom. Wales is located in the West of the island of Great Britain and is bordered in the East to England. Wales has a own language, its own flag and limited local government, but in theinternational relations applies only the United Kingdom as sovereign State. Wales is not a country in the strict sense of 'independent State ', but in a more spacious sense of ' bounded area with a political identity '. Historically, Wales as a whole never been an independent State.

Wales has just over three million inhabitants of which still a sixth speak Welsh . The name Wales comes from the Germanic word Walha(foreigner) that is possibly derived from the name of the Celtic tribe of the Volcae. Walloniaalso, Wallachia and the Swiss Valais are derived from this word.



Content
[hide] *1 History  ==History[ Edit] == Around the beginning of the era of what is now Wales was inhabited by a number of Celtic tribes, in particular the Deceangli, Ordovices, Cornovii, Demetae and Silures.
 * 2 Geography
 * 2.1 cities and places
 * 2.2 Flora and fauna
 * 3 administrative divisions
 * 4 points of interest
 * 4.1 Castles
 * 4.2 mining area
 * Population 5
 * 5.1 Religion
 * 6 Famous people from Wales
 * 7 see also

The Romans conquered Britain of the year 48 af. They gave the name to the area of Wales Cambria and built a large number of forts in the South of the country toCarmarthen in the West. They also built the Amphitheater in Caerleon, the best preserved in Britain. The romanization was apparently remained limited and the British in the Roman period the normal everyday language.

In 410 the Roman legions were withdrawn. Shortly after Great Britain got to do with invasions of Germanic tribes, such as Angles, Saxons and Jutes. At the time, developed a common Celtic identity for which one started using the term combrogi, "compatriots". The words Cymry, Cymru, "Welshmen", and "Wales", are derived. They attempted to describe when a much larger area than today, about the Western half of Great Britain with the exception of Cornwall where other dialects were spoken. The disappearance of Roman rule came in what is now Wales, particularly independent fiefdoms on Gwynedd, Powys, Dyfedand Seisyllg, Morgue , Gwent. At the end of the sixth century were those of their "compatriots" in the "Old North" (Them Ogledd) separated by the rise of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms Mercia and Northumbria. Then just stuck the Germanic March. Traditionally it is attributed to the mountainous terrain with large amounts of rain that Wales never was taken by the Anglo-saxons . Modern statements explain the emphasis on the fact that the Germanic immigration around 550 left off and that the Welsh had developed a powerful own Christian identity in which they themselves against the Germanic pagans. As a result, they also had that last little activities deployed to christianize, so that by a mission from Rome itself an English church organization came in addition to a "British". One of the Saxon Kings, Offa of Mercia, is traditionally seen as the one that a large earth wall (or VC) had built along the border with his Kingdom to the Welsh to keep out. Parts of Offa's Dyke are visible to this day. The defensive system marks the cultural border between Wales and England.

The cultural separation by no means kept in that there is also a political separation was. The Welsh principalities were fully involved in the political developments in Britain and locks often alliances with the different Anglo-saxon Kings of which they sometimes also recognized the hegemony. Itself they formed no political unit. In the eighth century, the situation is even more complicated by raids by the Vikings and the formation of Danish kingdoms on English territory. Between 1055 and 1063 was Wales first, and last, politically United under King Gruffudd ap Llywelyn. This was a personal Union of the various principalities; There has therefore never a Welsh State. In 1066 William the Conqueror conquered Normandy from England. It was a process of feodalisering used. However, it proved to be very hard for you to extend that system to Wales where one had its own church and Court culture. The Norman kings saw the border area with Wales as a war zone, the Welsh Marches, in which the Marcher Lords got their free hand area to expand to the West. In two centuries of time those conquered the South of Wales. In 1267 Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, was the Prince of Gwynedd, by King Henry III of England recognized as Prince of Wales provided the English King as Dante was recognized.Edward I of England in 1277 was the middle of Wales under his authority and the independent area limit to a small part of Gwynedd. That led to a national Welsh revolt when he tried to impose the English legal system.That rebellion failed in 1282, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd when Prince Llywelyn Ein Llyw Ola died and so ("Llywelyn the last") was. Edward I made of the North a separate Principality, the Principality of North Wales, which is directly under the authority of the English King fell. He built a large number of giant stone castles, forced to keep under control the Welsh castles. The best known are (still) in Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech.

Up to 1535 fell Wales formally outside the English Kingdom. The Marcher Lords and the English King prevailed there in a personal capacity. Sometimes there were Welsh uprisings, the most famous and successful ofOwain Glyndŵr, who left as Prince of Wales, between 1400 and 1412. In the sixteenth century was this situation of lawlessness and lawlessness increasingly regarded as undesirable, a threat to public order and the safety of the Crown. Henry VIII of England suggested therefore in 1535 and 1542 laws, now officially the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 called, in which the whole area was drawn completely at England. The laws determined that Welshmen were equivalent to other Englishmen but also that the English, to the exclusion of Welsh, the language of case-law and governance would be. Under Henry VIII was also the management organisation of the Anglican Church to the area imposed. All this led to the formation of an English-language top layer. Until 1689, there was a Council of Wales and the Marches; each administrative unit of the area then fell away.

During the nineteenth century began to anglicize Wales in accelerated pace, especially in the more populated South where an important mining and manufacturing developed. In response to this, and in connection with it when there was a common national Welsh nationalism movement. A consequence was that both itself and in the rest of England in Wales, the area began to be regarded as a separate country. It is also designed for national symbols, such as a flag, coat of arms and the national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. This was originally not the slightest legal basis. Wales is not a separate Principality, despite the confusing title of Prince of Wales that the English Crown Prince wears. Other than Scotland has Wales also no own currency, legal system or educational system. It is still under the old law of the Kingdom of England. It made in the United Kingdom since 1707 as part of England. In the Interpretation Act 1978 the area was first defined as a separate country (country) but for the time being, remained an empty phrase there that there was no legal effectattached to it.

After the Second World War it came to a very gradual administrative independence. That began in 1947 with the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire, an Advisory Council with twenty-seven appointed members. In 1964, which abolished on the occasion of the establishment of the Welsh Office, a Government Department with its own Secretary of State for Wales. In a referendumIn 1979, limited to the traditional Wales, rejected the proposal to a separate Welsh Assembly. However, In 1997 was in the context of a broader devolution of the United Kingdom, which also included Scotland, such a proposal in a referendum passed with 50.3%. In 1999, for the first time the Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymruelection for the National Assembly for Wales, with sixty members. The Welsh Office as such was then abolished and replaced by the Wales Office. This Assembly had first only very low powers. One if little more than twenty budget entries, assigned by the British Parliament, further subdivide. In 2006, the Government of Wales Act 2006 legal force which provided for its own Welsh Government and (in part by British approval limited) legislative powers and in connection therewith a private Welsh Seal, a seal to seal these laws literally. In 2011 the population in a referendum voted for a fully autonomous legislative powers, albeit only on the twenty predetermined levels of its administration. This includes not defense, taxes or social security. In elections to the European Parliament acts as a separate electoral area in which Wales four delegates according to a system of proportional representation be chosen. This process of empowerment has led to Wales since 1999 officially referred to as constituent country of the United Kingdom, in addition to England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. ==Geography[ Edit] == The Welsh coast<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Wales is located on a peninsula in the Central West of the island of Great Britain. The area of Wales is such a 20.779 km², about the same size as Slovenia. It is roughly 274 km from North to South and 97 km from East to west. Wales is bordered by England to the East and by the sea in the other wind directions; the Bristol Channel to the South, the St George's channel in the Southwest and the Irish Sea in the Northwest and North. Altogether, Wales has a coastline of 1200 km. Further, there are several islands off the Welsh coast, of which Anglesey (Welsh: Ynys Môn) in the Northwest is the largest.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The landscape of Wales is largely mountainous, especially in the North and center of the country. The mountains are formed during the Paleozoic, mainly the Cambrian, and have further their taken shape during the Weichsel glaciation, the last ice age. The Brecon Beacons ( Bannau BrycheiniogWelsh:) are in the South, with the Pen-y-Fan(886 m) as the highest point, and forms a connection with the Cambrian Mountains, in the middle of Wales, which also extend to the North. The highest mountains in Wales are in Snowdonia ( EryriWelch:) in the North of Wales; with the Snowdon (1085 m) as the highest mountain. ===Cities and places<span class="mw-editsection" len="330" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === The red kite is a symbol of the wild fauna of Wales. <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Wales has only a few large cities. These are all in the South of the country: Cardiff (Caerdydd), the capital (2005: 302,000 inhabitants); Swansea (Abertawe) (2005: 171,000 inhabitants); Newport (Casnewydd) (2005: 117,000 inhabitants). The Interior is sparsely populated and has a rough character; the tract Powys covers about 30% of the total area of Wales, but houses only four percent of the population.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In Wales is the village with the longest name of Europe: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. ===Flora and fauna<span class="mw-editsection" len="326" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Wales has a rich flora and fauna, which is characterised by its hilly landscape to the sea, a native free-roaming feral horse, the Welsh pony, and a number of dog breeds like Welsh corgi Cardigan, Pembroke Welsh corgi, Welsh Springer Spaniel and Welsh Terrier. ==Administrative divisions<span class="mw-editsection" len="333" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Wales is divided into 22 States main areas (English: principal areas), all of which the governance structure having a unitary authority. There are nine counties, three cities and ten county boroughs, each with a similar power. Between 1889 and 1974 formed the historic counties the administrative divisions. Between 1974 and 1996 were used starting from 1996 the counties known as the preserved counties (English: preserved counties). These last are since then used only for ceremonial purposes. ==Points Of Interest<span class="mw-editsection" len="331" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == Caernarfon Castle===Castles<span class="mw-editsection" len="320" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The best known are in Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech. ===Mining Area<span class="mw-editsection" len="322" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">At the end of 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century was the South of Wales a very bustling mining area (especially coal). There were even Belgian guest workers. The closure of the mines also meant the end of the economic importance of Wales. Now can still be visited some mines (among other things the ' Big Pit inBlaenavon). ==Population<span class="mw-editsection" len="321" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Religion<span class="mw-editsection" len="320" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru (the Church in Wales) is the Anglican Church in Wales and has 77.881 members (about 2.5 percent of the population). Undeb yr Annibynwyr Cymraeg (Union of Welsh Independents) is a Congregational Church and has about 36,000 members (1% of the population). The number of members of the Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru (Presbyterian Church of Wales) is 34.819 (1% of the population). Undeb Bedyddwyr Cymru (Baptist Union of Wales) has 25.384 members (1995, 1 percent of the population). The Eglwys Gatholig Rufeinig (Roman Catholic Church) is also important. ==Famous people from Wales<span class="mw-editsection" len="347" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Thomas Coke (1747-1814), methodistisch church leader
 * Robert Owen (1771-1858), entrepreneur and social reformer
 * David Lloyd George (1863-1945), liberal politician
 * Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888-1935), soldier and writer
 * Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), poet/writer
 * Roald Dahl (1916-1990), writer
 * Richard Burton (1925-1984), actor
 * Shirley Bassey (1937), singer
 * Anthony Hopkins (1937), actor
 * Tom Jones (1940), singer
 * John Cale (1942), musician
 * Roger Glover (1945), bassist
 * Timothy Dalton (1946), actor
 * Richie Burnett (1967), darts player
 * Catherine Zeta-Jones (1969), actress
 * Ryan Giggs (1973), football player of Manchester United FC
 * Ioan Gruffudd (1973), actor
 * Craig Bellamy (1979), football player of Liverpool FC
 * Mark Webster (1983), darts player
 * David Greene (1986), athlete and reigning 400 m hurdles world champion
 * Gareth Bale (1989), football player of Real Madrid CF
 * Aaron Ramsey (1990), footballer of Arsenal FC