This article may be too long. Please discuss this issue on the talk page, if necessary split the content into subarticles and keep this article in a summary style.

Coordinates: 54° N 4° W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

British Isles
The British Isles in relation to mainland Europe
Geography
Location	Western Europe
Total islands	6,000+
Major islands	Great Britain and Ireland
Area	315,134 km² 121,673 sq mi Under the Interpretation Act 1978 of the United Kingdom, the term British Islands refers 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... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A current understanding of Western Europe. ...
Highest point	Ben Nevis 1,344 m (4,409 ft)
Administration
Guernsey
Largest city	St. Peter Port
Isle of Man
Largest city	Douglas
Ireland
Largest city	Dublin
Jersey
Largest city	St. Helier
United Kingdom
Largest city	London
Demographics
Population	~65 million
Indigenous people	Britons, English, Irish, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, Welsh, Cornish[1], Channel Islanders, Manx

The British Isles (Irish: variously Na hOileáin Bhriotanacha, Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa, Éire agus an Bhreatain Mhór;^[2] Manx: Ellanyn Goaldagh; Scottish Gaelic: Eileanan Breatannach; Welsh: Ynysoedd Prydain) are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe which comprise Great Britain, Ireland and a number of smaller islands.^[3] Although still in use, the term British Isles is controversial in relation to Ireland, where many people may find the term offensive or objectionable;^[4] the Irish government also discourages its usage.^[5] Ben Nevis (Gaelic: Beinn Nibheis) is the highest mountain in Great Britain. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Guernsey. ... This is a map of Guernsey. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_isle_of_man. ... Location within the British Isles Douglas (Doolish in Manx) is the capital of the Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin) and its largest town. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ireland. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Jersey. ... Saint Helier is one of the twelve parishes and the largest town on Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article is about the English as an ethnic group and nation. ... This article is about the Scottish people as an ethnic group. ... Ulster-Scots is a term mainly used in Ireland and Britain (Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irishis commonly used in North America) primarily to refer to Presbyterian Scots, or their descendents, who migrated from the Scottish Lowlands to Ulster (the northern province of Ireland), largely across the 17th century. ... This article is about Welsh people who are considered to be an ethnic group and a nation. ... The Cornish people are a British ethnic group originating in Cornwall. ... // Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... A small island in the Adriatic sea An island is any piece of land smaller than a continent and larger than a rock, that is completely surrounded by water. ... Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. ... It has been suggested that British Isles#Names of the islands through the ages be merged into this article or section. ...

There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland.^[6] The group also includes the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and, by tradition, the Channel Islands, although the latter are not physically a part of the archipelago.^[7] There are other common uncertainties surrounding the extent, names and geographical elements of the islands. This article discusses states as sovereign political entities. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... The Isle of Man is situated in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland, and the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guersey are situated in the English Channel to the west of the Cotentin Crown dependencies are possessions of The Crown in Right of the United Kingdom, as opposed to... This article is about the British dependencies. ... True-color image of the Earths surface and atmosphere Physical geography (also know as geosystems or physiography) is a subfield of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. ... . For the disagreement and different views on using the term British Isles, particularly in relation to Ireland, see British Isles naming dispute. ...

Alternative names and descriptions

Main articles: British Isles (terminology) and British Isles naming dispute

Several different names are currently used to describe the islands. . For the disagreement and different views on using the term British Isles, particularly in relation to Ireland, see British Isles naming dispute. ... It has been suggested that British Isles#Names of the islands through the ages be merged into this article or section. ...

Dictionaries, encyclopaedias and atlases that use the term British Isles define it^[8] as Great Britain, Ireland and adjacent islands, typically including the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, Shetland, Orkney. Some definitions include the Channel Islands.^[9]

Many major road and rail maps and atlases use the term "Great Britain and Ireland" to describe the islands, although this may be ambiguous regarding the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.^[10] Another alternative name is "British-Irish Isles".^[11]

In addition, the term "British Isles" is itself used in widely varying ways, including as an effective synonym for the UK or for Great Britain and its islands, but excluding Ireland.^[12] Media organisations like the The Times and the BBC have style-guide entries to try to maintain consistent usage,^[13][14] but these are not always successful. The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom (and the Kingdom of Great Britain before the United Kingdom existed) since 1788 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...

Encyclopædia Britannica, the Oxford University Press - publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary - and the UK Hydrographic Office (publisher of Admiralty charts) have all occasionally used the term "British Isles and Ireland" (with Britannica and Oxford contradicting their own definitions of the "British Isles"),^[15][16][17] and some specialist encyclopedias also use that term.^[18] The BBC style guide's entry on the subject of the British Isles remarks, "Confused already? Keep going." The Economic History Society style guide suggests that the term should be avoided.^[19]

Other descriptions for the islands are also used in everyday language, examples are: "Great Britain and Ireland", "UK and Ireland", and "the British Isles and Ireland". Some of these are used by corporate entities and can be seen on the internet, such as in the naming of Yahoo UK & Ireland,^[20] or such as in the 2001 renaming of the British Isles Rugby Union Team to the current name of the "British and Irish Lions". First match Otago 3 - 8 Great Britain (28 April 1888) Largest win Manawatu 6 - 109 British & Irish Lions (28 June 2005) Worst defeat New Zealand 38 - 6 Lions (16 July 1983) The British and Irish Lions (until 2001 known as the British Isles Rugby Union Team or more colloquially the...

As mentioned above, the term "British Isles" is controversial in relation to Ireland. One map publisher recently decided to abandon using the term in Ireland while continuing to use it in Britain.^[21][22] The Irish government is opposed to the term "British Isles" and says that it "would discourage its usage".^[23]

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of Ireland, and Geography of the Isle of Man

Also, see the section on the geography of the Channel Islands.

Satellite Image of the British Isles (excluding Orkney and Shetland); close to the coast of France

There are more than 6,000 islands in the group, the largest two being Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom occupies a substantial part of the British Isles. ... Ireland is sometimes known as the Emerald Isle because of its green scenery. ... Map of the Isle of Man The Isle of Man is an island in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland in Western Europe, with a population of over 75 000. ... This article is about the British dependencies. ... Location Geography Area Ranked 16th  - Total 990 km²  - % Water  ? Admin HQ Kirkwall ISO 3166-2 GB-ORK ONS code 00RA Demographics Population Ranked 32nd  - Total (2006) 19,800  - Density 20 / km² Scottish Gaelic  - Total () {{{Scottish council Gaelic Speakers}}} Politics Orkney Islands Council http://www. ... For other uses, see Shetland (disambiguation). ... This page is a list of the larger British Isles by area. ...

Great Britain is to the east and covers 216,777 km² (83,698 square miles), over half of the total landmass of the group.

Ireland is to the west and covers 84,406 km² (32,589 square miles).

The largest of the other islands are to be found in the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland to the north, Anglesey and the Isle of Man between Great Britain and Ireland, and the Channel Islands near the coast of France. This article is about the Hebrides islands in Scotland. ... Location Geography Area Ranked 16th  - Total 990 km²  - % Water  ? Admin HQ Kirkwall ISO 3166-2 GB-ORK ONS code 00RA Demographics Population Ranked 32nd  - Total (2006) 19,800  - Density 20 / km² Scottish Gaelic  - Total () {{{Scottish council Gaelic Speakers}}} Politics Orkney Islands Council http://www. ... For other uses, see Shetland (disambiguation). ... Anglesey (historically Anglesea; Welsh: , pronounced (IPA)) is a predominantly Welsh-speaking island off the northwest coast of Wales. ... This article is about the British dependencies. ...

Main article: List of islands in the British Isles

See also:

• Great Britain and Ireland
• List of islands of England
• List of islands of Ireland
• List of islands of Isle of Man
• List of islands of Scotland
• List of islands of Wales

The islands are at relatively low altitudes, with central Ireland and southern Great Britain particularly low lying: the lowest point in the islands is the Fens at −4 m (−13 ft). The Scottish Highlands in the northern part of Great Britain are mountainous, with Ben Nevis being the highest point in the British Isles 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 square miles); the largest freshwater body in Great Britain is Loch Lomond at 71.1 km² (27.5 square miles). Neither are rivers particularly long, the rivers Severn at 354 km (219 miles) and Shannon at 386 km (240 miles) being the longest. The Union Flag, in its modern form, was first adopted in 1801. ... This is a list of the islands of England, the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain, as well as a table of the largest English islands by area. ... This is a list of the principal islands of Ireland. ... This is a list of islands of the Isle of Man: Isle of Man (Population - c. ... This is a list of the islands of Scotland, the mainland of which is part of the island of Great Britain, as well as a table of the largest Scottish islands. ... This is a list of the islands of Wales, the mainland of which is part of Great Britain, as well as a table of the largest Welsh islands by area. ... The Fens may also refer to the Back Bay Fens, a park in Boston, Massachusetts. ... metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... Lowland-Highland divide Highland Sign with welcome in English and Gaelic The Scottish Highlands (A Ghàidhealtachd in Gaelic) include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. ... Ben Nevis (Gaelic: Beinn Nibheis) is the highest mountain in Great Britain. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Loch Lomond (disambiguation). ... Severn redirects here. ... Carrick-on-Shannon-Bridge Leitrim Shannon-Bridge Offaly The River Shannon (Irish: altenatively Sionna), Irelands longest river, divides the West of Ireland (mostly the province of Connacht) from the east and south (Leinster and most of Munster). ...

The British Isles 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 °C (20 °F) above the global average for the islands' latitudes.^[24] 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.^[25] In geography, temperate latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. ... It has been suggested that The Cool Western Temperate Maritime Climate be merged into this article or section. ... The North Atlantic drift is a powerful warm ocean current that continues the Gulf Stream northeast. ... Gulf of Mexico in 3D perspective. ... For other uses, see Celsius (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Fahrenheit (disambiguation). ... A large low-pressure system swirls off the southwestern coast of Iceland, illustrating the maxim that nature abhors a vacuum. ... The Westerlies are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, blowing from the high pressure area in the horse latitudes towards the poles. ...

Transport

Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport of Europe in terms of passenger traffic and the Dublin-London route is the busiest air route of Europe,^[26] and the second-busiest in the world. Europe's two largest low-cost airlines, Ryanair and easyJet, operate from Ireland and Britain respectively. London Heathrow Airport (IATA airport code: LHR, ICAO airport code: EGLL, and often simply Heathrow) is the United Kingdoms busiest and best-connected airport. ... A Ryanair Boeing 737-800 A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (also known as a no-frills or discount carrier / airline) is an airline that offers generally low fares in exchange for eliminating many traditional passenger services. ... For the unrelated U.S. carrier, see Ryan International Airlines. ... EasyJet (LSE: EZJ), styled as easyJet, is a low cost airline officially known as easyJet Airline Company Limited, based at London Luton Airport. ...

The English Channel and the southern North Sea are the busiest seaways in the world^{[citation needed]}. The car ferry, M/F Ulysses, traveling the Irish Sea is the largest in the world. The Channel Tunnel, opened 1994, links Great Britain to France and is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world. The idea of building a tunnel under the Irish Sea has been raised since 1895,^[27] when it was first investigated, but is not considered to be economically viable^{[citation needed]}. Several potential Irish Sea tunnel projects have been proposed, most recently the Tusker Tunnel between the ports of Rosslare and Fishguard proposed by The Institute of Engineers of Ireland in 2004.^[28][29] A different proposed route is between Dublin and Holyhead, proposed in 1997 by a leading British engineering firm, Symonds, for a rail tunnel from Dublin to Holyhead. Either tunnel, at 80 km, would be by far the longest in the world, and would cost an estimated €20 billion. A proposal in 2007,^[30] estimated the cost of building a bridge from County Antrim in Northern Ireland to Galloway in Scotland at £3.5bn (€5bn). However, none of these is thought to be economically viable at this time. For the Thoroughbred racehorse of the same name, see English Channel (horse). ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... The ferryboat Dongan Hills, filled with commuters, about to dock at a New York City pier, circa 1945. ... Relief map of the Irish Sea. ... The Channel Tunnel (French: ), also known as Chunnel or Eurotunnel, is a 50. ... Relief map of the Irish Sea. ... The name Rosslare may mean: the village of Rosslare Strand in County Wexford, Ireland the village of Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford, Ireland the Rosslare Europort at Rosslare Harbour This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Lower Fishguard Fishguard (Welsh: = Mouth of the River Gwaun) is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,300 (est. ... For other uses, see Dublin (disambiguation). ... Holyhead (Welsh: Caergybi, the fort of St. ... Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Antrim Area: 2,844 km² Population (est. ... Galloway (Scottish Gaelic, Gall-Ghàidhealaibh or Gallobha, Lowland Scots Gallowa) is an area in southwestern Scotland. ...

Geology

Main articles: Geology of Great Britain, Geography of Ireland, Geology of England, and Geology of Scotland

A data-generated image showing the British Isles sitting on the north-west of the European continental shelf.

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.^[31] Of particular note was the Caledonian Orogeny during the Ordovician Period, ca. 488–444 Ma and early Silurian period, when the craton Baltica collided with the terrane Avalonia to form the mountains and hills in northern Britain and Ireland. Baltica formed roughly the north western half of Ireland and Scotland. Further collisions caused the Variscan orogeny in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, forming the hills of Munster, south-west England, and south Wales. Over the last 500 million years the land which forms the islands has drifted northwest from around 30°S, crossing the equator around 370 million years ago to reach its present northern latitude.^[32] Ireland is sometimes known as the Emerald Isle because of its green scenery. ... Geological map of Great Britain, showing the differing geology of England, Scotland and Wales. ... Scotland has an incomparable variety of geology for an area of its size. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 469 pixel Image in higher resolution (1044 × 612 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 469 pixel Image in higher resolution (1044 × 612 pixel, file size: 1. ... Europe is traditionally reckoned as one of seven continents. ...  Sediment  Rock  Mantle  The global continental shelf, highlighted in cyan The continental shelf is the extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain, which is covered during interglacial periods such as the current epoch by relatively shallow seas (known as shelf seas) and gulfs. ... ... // Orogeny (Greek for mountain generating) is the process of mountain building, and may be studied as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event and a chronological event, in that orogenic events cause distinctive structural phenomena and related tectonic activity, affect certain regions of rocks and crust and happen within... The Caledonian orogeny is a hypothetical series of events in geologic history explaining a group of highland formations that are very similar in composition, stratigraphy and fossils: the mountains and hills of northern England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and west Norway. ... Artist impression of the Ordovician Sea. ... Annum is a Latin noun meaning year. ... For other uses, see Silurian (disambiguation). ... World geologic provinces. ... Baltica (green) Baltica is a Late Proterozoic-Early Palaeozoic continent that now includes the East European craton of northwestern Eurasia. ... A terrane in paleogeography is an accretion that has collided with a continental nucleus, or craton but can be recognized by the foreign origin of its rock strata. ... Avalonia was a paleomicrocontinent also known as a Terrane. ... The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny is a geologic mountain-building event recorded in the European mountains and hills called the Variscan Belt. ... For the Celtic language, see Southwestern Brythonic language; for the residents of the English county, see Devon. ... The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359. ... Statistics Area: 24,607. ... World map showing the equator in red For other uses, see Equator (disambiguation). ...

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 British Isles in their current form. This article is about the geologic period. ... The Devensian glaciation is a name for an ice age period which occurred between 120,000 and 10,000 years ago. ... Relief map of the Irish Sea. ... For the Thoroughbred racehorse of the same name, see English Channel (horse). ...

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". For other uses, see Limestone (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Chalk (disambiguation). ... The Permian is a geologic period that extends from about 299. ... The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 to 199 Ma (million years ago). ... A peninsula is a geographical formation consisting of an extension of land from a larger body that is surrounded by water on three sides. ...

Demographics

Population density per km² of the British Isles. Dublin and London, with respective population densities of 1,288 and 4,761 are shaded blue.

The demographics of the British Isles show dense population in England, which accounts for almost 80% of the total population of the region. In Ireland, Northern Ireland. Scotland, Wales dense populations are limited to areas around, or close to, their respective capitals. Major populations centres (greater than one million people) exist in the following areas: Image File history File links Size of this preview: 372 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (663 × 1069 pixel, file size: 182 KB, MIME type: image/png) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 372 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (663 × 1069 pixel, file size: 182 KB, MIME type: image/png) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ...

• Greater London Urban Area (8.5 million)
  • London metropolitan area (12—14 million)
• West Midlands conurbation (2.3 million)
• Greater Manchester Urban Area (2.2 million)
• West Yorkshire Urban Area (2.1 million)
• Greater Glasgow (1.7 million)
• Greater Dublin Area (1.6 million)
• Tyne and Wear (1.1 million)

The population of England has risen steadily throughout its history, while the populations of Scotland and Wales have shown little increase during the twentieth century - the population of Scotland remaining unchanged since 1951. Ireland, which for most of its history comprised a population proportionate to its land area, one third of the total population, has since the Great Famine fallen to less than one tenth of the population of the British Isles. The famine, which caused a century-long population decline, drastically reduced the Irish population and permanently altered the demographic make-up of the British Isles. On a global scale this disaster led to the creation of an Irish diaspora that number fifteen times the current population of the island The Greater London Urban Area is the conurbation or continuous urban area based around London, in south east England with an estimated population of 8,505,000,[1] The urban area measured 1,623. ... Commuters from East Anglia arrive at Liverpool Street Station The London Commuter Belt or London Metropolitan Area is the name given to the built-up area surrounding and running into Greater London but not administered as part of it. ... The West Midlands conurbation is the name given to the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, in the English West Midlands. ... A NASA satellite image of Greater Manchester. ... The West Yorkshire Urban Area is a term used by the Office for National Statistics to refer to a conurbation in West Yorkshire, England, based mainly on Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield, but excluding Halifax which though part of the county of West Yorkshire is considered independently. ... Greater Dublin Area (GDA) is a loosely defined term which is used to describe the city of Dublin and the counties of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal, Kildare, Meath, South Dublin and Wicklow of the Republic of Ireland. ... Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in the North East of England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. ... Great Irish Famine may also refer to Great Irish Famine (1740-1741). ... Emigrants Leave Ireland, engraving by Henry Doyle (1827-1892), from Mary Frances Cusacks Illustrated History of Ireland, 1868 // The Irish diaspora (Irish: Diaspóra na nGael) consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Mexico, New Zealand...

Population of Ireland since the Great Famine v Total for British Isles

	Ireland	British Isles	% of total	Graph
1841	8.2	26.7	30.7%
1851	6.9	27.7	24.8%
1891	4.7	37.8	12.4%
1951	4.1	53.2	7.7%
1991	5.5	62.9	8.7%
2006	6.0	64.3	9.3%

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 550 pixelsFull resolution (1301 × 895 pixel, file size: 36 KB, MIME type: image/png) Population of Ireland since 1500. ...

Political co-operation within the islands

Between 1801 and 1922, Great Britain and Ireland together formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.^[33] In 1922, twenty-six counties of Ireland left the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom following the Irish War of Independence and the Anglo-Irish Treaty; the remaining six counties, mainly in the northeast of the island, became known as Northern Ireland under the Government of Ireland Act, 1920. Both states, but not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, are members of the European Union. This article is about the historical state called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1927). ... Combatants Irish Republic United Kingdom Commanders Michael Collins Richard Mulcahy Cathal Brugha Important local IRA leaders Henry Hugh Tudor Strength Irish Republican Army c. ... Signature page of the Anglo-Irish Treaty The Anglo-Irish Treaty, officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and representatives of the extra-judicial Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: , Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a constituent country of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... An Act to Provide for the Better Government of Ireland, more usually the Government of Ireland Act 1920 (this is its official short title; the formal citation is 10 & 11 Geo. ...

However, despite independence of most of Ireland, political cooperation exists across the islands on some levels:

• Travel. Since Irish partition an informal free-travel area has continued to exist across the entire region; in 1997 it was formally recognised by the European Union, in the Amsterdam Treaty, as the Common Travel Area. There have recently been reports^[34] that the UK Government is planning to end this arrangement, although the details are not yet clear.
• Voting rights. No part of the British Isles considers a citizen of any other part as an 'alien'^{[citation needed]} This pre-dates and goes much further than that required by European Union law, and gives common voting rights to all citizens of the jurisdictions within the archipelago. Exceptions to this are presidential elections and referendums in the Republic of Ireland, for which there is no comparable franchise in the other states. Other EU nationals may only vote in local and European Parliament elections while resident in either the UK or Ireland. A 2008 UK Ministry of Justice report proposed to end this arrangement arguing that, "the right to vote is one of the hallmarks of the political status of citizens; it is not a means of expressing closeness between countries."^[35]
• Diplomatic. Bilateral agreements allow UK embassies to act as an Irish consulate when Ireland is not represented in a particular country.
• Northern Ireland. Citizens of Northern Ireland are entitled to the choice of Irish or British citizenship or both.
• The British-Irish Council was set up in 1999 following the 1998 Belfast Agreement. This body is made up of all political entities across the islands, both the sovereign governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom, the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. It has no executive authority but meets biannually to discuss issues of mutual importance, currently restricted to the misuse of drugs, the environment, the knowledge economy, social inclusion, tele-medicine, tourism, transport and national languages of the participants. During the February 2008 meeting of the Council, it was agreed to set-up a standing secretariat that would serve as a permanent 'civil service' for the Council.^[36]
• The British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (Irish: Comhlact Idir-Pharlaiminteach Na Bretaine agus Na hÉireann) was established in 1990. Originally it comprised 25 members of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, and 25 members of the parliament of the United Kingdom, with the purpose of building mutual understanding between members of both legislature. Since then the role and scope of the body has been expanded with the addition of five representatives from the Scottish Parliament, five from the National Assembly for Wales and five from the Northern Ireland Assembly. One member is also taken from the States of Jersey, one from the States of Guernsey and one from the High Court of Tynwald (Isle of Man). With no executive powers, it may investigate and collect witness evidence from the public on matters of mutual concern to its members, these have in the past ranged from issues such as the delivery of health services to rural populations, to the Sellafield nuclear facility, to the mutual recognition of penalty points against drivers across the British Isles. Reports on its findings are presented to the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Leading on from developments in the British-Irish Council, the chair of the Body, Niall Blaney, has suggested a name-change and that the body should shadow the British-Irish Council's work.^[37]

Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts The Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, commonly known as the Amsterdam Treaty, was signed on... The Common Travel Area includes the UK, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Republic of Ireland The Common Travel Area (or, informally, the passport free zone) refers to the fact that citizens of the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies (the Isle of Man... The British–Irish Council (sometimes known as the Council of the Isles) is a body created by the Belfast Agreement (also known as the Good Friday Agreement). ... The Belfast Agreement (Irish: ), although more commonly known as the Good Friday Agreement (Irish: ), and occasionally as the Stormont Agreement was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process. ... The British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (BIIPB) was established in 1990 to bring together 25 members of the United Kingdom Parliament and 25 members of the Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) to develop understanding between elected representatives of the UK and Ireland . ... The Oireachtas is the National Parliament of the Republic of Ireland. ... Type Bicameral Houses House of Commons House of Lords Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin MP Speaker of the House of Lords Hélène Hayman, PC Members 1377 (646 Commons, 731 Peers) Political groups Labour Party Conservative Party Liberal Democrats Scottish National Party Plaid Cymru Democratic Unionist... For the national legislative body up to 1707, see Parliament of Scotland. ... Established 1999 by the Government of Wales Act 1998 Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas AM (Plaid) Since May 12, 1999 Deputy Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler AM (Lab) Leader of the House Carwyn Jones AM (Lab) Chief Executive and Clerk to the Assembly Claire Clancy Political parties 6 Welsh Labour (26... The logo of the Northern Ireland Assembly, a six flowered linen or flax plant. ... The States of Jersey (French: États de Jersey) is the parliament of Jersey. ... The States of Guernsey (French: États de Guernesey) is the parliament of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. ... Tynwald (Tinvaal in Manx) is the bicameral legislature of the Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin). ... Neil (Niall) Blaney (born January 29, 1974) is an Irish Independent Fianna Fáil politician. ...

History

This section repeats, in whole or part, the text of other article(s) or section(s). Please discuss this issue on the talk page and conform with Wikipedia's Manual of Style by replacing the section with a link and a summary of the repeated text, or by spinning off the repeated text into an article in its own right.

Main articles: History of the British Isles, History of Ireland, History of the United Kingdom, History of England, History of Wales, History of Scotland, History of the Isle of Man, and Channel_Islands#History

The British Isles have a long and complex shared history. While this tends to be presented in terms of national narratives, many events transcended modern political boundaries. In particular these borders have little relevance to early times and in that context can be misleading, though useful as an indication of location to the modern reader. Also, cultural shifts which historians have previously interpreted as evidence of invaders eliminating or displacing the previous populations are now, in the light of genetic evidence, perceived by a number of archaeologists and historians as being to a considerable extent changes in the culture of the existing population brought by groups of immigrants or invaders who at times became a new ruling élite. Research into the prehistoric settlement of Great Britain and Ireland is controversial, with differences of opinion from many academic disciplines. ... British military history is a long and varied topic, extending from the prehistoric and ancient historic period, through the Roman invasions of Julius Caesar and Claudius and subsequent Roman occupation; warfare in the Mediaeval period, including the invasions of the Saxons and the Vikings in the Early Middle Ages, the... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to Norman conquest of England, a moment that defined much of the history of the British Isles since. ... The History of Ireland began with the first known human settlement in Ireland around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from Great Britain and continental Europe, probably via a land bridge. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... The history of England is similar to the history of Britain before the arrival of the Saxons. ... Caerphilly Castle. ... Stirling Castle has stood for centuries atop a volcanic crag defending the lowest ford of the River Forth. ... The history of the Isle of Man falls naturally into four periods. ... This article is about the British dependencies. ...

Prehistory

At a time when the islands were still joined to continental Europe, Homo erectus brought Palaeolithic tool use to the south east of the modern British Isles some 750,000 years ago followed (about 500,000 years ago) by the more advanced tool use of Homo heidelbergensis found at Boxgrove. It appears that the glaciation of ice ages successively cleared all human life from the area, though human occupation occurred during warmer interglacial periods. Modern humans appear with the Aurignacian culture about 30,000 years ago, famously with the "Red Lady of Paviland" in modern Wales. The last ice age ended around 10,000 years ago, and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers spread to all parts of the islands by around 8,000 years ago, at a time when rising sea levels now cut off the islands from the continent. The immigrants came principally from the ice age refuge in what is now the Basque Country, with a smaller immigration from refuges in the modern Ukraine and Moldavia. Three quarters of the ancestors of people of the British Isles may have arrived in this wave of immigration.^[38] Binomial name (Dubois, 1892) Synonyms † Pithecanthropus erectus † Sinanthropus pekinensis † Javanthropus soloensis † Meganthropus paleojavanicus Homo erectus (Latin: upright man) is an extinct species of the genus Homo. ... The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic – lit. ... Binomial name †Homo heidelbergensis Schoetensack, 1908 Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelberg Man) is an extinct species of the genus Homo and the direct ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis in Europe. ... Boxgrove is the name of a Lower Palaeolithic archaeological site discovered in a gravel quarry to the east of Chichester in the English county of West Sussex. ... Perito Moreno Glacier Patagonia Argentina Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland Icebergs breaking off glaciers at Cape York, Greenland This article is about the geological formation. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ... Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic present in Europe and south west Asia. ... The Red Lady of Paviland was a fairly complete human skeleton dyed in red ochre that was discovered in 1826 by Rev. ... The Mesolithic (Greek mesos=middle and lithos=stone or the Middle Stone Age[1]) was a period in the development of human technology between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of the Stone Age. ... In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ... This article covers the entire historic Basque County domain. ... For other uses of Moldavia or Moldova, see Moldova (disambiguation). ...

Around 6,500 years ago farming practices spread to the area with the Neolithic Revolution and the western seaways quickly brought megalithic culture throughout the islands. The earliest stone house still standing in northern Europe is at Knap of Howar, in Orkney which also features such monuments as Maes Howe ranking alongside the Callanish stone circle on the Isle of Lewis, Newgrange in Ireland, and Stonehenge in southern England along with thousands of lesser monuments across the isles, often showing affinities with megalithic monuments in France and Spain.^[39] Further cultural shifts in the Bronze Age were followed with the building of numerous hill forts in the Iron Age, and increased trade with continental Europe. The Neolithic Revolution is the term for the first agricultural revolution, describing the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering communities and bands, to agriculture and settlement, as first adopted by various independent prehistoric human societies, in numerous locations on most continents between 10-12 thousand years ago. ... Megalithic tomb, Mane Braz, Brittany A megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument either alone or with other stones. ... At Knap of Howar on the Orkney island of Papa Westray a Neolithic farmstead has been wonderfully well preserved, and is claimed to be the oldest stone house in northern Europe, with radiocarbon dating showing that it was occupied from 3500 BC to 3100 BC, earlier than the very similar... Maes Howe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney (off northern Scotland). ... The stone circle at the centre of the Standing Stones of Callanish (Callanish I) A distant view of the circle, stone rows and part of the northern avenue The Callanish stone circle (or Callanish I),Clachan Chalanais in Gaelic, is situated near the village of Callanish (Gaelic: Calanais) on the... Newgrange, which is located at , is one of the passage tombs of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Meath, and the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. ... For other uses, see Stonehenge (disambiguation). ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... A hill fort is a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for military advantage. ... Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ...

Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons

Early historical records of the islands, notably descriptions from Pytheas and Ptolemy, portray numerous named tribes while using Priteni or Pretani as an overall collective term, Hiberni for the inhabitants of Ireland and Albiones for those of Great Britain, though it is questionable if these people identified themselves with any grouping larger than the tribe.^[40] Later scholars associated these tribal societies with the Celts the Ancient Greeks reported in what is now south-West Germany, and sub-grouped their Celtic languages in the British Isles into the Brythonic languages spoken in most of Great Britain, and Goidelic in Ireland. They perceived these languages as arriving in a series of invasions, but modern evidence suggests that these peoples may have migrated from Anatolia around 7000 BC through southern and then Western Europe.^[41] Genetic evidence indicates that there was not a later large-scale replacement of these early inhabitants^[42] and that the Celtic influence was largely cultural. In the Scottish highlands northwards the people the Romans called Caledonians or Picts spoke a language which is now unknown and extinct. It is also possible that southern England was settled by Belgic tribes.^[41] Pytheas (Πυθέας), ca. ... This article is about the geographer, mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy. ... For the asteroid sometimes (incorrectly) identified as Earths second moon, see 3753 Cruithne. ... This article is about the European people. ... The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. ... The Celtic languages are the languages descended from Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, a branch of the greater Indo-European language family. ... The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family. ... Goidelic is one of two major divisions of modern-day Celtic languages (the other being Brythonic). ... This article is about two nested areas of Turkey, a plateau region within a peninsula. ... Lowland-Highland divide Highland Sign with welcome in English and Gaelic The Scottish Highlands (A Ghàidhealtachd in Gaelic) include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... // The Caledonians (Latin: Caledonii) or Caledonian Confederacy, is a name given by historians to a group of the indigenous Picts of Scotland during the Iron Age. ... A replica of the Hilton of Cadboll Stone. ...

During the first century the Roman conquest of Britain established Roman Britain which became a province of the Roman Empire named Britannia. It included most of the island of Great Britain but never consolidating control over the highlands of