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British Isles

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The term "British Isles" can be confusing and is objectionable to some people. See the Terminology section below for details of the controversy.
Location of the archipelago often labelled as the "British Isles".

Great Britain, Ireland and several thousand smaller surrounding islands and islets form an archipelago off the northwest coast of continental Europe which is most commonly known as the British Isles, though some consider this term controversial.

The archipelago contains two sovereign states: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Between 1801 and 1922, the two together formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[1] In 1922 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland ceased to be a part of the United Kingdom. The islands also include the Isle of Man, a crown dependency. Both states, but not the Isle of Man, 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.

The original use of the adjective British, used from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle onwards, is to refer to the inhabitants of the islands before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic people; however, because the adjective has also come to mean "of Great Britain", the term "British Isles" can cause objection, particularly in Ireland where the term is often 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. Other terminology, especially "Britain and Ireland", is often applied to the entire archipelago with varying degrees of use.

Geography

Main article: Geography of the United Kingdom
Main article: Geography of Ireland
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 islands' latitudes. [4] 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. [5]

Geology

Main article: Geology of the British Isles

An interactive geological map is available.

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. [6] 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. [7]

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

Main article: British Isles (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".[8] This has some validity as a geographical and ecological region, similar to Scandinavia or Iberia, and it is used widely (and even loosely[9] in this sense. 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".[10]. However, some people, particularly in Ireland, contend that the inclusion of "British" implies political domination, and this makes "British Isles" unacceptable.

The reason underlying the different views relates to the different meanings of British. The Old English language prefix "Brit-" came from the Latin Britto of classical times, which itself derived from a Celtic language term[11] and was used when describing the whole archipelago of islands. 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[12]. 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; we 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. However, Ptolemy excludes Ireland, which he calls Hibernia, as being outside the island group he calls Britannia. He entitles Book II, Chapter 1 of his Geography as Hibernia, Island off Britannia. Since classical times, a meaning of "British" is to refer to the ancient Britons, and was used in this way by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (specifically excluding the English), through Early Modern times [13] to the present day[14].

The classical name for all the islands associated with Great Britain and Ireland was used by continental mapmakers in Latin or French from the 16th century onwards, such as Gerardus Mercator (1512[15]. 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".[16]

However, also at the end of the 16th century British also came to mean as pertaining to the island of Great Britain [17], and this use grew very quickly with the accession of James VI of Scots to the English throne. It was used in an Irish context to differentiate those from Great Britain from native Irish in 1641.[18]

The first use in English of "British Isles" was by Peter Heylin (or Heylyn) in his Microcosmus: a little description of the great world in 1621[19], a collection of his lectures on historical geography.[20] Today its meaning varies greatly according to who is using it. In the United Kingdom it is widely used as a geographical term with no overt political connotations, particularly for natural history, for which political boundaries have no meaning, and for some histories of the entire archipelago. [21]

Attitudes in Ireland

In Ireland the name "British Isles" is very controversial as it is seen to imply political domination. [22][23]. In Northern Ireland its use can be seen as sectarian [citation needed].

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.[24]

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, [25] though some usage does still occur, principally with regard to history where the topics under discussion may both pre- and post-date Irish independence.[26] The occasional usage of the term in Ireland may mean just those islands that are still British (i.e. part of the United Kingdom [27]

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. [28]

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 [29][30] 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. [31]

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.[32] Politicians from the Irish Unionist and Northern Ireland Unionist traditions do readily use the term "British Isles"[33][34] 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.[35]

In contrast, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, avoided any use of the term in his address to the meeting.[36]

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.[37]

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".[38] "These Islands" was used in Strand Three of the Belfast Agreement to establish the British-Irish Council, and has been described as the favoured term of Irish politicans.[39] In cases where what is being referred to is just the two largest islands, the term "Great Britain and Ireland", [40] 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 then Conservative Party MP Sir John Biggs-Davison, [41] 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.

'Anglo-Celtic Isles' has been used in academia for the isles. [42] [43] This reflects the supposed ethnic make up of the islands of the 'Celtic' peoples — the Irish, Manx, Scottish, Cornish and Welsh — and the 'Anglo-Saxon' peoples, the English.

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.

While many terms are used primarily on one area (for example, IONA is used primarily in Anglo-Irish relations) the term British Isles and Ireland has in recent years become widespread in a wide variety of areas, being used in among others the BBC[44] on occasion, the publishers Collins,[45], sport,[46] religion,[47] registered charities,[48] nursing,[49] zoological publications,[50] academia,[51] and other sources. This form of title is also used in some book titles[52] and in various legal publications.[53]

The precise reasoning is not universally agreed or clarified where it is used. Some may be using British Isles as a synonym or near synonym of "British Islands". Or they may simply use the full term to avoid causing offence, particularly in areas like charities, academia, publishing, nursing or law where information is supplied or documents sold Ireland or where their publications are used by Irish people, where simply using British Isles might be controversial.[54]

The name "the West European Isles" is the translation of the islands' name in Irish [55] and Manx Gaelic.[56] This has had some use in English, though this remains limited.[57] Westman (Vestmann) is the Icelandic name for a person from Ireland and Great Britain and 'Western Lands' is the translation of the name for these islands in Icelandic (vestr-lond).[58]

Use outside Great Britain and Ireland

"British Isles" can be used incorrectly to denote just Great Britain or even England, usually outside of Great Britain and Ireland. Examples include a website called Britannia.com which describes itself as "America'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", 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.

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.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Though the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom on 6 December 1922 the name of the United Kingdom was not changed to reflect that until April 1927, when Northern Ireland was substituted for Ireland in its name.
  2. ^ The Channel Islands are included here by convention. Many geographers do not consider them part of the archipelago, as they are closer to France than to Great Britain.
  3. ^ Rockall is not on the same segment of continental shelf as that of the archipelago, but is regarded in Britain as included. Its status is disputed, with the Republic of Ireland also claiming ownership.
  4. ^ Mayes, Julian (1997). Regional Climates of the British Isles. London: Routledge. pp. p. 13. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Ibid., pp. 13-14.
  6. ^ Goudie, Andrew S. (1994). The Environment of the British Isles, an Atlas. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. p. 2. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Ibid., p. 5.
  8. ^ Definitions from Dictionary.com
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ BBC News style guide (pdf)
  11. ^ Definition, AskOxford.com: Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 25 June 2006, The Concise Oxford Dictionary
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ See William Shakespeare, King Lear III iv 189
  14. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Online Version (2000)
  15. ^ Several of the maps can be seen on [1]. Accessed 18th July 2006]
  16. ^ [2]
  17. ^ The first mention is in 1587 in Holinshed's Chronicles where he refers to "Irish Scotishmen" and "British Scots", Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Online Version (2000)
  18. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Online Version (2000)
  19. ^ Peter Heylyn, Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Online Version (2000)
  20. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
  21. ^ For example, Kathleen Burk The British Isles Since 1945 (Short Oxford History of the British Isles) (Oxford University Press, 2003) 0199248389
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ 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
  24. ^ British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body. 15th Plenary Session. 30 March 1998.
  25. ^ http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/peace/docs/agreement.htm#strand3 Strand Three
  26. ^ 'The Christ Church History Project' by Dr Kenneth Milne, The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 2001.
  27. ^ Reform of Irish Insurance Market: Presentation: Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. Retrieved 25 June 2006.
  28. ^ "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."
  29. ^ Norman Davies, op.cit p.xxii.
  30. ^ "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.
  31. ^ Síle de Valera, Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, 31 March 2002. Department website.
  32. ^ 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.
  33. ^ Speech by Rt. Hon. David Trimble to the Northern Ireland Forum Retrieved 16 July 2006.
  34. ^ Speech by Mr. David Trimble to the AGM of the Ulster Unionist Council, 20 March 1999. Retrieved 16 July 2006.
  35. ^ The Irish Independent. 14 December 1999. Retrieved 16 July 2006.
  36. ^ ibid.
  37. ^ 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.
  38. ^ Surf the Isles.com: Commercial website for finding Products from the North-West European Archipelago. Retrieved 26 June 2006
  39. ^ in Linnean, Hugh; 'The Islands in the Stream'; The Irish Times; July 15, 2006'
  40. ^ The Royal Anthropological Institute. Website. Retrieved 25 June 2006
  41. ^ Open Republic. Retrieved 5 July 2006.
  42. ^ Dolley, Michael (1976-11-19). R A Hall ed. "The Anglo-Danish and Anglo-Norse coinages of York". Viking Age York and the North; CBA Research Report No 27, pp. 26-31, Council for British Archaeology. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
  43. ^ The British-Irish Council is a...potential shift of the geopolitical centre of gravity of the Anglo-Celtic isles Harvey, David C.; Rhys Jones, Neil Mcinroy, Christine Milligan (2001). Celtic Geographies: Old Culture, New Times. New York: Routledge, p. 241.
  44. ^ BBC World Music site
  45. ^ For example, Bacon, Touring Map Scotland (Collins British Isles and Ireland Maps)
  46. ^ [www.infosci.org/MS-UK-MSSoc/race.html Multiple Challenge - Teesside Round British Isles and Ireland Yacht Race 1994.]
  47. ^ Prayer Association of British Isles and Ireland.
  48. ^ Medic Alert Foundation British Isles And Ireland. registered charity: #233705
  49. ^ Macey & Morgan, Learning on the road: nursing in the British Isles and Ireland (Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, 1988)
  50. ^ Badham, M., and Richards, V. (1991). Gibbon Regional Studbook: British Isles and Ireland, 13th Edition, Twycross Zoo, East Midland Zoological Society, Twycross.
  51. ^ FOLK 547 640 Folklore of the British Isles and Ireland. A course in the University of Pennsylvania; British archaeology
  52. ^ For example, P. North, The Private International Law of Matrimonial Causes in the British Isles and the Republic of Ireland (1977).
  53. ^ See "Law Society Gazette", Law Society of Ireland, July 2001.<!
  54. ^ Both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland follow common law. British court rulings are sometimes referred to in Irish courts, meaning that British law textbooks are studied in Irish universities. The closeness of the two legal systems and their countries' geographic closeness means that some Irish barristers also have English law qualifications and practice in England also. Many Irish people also study, particularly at post-graduate level in British Universities while traditionally many Irish nurses received their training in British hospitals, particularly in Liverpool and Manchester, cities with large Irish communities.
  55. ^ "Oileain Iarthar Eorpa", Dinneen Irish–English Dictionary, Irish Texts Society, Dublin 1927
  56. ^ "Ellanyn Sheear ny hOarpey", Fargher English-Manx dictionary 1979
  57. ^ Sinéad ní Shúinear, Hegemony and Homogeneity: 'othering' in the Western European Isles, Lecture title from 29th June 2000
  58. ^ R Cleasby & G. Vigfusson Icelandic - English Dictionary Oxford 1874

Further reading

  • A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 BC - 1603 AD by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2000 ISBN 0786866756
  • A History of Britain — The Complete Collection on DVD by Simon Schama, BBC 2002
  • The Isles, A History by Norman Davies, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0195134427
  • Shortened History of England by G. M. Trevelyan Penguin Books ISBN 0140233237

See also

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