I've had a couple of queries about the varying use of the names England, Great Britain, U.K. etc., so I thought a quick summary of the differences might be in order.

Here's an outline map of the British Isles:

[Linked Image]

The larger land mass to the east is known as Great Britain. It comprises three entities: England (yellow), Wales (green), and Scotland (red). England & Wales were joined way back in 1284, and the United Kingdom was formed by a union with Scotland in 1707.

The smaller land mass to the west is Ireland, which also became part of the U.K. in 1801, making the full official name of the country "The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland."

After many years of unrest with British rule there was an uprising (sound familiar, guys? [Linked Image]), and Ireland was divided up in 1921. Six counties in the north (in blue) remained part of the U.K. and became known as Northern Ireland, the official title of the U.K. then becoming "The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland."

The other 26 counties in Ireland became an independent country, first as the Irish Free State, then Eire, then finally in 1949 the Republic of Ireland.

There are also some small islands which are British territory but which are not part of the U.K. -- These are the Isle of Mann (between GB and Ireland but not shown on this map) and the Channel Island jurisdictions of Jersey and Guernsey (these islands are actually closer to France than to Britain).

Hope this helps sort out any confusion! [Linked Image]


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 12-27-2002).]

{ My edits on 11/9/2003 due to moved images }


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-09-2003).]