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British and Irish Isles
The islands of Great Britain and Ireland and about 5,000 smaller islands and islets form an archipelago off the northwest coast of continental Europe. The islands include two sovereign states, Ireland and the United Kingdom, and a couple of crown dependencies. Both states are members of the European Union since 1973. The archipelago also contains several island groups including the Aran Islands, the Channel Islands, the Hebrides, the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands. The archipelago also contains the Isle of Man.
From 1801 until 1922, the islands were politically named the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and also as British Isles, but the legal status of those two terms concerning all of the island of Ireland is now defunct. The term British Isles, although still used, is not now universially accepted by all. In Ireland the term British Isles is unpopular, they see the name as an misnomer, as Ireland became a soverign independent nation again in 1922. And likewise there are some people in Britain who would take offence if the islands are referred to by another name. Terms gaining more popular usage are the Anglo-Celtic Isles, the British and Irish Isles, or The Islands of Great Britain and Ireland.
The islands are separated from Europe by the English Channel to the south, the Straits of Dover to the south-east, and by the North Sea to the east. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the west of the archipelago.
The climate is typically insular, and as a result of the moderating moist winds which ordinarily prevail from the Atlantic, it is of a temperate nature, avoiding the extremes in temperature of many other global areas sharing similar latitudes.
[edit] Anglo-Celtic Isles
Anglo-Celtic Isles
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- For an explanation of the controversy surrounding the term 'British Isles', see the British Isles article.
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The Anglo-Celtic Isles is a term coming into increasing use as an alternative to the controversial term 'British Isles', due to the latter's unacceptability to many in Ireland and among some desiring Scottish or Welsh independence.[1] The origin of the term is not known, though sources show that it has been in use for nearly a century.[2]
The term reflects the predominant ethnic make up of the populations inhabiting the islands: the 'Celtic' peoples - the Irish, Manx, Scottish, Cornish and Welsh - and the 'Anglo-Saxon' peoples - the English (other than Cornish). The populations inhabiting the archipelago have been referred to collectively as 'Anglo-Celtic cultures' in mainstream literature.[3]
The term is in limited use to date.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Harvey, David C.; Rhys Jones, Neil Mcinroy, Christine Milligan (2001). Celtic Geographies: Old Culture, New Times. New York: Routledge, p. 241.
- ^ Christopher, David (2002). The Fate of Cork Unionists, 1919-1921, http://www.reform.org/TheReformMovement_files/article_files/articles/cork.htm
- ^ Foster, Dean. The Global Etiquette Guide to Europe, Everything You Need to Know for Business and Travel Success, Part One: Western Europe. Wiley, ISBN: 0-471-31866-3. See: http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/63/04713186/0471318663.pdf
