Hype for the Future 74H: Major Communities in the United Kingdom

Introduction

While the United Kingdom is most notable with the dominance of England, the countries of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland can also claim cultural values independently of the dominant nation. Even though London is the capital of the entire United Kingdom, as well as of just England, the city does not provide much in terms of the cultural values of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, or even locations elsewhere within England, especially beyond Middlesex and East Anglia.

The Communities

Of the communities within the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom, the most important cities in terms of being locations of country governments are London, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; Cardiff, Wales; and Belfast, Northern Ireland. However, England also claims Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and a number of smaller communities of regional and cultural significance, while Scotland also claims Glasgow, Inverness, Elgin, Dundee, and Aberdeen quite similarly. While Wales is largely on the rural side, the major communities beyond Cardiff also include Newport in the Monmouthshire (Gwent) area as well as Swansea further west. Even more rural is the general area of Northern Ireland, though Londonderry also represents a cultural and central hub within the Six Counties in addition to Belfast in County Antrim and County Down.

The Crown Dependencies

The Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey each contain zero (0) communities at nearly the same scale of urbanization as the communities on Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However, of the communities within the region, the capital cities are Douglas, Isle of Man; St. Helier, Jersey; and St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

British Overseas

Even smaller territories are identified within the British Overseas Territories, including the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, and Montserrat—all within the general area of the Atlantic Ocean. While Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha are also located within the Atlantic, each of these territories is located in the South Atlantic, and the British also maintain Gibraltar in Europe; Akrotiri and Dhekelia on Cyprus; the British Indian Ocean Territory in the namesake Indian Ocean; the Falkland Islands of the Southern Ocean; and Pitcairn.

Today, of the communities with identifiable capital cities, most notably in the Caribbean and North Atlantic, the communities do not actually contain sizable cities, with George Town in the Cayman Islands representing the most populated community in the British Overseas. The other capitals include, but are not limited to, Cockburn Town, Turks and Caicos; Road Town, British Virgin Islands; The Valley, Anguilla; Hamilton, Bermuda; and Plymouth, Montserrat, though the last capital city has recently recorded a population of zero (0) following the impacts of a volcanic eruption in the area.

Hype for the Future 72A: The British Empire, Explained

Introduction

While much of the British Empire has successfully dissolved, the vast majority of the global population, with notable exceptions such as China, have historical ties to the United Kingdom, however indirectly the ties may be. Today, the United Kingdom typically refers to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The Constituent Countries

Within the United Kingdom, the constituent countries include England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The capital city of England, London, also represents the capital city of the entire United Kingdom. Scotland, further north, contains the capital city, Edinburgh, and another major city, Glasgow. For Wales, the Welsh capital is at Cardiff; and for Northern Ireland, the capital is at Belfast. Northern Ireland specifically refers to Counties Armagh, Antrim, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, and Tyrone. The other counties of Ireland are identified as part of the Republic of Ireland, a separate sovereign state.

Common English names beyond London proper include Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Lancaster, Norwich, Ipswich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, just to name a few. Wales, however, does not contain a significant community beyond the southern end of the country at Cardiff, though the Isle of Anglesey in the very northwest is a notable geographical feature of Wales.

Beyond Great Britain proper, additional islands associated with the constituent countries include the Orkney Islands (Scotland), the Shetland Islands (Scotland), the Isles of the Clyde (Scotland), and the Isle of Anglesey (Wales), just to name a few.

Crown Dependencies

The three Crown Dependencies are not necessarily part of the United Kingdom proper; however, each of the islands remains part of the Commonwealth of Nations and is dependent on the British Crown, as the name applies. The three Crown Dependencies are Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man, with the Isle of Sark and a few other associated islands part of Guernsey. The Isle of Man is also referred to as “Mann” and has the capital town at Douglas within the island. Manx is co-official with the English language throughout the island, located directly in between the Scottish Lowlands and Northern Ireland, though on the international stage, the Isle of Man may identify separately from the United Kingdom.

Both of the Channel Island territories, Jersey and Guernsey, are governed by bailiffs and are thus referred to as the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, respectively. While Jersey is effectively just the principal island, Guernsey also claims associated islands, including the car-free islands of Herm and Sark. Today, the capital towns of the bailiwicks of the Channel Islands are St. Helier, Jersey; and St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

British Overseas Territories

Within the European continent, the British Overseas Territories include the territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Gibraltar is located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, with the Spanish community of La Línea de la Concepción located immediately to the north and the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, otherwise surrounded by Morocco, on the opposite side of the Strait of Gibraltar marking the western beginning of the Mediterranean Sea. Akrotiri and Dhekelia represent one British Overseas Territory, though the specific regions of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are located on different sections of the southern side of the island of Cyprus and may overlap with or otherwise be disputed with Cypriot territory.

Also related to the military are the Falkland Islands and the British Indian Ocean Territory, with the Falkland Islands located nearby to the southern tip of South America and the northern peninsular tip of Antarctica. Civilian territories also exist throughout the British Overseas, including the Caribbean islands of the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla, and Montserrat; as well as the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda. Within the South Pacific are the Pitcairn Islands; within the Antarctic region the British Antarctic Territory. Elsewhere, the overseas include South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha.

Of the most prominent inhabited territories, the territorial capitals include George Town, Cayman Islands; Cockburn Town, Turks and Caicos Islands; Road Town, British Virgin Islands; The Valley, Anguilla; Plymouth, Montserrat; and Hamilton, Bermuda. Outside the Caribbean and Atlantic regions, Jamestown is the capital of Saint Helena, and Stanley is the capital of the Falkland Islands.

Commonwealth Realms

Outside the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies, and the British Overseas Territories, a number of sovereign states located elsewhere are also included within the definition of the Commonwealth, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, and South Africa, just to name a few. Of all the sovereign states attached to the British Commonwealth today, the island nations of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago are located within the Caribbean region. Belize is also located in the Americas, though in Central America rather than in the Caribbean proper. Canada and Guyana also represent Commonwealth realms on the North American and South American mainlands, respectively. Interestingly, within Europe, the island nations of Malta and Cyprus are also represented within the Commonwealth.

Within the African continent, the outlying insular nations of Mauritius and Seychelles are each included within the Commonwealth; however, the Comoros are more attached to French and Francophone heritage and as such are not included within the scope of the Commonwealth of Nations. Within the African mainland, the nations of Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia are all identified within the Commonwealth, and Burundi has requested to join the Commonwealth because of historical ties to Rwanda directly to the north, all in the region officially known as East Africa. Cameroon and Gabon are also located on the continent though in Middle Africa. Within the region of Southern Africa, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, and Botswana are all included. West Africa is also represented through the Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

For Oceania, the Melanesian nations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu are included, along with the Micronesian nations of Kiribati and Nauru. Within the region of Polynesia are the island nations of Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu.

The Southeast Asian nations of Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore are also included within the definition of the Commonwealth, along with the Southern Asian nations of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.