The British Isles and all that ...

The term British Isles defines a purely geographic area - not, as is sometimes thought, a political area. However, every now and then the inhabitants of these islands still just about manage to unite behind a single badge. The rugby union touring team, The British and Irish Lions, draws its players from all over the British Isles. This page is intended to provide some basic geo-political facts about the British Isles and a chronology of significant unions and separations amongst the political entities constructed upon them. Further geographic informaton can be found at the UK Ordnance Survey and the Ordance Survey Ireland sites.

The Geographic Entities

				Area (sq.miles)	Population (2016 est.)	Description
		British Isles		121,674	67.5m	The archipelago off the West coast of continental Europe
			Great Britain	88,745	61.3m	The largest island of the archipelago
		Ireland		32,589	6.6m	The second largest island of the archipelago
			Isle of Man	221	84,497	Situated in the Irish Sea almost equidistant from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
		Channel Islands		75	163,483	That part of the archipelago nearest France [Geologically not part of the archipelago but generally - albeit erroneously - included in the British Isles]

The Political Entities

		Area (sq.miles)	Population (2016 est.)	Status
	United Kingdom	94,247	63.1m	Sovereign State (Parliamentary Monarchy)
	Ireland	27,137	4.8m	Sovereign State (Parliamentary Republic)
	Jersey	45	97,857	British Crown Dependency (Parliamentary Bailiwick)
	Isle of Man	221	84,497	British Crown Dependency ("Oldest Parliament in the World")
	Guernsey	24	62,915	British Crown Dependency (Parliamentary Bailiwick)
	Alderney	3	2,111	British Crown Dependency (part of Bailiwick of Guernsey)
	Sark	2	600	British Crown Dependency (part of Bailiwick of Guernsey)

NB The term British Islands has been used by the UK government since the Interpretation Act 1978 to collectively denote those lands within the British Isles which are inhabited by British citizens, i.e. the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is not synonymous with the term British Isles.

The population of the United Kingdom at the 2011 census was 63.1m. This population is distributed amongst four* "home nations":

	Nation	Area (sq.miles)	Population (2011 cen.)	Status	Administration
	England	50,362	53.0m	Kingdom	The Department for Communities and Local Government oversees both two-tier and, since April 1996, unitary Counties, Districts and Boroughs along with unitary Metropolitan Districts, the Greater London Authority & London Boroughs
	Scotland	30,414	5.3m	Kingdom	Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and unitary council areas, most of which were either Regions, Islands or Districts prior to April 1996
	Wales	8,019	3.1m	Principality	National Assembly for Wales, Welsh Government and unitary council areas, most of which were either Counties or Boroughs prior to April 1996
	Northern Ireland	5,452	1.8m	Province	Northern Ireland Assembly, Northern Ireland Executive and unitary City, Borough and District council areas [Formerly Counties and Districts]
* Historically the Cornish are distinct from the English. I therefore include a fifth entry for Cornwall below even though its official status is no different to that of any other county in England. The Case for Cornwall resulted in the first ever Devolution Deal for a rural local authority in the UK and a persuasive case for according a special status to Cornwall was compiled by the late Jim Pengelly on the Tyr-Gwyr-Gweryn (formerly www.kernowtgg.co.uk) website. The Cornish people also have official minority status within the European Union. Note that Cornwall is included in the statistics quoted above for England.
	Cornwall	1,369	532,300	Duchy	Unitary County

Each of England, Scotland and Wales includes various smaller islands as well as parts of mainland Great Britain but common usage has led to the term Great Britain being used to describe these three countries (and even the whole of the UK plus the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in the Olympics). The word Britain has also come to be an alias for the UK and the terms British, Briton and Brit have been derived to denote its citizens.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have specific government departments whose function is to represent their particular interests and ensure that they do not get swamped by the English majority in government. The Secretaries of State for these departments are members of the cabinet. The relationships between the devolved administrations and central government take the form of a series of concordats.

There are three legal jurisdictions within the UK: England & Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court ("the highest court in the land"), alone, is common to them all - but only for civil cases in Scotland.

Anglesey is a Welsh unitary council
Orkney is a unitary Scottish island council
The Isles of Scilly form a unitary council within England
Shetland is a unitary Scottish island council
The Western Isles (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar), also known as the Outer Hebrides, is a unitary Scottish island council
The Isle of Wight is an English unitary council

Arran is part of the Scottish council of North Ayrshire
Fair Isle is part of the Scottish island council of Shetland
The Inner Hebrides are split between the Scottish councils of Highland (Muck, Eigg, Rhum and northwards) and Argyll and Bute (Coll, Tiree, Mull and southwards)
Lindisfarne (or Holy Island) and the Farne Islands are part of the English county of Northumberland
Lundy is part of the English county of Devon
The Isle of Sheppey is part of the English county of Kent

Ireland is both a geographic and a political unit with different boundaries. Historically, the island of Ireland is comprised of thirty-two counties grouped into four provinces:

	Province	Area (sq.miles)	Population (2016 cen.)	Counties
	Connacht	6,838	0.6m	Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo
	Leinster	7,645	2.6m	Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow
	Munster	9,527	1.3m	Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford
	Ulster	8,575	2.1m	Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Tyrone

Six of the nine counties of Ulster (Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone) form Northern Ireland and are part of the United Kingdom. They account for approximately one-sixth of the area of the island and one-third of its population. The other three counties of Ulster (Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan) are part of the republic.

The republic of Ireland consists of twenty-six counties. The population of the republic at the 2016 census was 4.8m. Within the republic, the administrative units are Counties, County Boroughs, Metropolitan Boroughs and Urban Districts.

Applying the term British, or any of its variants, to citizens of the republic is both incorrect politically and politically incorrect. Evidence of the offence taken at this usage can sporadically be found in the soc.culture.irish newsgroup.

Administration in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

	The Channel Islands consist of four British Crown Dependencies - Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. The Bailiwick of Guernsey includes Alderney and Sark along with the islands of Herm, Brechou, Jethou and Lihou. The legislatures are the States in Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney and the Court of Chief Pleas in Sark.
	The Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency. Its parliament, the Tynwald, has two branches - the Legislative Council and the House of Keys. The latter, with a history stretching back into the first millennium AD, has a continuity which surpasses any other parliamentary assembly in the world.

Significant dates regarding annexations, devolvements, mergers, separations and unions

Compiled by Nick Taylor with assistance from soc.culture.british newsgroup participants. Comments on errors of fact or omission are welcomed but please bear in mind that the minutiae have occasionally been sacrificed for the sake of brevity.