SS: Nations in the British Isles

Let's summarise the main topics we discussed so far.

These are the British Isles in the world map (click on the picture to see it bigger):

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a big country made up of four nations:

1) England (English*)

2) Scotland (Scottish or Scot*)

3) Wales (Welsh*)

4) Northern Ireland (Northern Irish*)

*These are the nationalities. All of them are also "British".

As we said, 6,000 islands make up the British Isles, but only two of them are the most popular;

1) the Island of Great Britain (where England, Scotland, and Wales are)

2) the Island of Ireland (where Northern Ireland is, together with the Republic of Ireland, which is an independent country, not part of the UK).

Have a look at the flags of each nation below:

English flag (St. George's cross)

Scottish flag (St. Andrew's cross)

Irish flag (St. Patrick's cross)

Welsh flag (with a pagan symbol, not a Christian one)

the flag of the Republic of Ireland (not a member of the UK)

the British flag (aka the Union Flag or the Union Jack, after king James, first king of England and Scotland). It includes the English, Scottish and Irish flags (not the Welsh flag) as shown here:

This is the video we watched in class to understand the creation of the Union Jack:

The brief history of the Union Jack:
In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died with no children, so her cousin James, king of Scotland, inherited the English throne. He was the first king of Great Britain but his two kingdoms were formally united in 1707, nearly one hundred years after his coronation as king of England.

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). Her parents were King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn (Henry married six times). She ruled England for 44 years (she was crowned when she was 25). Her reign is usually known as the "Elizabethan era" or "England's Golden Age". She died at the age of 69.

King James I of England and VI of Scotland (1566-1625). His mother was Mary, Queen of Scots and his father was Lord Darnley. He ruled Scotland from a very early age, and England for 22 years. In 1603 he moved to England promising to go back to Scotland every three years. He only went back on one occasion. He clearly preferred England to Scotland. He died at the age of 58.