The Difference Between The United Kingdom, Great Britain and England

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Күн бұрын

If you were born, bred, or educated in any part of the United Kingdom, you may not consider this a question since the answer is at your fingertip. You may not have even thought of it because it is as simple as the description of your house. However, you might be surprised that it can be more challenging to explain this to someone interested in the political and geographical compositions of the United Kingdom.
Let’s illustrate. We’ve heard many people in Africa and Asia who know only London as the place their kin and kiths travel to whenever the news break that these travel to the United Kingdom. And due to the popularity, size, and influence of England, it is all too easy to equate the United Kingdom or Great Britain with England. In this video, we shall try to show you the difference between those geographical locations and political designations. This we hope will clarify the confusion in the minds of those who may be confusing things. It can also be a great instructional material that can assist in explaining to those confused.
The Three Geographical Entities Broadly Viewed
The two terms, the United Kingdom and Great Britain are often used interchangeably. However, the geographical designations are not the same; hence they are not synonymous. Nevertheless, we need to quickly tell you here that the official name of the country UK is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But then, if that’s the official name, is there really any difference between the United Kingdom and Great Britain? Are we not being bothered by a mere academic exercise?
Yes, there’s a difference, and it is not all about an academic exercise. The difference dwells in the geographical area covered by each term and in the expansive history of the British Isle. Great Britain, also known simply as Britain, is a geographical term that refers to a great island while the United Kingdom is a sovereign state made up of four countries. And what about England? It is simply a country within the United Kingdom; one of the four countries that make up the Kingdom. To clearly define the differences, let us now look at what each of them stands for in greater detail, starting first with the United Kingdom, or the UK.
What Is the United Kingdom?
The United Kingdom is an independent country of countries situated off the northwestern coast of Europe. It is the name describing the entire island of Great Britain and a northern part of the island of Ireland, hence the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It has as its capital city, de facto London. Its existence dates back to 1801 when the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland united to form a big country. Then, it was known by the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. But when the southern part of Ireland gained its independence through diplomacy in the 1920s, the name changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
When the Irish state declared its freedom in 1949, it became the Republic of Ireland, a change from its former name Irish Free State. Even then, this country is no part of Great Britain also as we shall soon see. While the northern part of Ireland decided to remain in the United Kingdom. Thus, what is known today as the United Kingdom is a product of the separation and union of the different parts.
The UK as a country has a unitary parliament democracy with a constitutional monarchy. It is one of the biggest and strongest and most competitive economies globally. It has one of the most powerful militaries as a world power. And it is one of the most influential countries in the world.
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Пікірлер: 10

@sundayadeagbo1735 Жыл бұрын

Thoughtful and insightful. The difference is now clear

@winstonfraser7784 Жыл бұрын

Good morning 🌞 thank you very clearly

@kubhlaikhan2015 Жыл бұрын

I knew I wouldn't be able to fully agree with this. Most of it is simpler, some of it is more complicated. First, the "United Kingdom" is the state ruled by the House of Windsor via London. The full title "...of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is a convenient abbreviation, not a definition. In reality it includes dozens of islands which are neither in Great Britain nor Ireland. This is because "Great Britain" is the name of just one island - the biggest British Isle. It is a purely geographic name for that island. Again however, it has often been used as a conveneient abbreviation, usually with the "Great" dropped - so simply "Britain" means all of us. Those two are easy, but arguably "England" is not. Until the early 20th century the word "England" was widely used to denote all English-speaking people wherever they might be. Thus Australians, Canadians and even Americans often regarded themselves as English. This makes perfect sense because the word "England" derives from the word for a language "English" - not the other way round. Thus it is not even an irony when I tell you that English did not originate in England at all but as a pidgin spoken around the Baltic and north sea by traders, and (ironically) its original stronghold on Great Britain was Edinburgh (yes, the one in Scotland). A survey in the 1960s revealed that the people everywhere in the country regarded themselves as British first and their regional "nationality" (Irish, Scots, Welsh etc) second. This was especially true in England. In other words, there was little identification with the region now called "England". England in that sense is just the bit left after you subtract the other regional nationalisms. When the country joined the EU, they insisted on the UK being broken up into smaller regions - so separate Parliaments for Scotland and Wales were set up followed by a deliberate avoidance of the word "Britain" in favour of "Wales", "England", "Scotland" and so on. That is politics, not history. The names of those other constituent "countries" is equally dubious when you look into them - they do not reflect genuine historical, linguistic, cultural, economic or ethnic realities - current or ancient. I would love to say more if I had space.

@paulthompson8996 Жыл бұрын

Word of advice - don't suggest, in a pub on the Shankill Road in Belfast, that those in Northern Ireland are called 'Irish' - you might get your teeth kicked out. You then say that they only carry the British passport, which is rubbish. Those from Northern Ireland are entitled to hold both a British passport and an Irish passport. Get your facts right.

@Ajax7051 Жыл бұрын

Tried to show this to my son to explain the different names but couldn’t get past the misspelling of “Britain” on the title screen…😐

@condorone1501 9 ай бұрын

Ireland 🇮🇪 🇮🇪 🇮🇪 is not a British Isle\Island. This is an outdated Imperialistic and Possesive term that is not recognised by the Irish Government nor by the Majority of Irish people living in Ireland. Ireland lies on the European continental shelf not the British continental shelf. Ireland 🇮🇪 can no longer be called a British Isle/Island since it regained its Independence and Territorial waters in 1922. Denmark has an Archipelago of over 400 Islands and is simply called Denmark. Ireland is Geographically a European Island not a British Island. Geographically these Islands are simply Great Britain and Ireland. Politically they are the UK and Ireland. I am an Irish citizen not a British citizen and I certainly don't live on a British Isle/Island.

@spencerburke 7 ай бұрын

Weird definition of 'diplomacy'...

@martinbynion1589 10 ай бұрын

Several errors of fact in this video, especially related to passports and the use of the term "Irish". Also "Britain" and "Great Britain" are NOT the same thing.