Great Britain#Terminology

{{Main|Prehistoric Britain}}

The oldest evidence for archaic humans in Britain are the Happisburgh footprints and associated stone tools found in Norfolk, dating to around 950–850,000 years ago.{{Cite journal |last1=De Groote |first1=I. |last2=Lewis |first2=M. |last3=Stringer |first3=C. |date=7 September 2017 |title=Prehistory of the British Isles: A tale of coming and going |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13219-017-0187-8 |journal=BMSAP |language=en |doi=10.1007/s13219-017-0187-8 |issn=0037-8984}} Prior to 450,000 years ago, Britain formed a peninsular extension of mainland Europe until catastrophic flooding between then and 130,000 years ago resulted in the creation of the English Channel and Britain becoming an island during warm interglacial periods like the Last Interglacial/Eemian (130–115,000 years ago), though it remained connected to mainland Europe during glacial periods when sea levels were low.{{Cite journal |last=Schwarzschild |first=Bertram |date=September 2007 |title=Sonar mapping suggests that the English Channel was created by two megafloods |url=http://www.qpg.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/englishchannelfloods/physicstoday.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Physics Today |volume=60 |issue=9 |pages=24–27 |bibcode=2007PhT....60i..24S |doi=10.1063/1.2784673 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002162907/http://www.qpg.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/englishchannelfloods/physicstoday.pdf |archive-date=2 October 2011 |access-date=27 April 2010}} Archaic humans repeatedly occupied Britain before abandoning the area during cooler periods. Modern humans arrived in Britain about 40,000 years ago, as evidenced by remains found in Kents Cavern in Devon, following the disappearance of Neanderthals. Prior to 9,000 years ago Britain retained a land connection to the continent, with an area of mostly low marshland (Doggerland) joining it to what are now Denmark and the Netherlands.Edwards, Robin & al. "[http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/2262/40560/1/Edwards%26Brooks_INJ08_TARA.pdf The Island of Ireland: Drowning the Myth of an Irish Land-bridge?]" Accessed 15 February 2013.{{cite web |last1=Nora McGreevy |title=Study Rewrites History of Ancient Land Bridge Between Britain and Europe |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/tiny-islands-survived-tsunami-almost-separated-britain-europe-study-finds-180976430/ |website=smithsonianmag.com |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=31 March 2022}}

During the Mesolithic period, Britain was inhabited by hunter gatherers. Neolithic farmers, of Anatolian origin, arrived in Britain around 4000 BC, replacing the pre-existing hunter gatherers.{{Cite journal |last1=Brace |first1=Selina |last2=Diekmann |first2=Yoan |last3=Booth |first3=Thomas J. |last4=van Dorp |first4=Lucy |last5=Faltyskova |first5=Zuzana |last6=Rohland |first6=Nadin |last7=Mallick |first7=Swapan |last8=Olalde |first8=Iñigo |last9=Ferry |first9=Matthew |last10=Michel |first10=Megan |last11=Oppenheimer |first11=Jonas |last12=Broomandkhoshbacht |first12=Nasreen |last13=Stewardson |first13=Kristin |last14=Martiniano |first14=Rui |last15=Walsh |first15=Susan |date=15 April 2019 |title=Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |language=en |volume=3 |issue=5 |pages=765–771 |doi=10.1038/s41559-019-0871-9 |issn=2397-334X |pmc=6520225 |pmid=30988490|bibcode=2019NatEE...3..765B }} Around 2000 BC, the Bronze Age Bell Beaker Culture arrived in Britain, which genetic evidence suggests was associated with another episode of nearly complete population replacement.{{Cite journal |last1=Olalde |first1=Iñigo |last2=Brace |first2=Selina |last3=Allentoft |first3=Morten E. |last4=Armit |first4=Ian |last5=Kristiansen |first5=Kristian |last6=Booth |first6=Thomas |last7=Rohland |first7=Nadin |last8=Mallick |first8=Swapan |last9=Szécsényi-Nagy |first9=Anna |last10=Mittnik |first10=Alissa |last11=Altena |first11=Eveline |last12=Lipson |first12=Mark |last13=Lazaridis |first13=Iosif |last14=Harper |first14=Thomas K. |last15=Patterson |first15=Nick |date=8 March 2018 |title=The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=555 |issue=7695 |pages=190–196 |doi=10.1038/nature25738 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=5973796 |pmid=29466337|bibcode=2018Natur.555..190O }} Later significant migration to southern Britain around 1000 BC may have brought the Celtic languages to the island.{{Cite journal |last1=Patterson |first1=Nick |last2=Isakov |first2=Michael |last3=Booth |first3=Thomas |last4=Büster |first4=Lindsey |last5=Fischer |first5=Claire-Elise |last6=Olalde |first6=Iñigo |last7=Ringbauer |first7=Harald |last8=Akbari |first8=Ali |last9=Cheronet |first9=Olivia |last10=Bleasdale |first10=Madeleine |last11=Adamski |first11=Nicole |last12=Altena |first12=Eveline |last13=Bernardos |first13=Rebecca |last14=Brace |first14=Selina |last15=Broomandkhoshbacht |first15=Nasreen |date=27 January 2022 |title=Large-scale migration into Britain during the Middle to Late Bronze Age |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=601 |issue=7894 |pages=588–594 |bibcode=2022Natur.601..588P |doi=10.1038/s41586-021-04287-4 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=8889665 |pmid=34937049}}

During the Iron Age, Britain was inhabited by various different Celtic tribes.{{Citation |last=Haselgrove |first=Colin |title=Society and Polity in Late Iron Age Britain |date=1 January 2004 |work=A Companion to Roman Britain |pages=12–29 |editor-last=Todd |editor-first=Malcolm |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470998861.ch2 |access-date=18 June 2024 |place=Malden, MA, USA |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470998861.ch2 |isbn=978-0-470-99886-1 |url-access=subscription}}

{{Main|Roman Britain|Medieval England|Medieval Scotland|Medieval Wales}}

File:Prima Europe tabula.jpg's 2nd-century map of Roman Britain. See notes to image above.]]

The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall in northern England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia. In the course of the 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons). At about the same time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to as the English people, so-named after the Angles.

Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh. This term came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace and in the second syllable of Cornwall. Cymry, a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria. The Britons living in the areas now known as Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into more recent times.{{cite book|last=Ellis|first=Peter Berresford| author-link = Peter Berresford Ellis|title=The Cornish language and its literature|year=1974|publisher= Routledge & Kegan Paul | location=London|isbn=978-0-7100-7928-2|page=20}} At the time of the Germanic invasion of southern Britain, many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany, where Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from the language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England when the last constituent kingdom, Northumbria, submitted to Edgar in 959. In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans, who introduced a Norman-speaking administration that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century.

{{Main|Early modern Britain}}

{{Further|History of the United Kingdom}}

On 20 October 1604 King James, who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland, proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine, France, and Ireland".{{cite web|url=http://www.archontology.org/nations/uk/england/king_england/01_kingstyle_1604.php |title=England/Great Britain: Royal Styles: 1604–1707 |publisher=Archontology.org |date=13 March 2010 |access-date=27 April 2013}} When James died in 1625 and the Privy Council of England was drafting the proclamation of the new king, Charles I, a Scottish peer, Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie, succeeded in insisting that it use the phrase "King of Great Britain", which James had preferred, rather than King of Scotland and England (or vice versa).HMC 60, Manuscripts of the Earl of Mar and Kellie, vol.2 (1930), p. 226 While that title was also used by some of James's successors, England and Scotland each remained legally separate countries, each with its own parliament, until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify the Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year. This created a single kingdom with one parliament with effect from 1 May 1707. The Treaty of Union specified the name of the new all-island state as "Great Britain", while describing it as "One Kingdom" and "the United Kingdom". To most historians, therefore, the all-island state that existed between 1707 and 1800 is either "Great Britain" or the "Kingdom of Great Britain".

{{Further|Geography of England|Geography of Scotland|Geography of Wales}}

{{See also|Geography of the United Kingdom}}

File:France manche vue dover.JPG in northern France]]

Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate and off the north-west coast of continental Europe, separated from this European mainland by the North Sea and by the English Channel, which narrows to {{convert|34|km|nmi mi|abbr=on}} at the Straits of Dover.{{cite web |url=http://www.eosnap.com/?tag=strait-of-dover |title=accessed 14 November 2009 |publisher=Eosnap.com |access-date=24 February 2012 |archive-date=30 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200530092024/http://www.eosnap.com/tag/strait-of-dover/ |url-status=dead }} It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north–south axis and covers {{convert|209,331|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, excluding the much smaller surrounding islands.United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Island Directory Tables "Islands By Land Area". Retrieved from http://islands.unep.ch/Tiarea.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180220003634/http://islands.unep.ch/Tiarea.htm |date=20 February 2018 }} on 13 August 2009 The North Channel, Irish Sea, St George's Channel and Celtic Sea separate the island from the island of Ireland to its west.{{cite web|url=https://iho.int/uploads/user/pubs/standards/s-23/S-23_Ed3_1953_EN.pdf|title=Limits of Oceans and Seas, 3rd edition + corrections|year=1971|publisher=International Hydrographic Organization|access-date=28 December 2020|page=42 [corrections to page 13]}} The island is since 1993 joined, via one structure, with continental Europe: the Channel Tunnel, the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world. The island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. The greatest distance between two points is {{convert|601+1/2|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} (between Land's End, Cornwall and John o' Groats, Caithness), {{convert|838|mi}} by road.

The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by the breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline, a ridge that held back a large proglacial lake, now submerged under the North Sea.{{Cite journal|last1=Gupta |first1=Sanjeev |first2=Jenny S. |last2=Collier |first3=Andy |last3=Palmer-Felgate |first4=Graeme |last4=Potter |year=2007 |title=Catastrophic flooding origin of shelf valley systems in the English Channel |journal=Nature |volume=448 |issue=7151 |pages=342–5 |doi=10.1038/nature06018 |pmid=17637667 |bibcode=2007Natur.448..342G|s2cid=4408290}}

• {{cite news |author=Dave Mosher |date=18 July 2007 |title=Why the rift between Britain and France? |work=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna19833064}} Around 10,000 years ago, during the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level, Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of continental north-western Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about {{convert|120|m}} lower than today, and the bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge, now known as Doggerland, to the Continent. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland reflooded cutting off what was the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC.{{cite web|url=http://livebettermagazine.com/eng/magazine/pdf_docs/2008_01/Global_Warming_Gaffney.pdf |title=Vincent Gaffney, "Global Warming and the Lost European Country" |access-date=24 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310094351/http://livebettermagazine.com/eng/magazine/pdf_docs/2008_01/Global_Warming_Gaffney.pdf |archive-date=10 March 2012 }}

{{Main|Geology of Great Britain}}

Great Britain has been subject to a variety of plate tectonic processes over a very extended period of time. Changing latitude and sea levels have been important factors in the nature of sedimentary sequences, whilst successive continental collisions have affected its geological structure with major faulting and folding being a legacy of each orogeny (mountain-building period), often associated with volcanic activity and the metamorphism of existing rock sequences. As a result of this eventful geological history, the island shows a rich variety of landscapes.

The oldest rocks in Great Britain are the Lewisian gneisses, metamorphic rocks found in the far north west of the island and in the Hebrides (with a few small outcrops elsewhere), which date from at least 2,700 {{Abbreviation|My|million years}} ago. South of the gneisses are a complex mixture of rocks forming the North West Highlands and Grampian Highlands in Scotland. These are essentially the remains of folded sedimentary rocks that were deposited between 1,000 My and 670 My ago over the gneiss on what was then the floor of the Iapetus Ocean.

In the current era the north of the island is rising as a result of the weight of Devensian ice being lifted. Counterbalanced, the south and east is sinking, generally estimated at 1 mm ({{frac|1|25}} inch) per year, with the London area sinking at double this partly due to the continuing compaction of the recent clay deposits.

{{Main|Fauna of Great Britain}}

File:Robin, Leighton Moss January 2009.jpg, voted in polls as "Britain's favourite bird".{{cite web|title=The Robin – Britain's Favourite Bird|url=http://www.britishbirdlovers.co.uk/articles/the-robin-britains-favourite-bird.html|publisher=BritishBirdLovers.co.uk|access-date=15 August 2011}}]]

Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last glacial period and the island's physical separation from continental Europe, and the effects of seasonal variability.{{cite web|title=Decaying Wood: An Overview of Its Status and Ecology in the United Kingdom and Europe|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/gtr-181/004_Butler.pdf|publisher=FS.fed.us|access-date=15 August 2011}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Great Britain also experienced early industrialisation and is subject to continuing urbanisation, which have contributed towards the overall loss of species.{{cite web|title=A Short History of the British Mammal Fauna |url=http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/history.shtml |publisher=ABDN.ac.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211110344/http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/history.shtml |archive-date=11 February 2006 |url-status=dead }} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. A DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate. However, some species, such as the brown rat, red fox, and introduced grey squirrel, are well adapted to urban areas.

Rodents make up 40% of the mammal species.{{Citation needed|reason=data source?|date=January 2017}} These include squirrels, mice, voles, rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver. There is also an abundance of European rabbit, European hare, shrews, European mole and several species of bat. Carnivorous mammals include the red fox, Eurasian badger, Eurasian otter, weasel, stoat and elusive Scottish wildcat.Else, Great Britain, 85. Various species of seal, whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer. The red deer is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans.{{cite web|url=http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/archaeology/research/plants_fallow.php |title=The Fallow Deer Project, University of Nottingham |publisher=Nottingham.ac.uk |access-date=24 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315225356/http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/archaeology/research/plants_fallow.php |archive-date=15 March 2008 }} Sika deer and two more species of smaller deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer, have been introduced, muntjac becoming widespread in England and parts of Wales while Chinese water deer are restricted mainly to East Anglia. Habitat loss has affected many species. Extinct large mammals include the brown bear, grey wolf and wild boar; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times.

There is a wealth of birdlife, with 628 species recorded,{{cite journal |last1=McInerny |first1=Christopher |title=The British List: A Checklist of Birds of Britain (10th edition) |journal=Ibis |year=2022 |volume=164 |issue=3 |pages=860–910 |publisher=British Ornithologist's Union|doi=10.1111/ibi.13065 |doi-access=free }} of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter.{{cite web|title= Birds of Britain|date= 16 July 2010 |url= http://www.bto.org/birdfacts/ |publisher=BTO.org}} Retrieved on 16 February 2009. Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly waders, ducks, geese and swans.{{cite book |last1=Balmer |first1=Dawn |title=Bird Atlas 2007–2011: The Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland. |date=2013 |publisher=BTO Books |location=Thetford}} Other well known bird species include the golden eagle, grey heron, common kingfisher, common wood pigeon, house sparrow, European robin, grey partridge, and various species of crow, finch, gull, auk, grouse, owl and falcon.{{cite web|title=Birds |url=http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/birdindex.html |publisher=NatureGrid.org.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630083140/http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/birdindex.html |archive-date=30 June 2009 }} Retrieved on 16 February 2009. There are six species of reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slowworm. One snake, the adder, is venomous but rarely deadly.{{cite web|title=The Adder's Byte|url=http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/the1.htm|publisher=CountySideInfo.co.uk}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Amphibians present are frogs, toads and newts. There are also several introduced species of reptile and amphibian.{{cite web|url = http://www.herpetofauna.co.uk/identification.asp|title = Species Identification|website = Reptiles & Amphibians of the UK}}

{{See also|List of the vascular plants of Britain and Ireland}}

File:Heather (Highlands).jpg growing wild in the Scottish Highlands at Dornoch in Scotland]]

In a similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora consists of fewer species compared to much larger continental Europe.{{cite web|title=Plants of the Pacific Northwest in Western Europe|url=http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben195.html|publisher=Botanical Electric News}} Retrieved on 23 February 2009. The flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced.Frodin, Guide to Standard Floras of the World, 599. The island has a wide variety of trees, including native species of birch, beech, ash, hawthorn, elm, oak, yew, pine, cherry and apple.{{cite web|title=Checklist of British Plants|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/plants-fungi/postcode-plants/checklist-british-plants.html|publisher=Natural History Museum}} Retrieved on 2 March 2009. Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut, maple, spruce, sycamore and fir, as well as cherry plum and pear trees. The tallest species are the Douglas firs; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 metres or 212 feet.{{cite web|title=Facts About Britain's Trees |url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/facts_about_britains_trees |publisher=WildAboutBritain.co.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429191609/http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/facts_about_britains_trees |archive-date=29 April 2009 |url-status=dead }} Retrieved on 2 March 2009. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe.{{cite web|title=The Fortingall Yew | date=27 June 2016 |url=http://www.perthshirebigtreecountry.co.uk/index.asp?pg=26|publisher=PerthshireBigTreeCountry.co.uk}} Retrieved on 23 February 2009.

There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower.{{cite web|title=Facts and Figures about Wildflowers |url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/facts_and_figures_about_wildflowers |publisher=WildAboutFlowers.co.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226093303/http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/facts_and_figures_about_wildflowers |archive-date=26 February 2008 |url-status=dead }} Retrieved on 23 February 2009. Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission.{{cite web|title=Endangered British Wild Flowers|url=http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/hort/edgrflwr.htm|publisher=CountryLovers.co.uk|access-date=23 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016231754/http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/hort/edgrflwr.htm|archive-date=16 October 2008|url-status=dead}} Retrieved on 23 February 2009.

A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties.{{cite web|title=County Flowers of Great Britain |url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/county_flowers_great_britain |publisher=WildAboutFlowers.co.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427194140/http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/county_flowers_great_britain |archive-date=27 April 2009 |url-status=dead }} Retrieved on 23 February 2009. These include red poppies, bluebells, daisies, daffodils, rosemary, gorse, iris, ivy, mint, orchids, brambles, thistles, buttercups, primrose, thyme, tulips, violets, cowslip, heather and many more.{{cite web|title=People and Plants: Mapping the UK's wild flora |url=http://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/assets/saving-species/saving-species-publications/People-and-plants-mapping-the-UKs-flora.pdf |publisher=PlantLife.org.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107065620/http://www.plantlife.org.uk//uk/assets/saving-species/saving-species-publications/People-and-plants-mapping-the-UKs-flora.pdf |archive-date=7 November 2007 }} Retrieved on 23 February 2009.{{cite web|title=British Wildflower Images|url=http://www.map-reading.co.uk/wildflowers/|publisher=Map-Reading.co.uk|access-date=23 August 2009|archive-date=28 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428135945/http://www.map-reading.co.uk/wildflowers/|url-status=dead}} Retrieved on 23 February 2009.{{cite web

|title=List of British Wildlfowers by Common Name

|url=http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/wildflower/common-names

|publisher=WildAboutBritain.co.uk

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429191609/http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/facts_about_britains_trees

|archive-date=29 April 2009

|url-status=dead

}} Retrieved on 23 February 2009.{{cite web|title=British Plants and algae|url=http://www.arkive.org/british-species/plants-and-algae/|publisher=Arkive.org|access-date=23 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090812214546/http://www.arkive.org/british-species/plants-and-algae/|archive-date=12 August 2009|url-status=dead}} Retrieved on 23 February 2009.

There is also more than 1000 species of bryophyte including algae and mosses across the island. The currently known species include 767 mosses, 298 liverworts and 4 hornworts.{{Cite web |date=18 June 2022 |title=New atlas reveals spread of British bryophytes in response to cleaner air |url=https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/news/new-atlas-reveals-spread-british-bryophytes-response-cleaner-air#:~:text=The%20British%20Isles%20support%20a,and%20767%20mosses)%20currently%20known. |access-date=18 June 2022 |website=UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |archive-date=2 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802003240/https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/news/new-atlas-reveals-spread-british-bryophytes-response-cleaner-air#:~:text=The%20British%20Isles%20support%20a,and%20767%20mosses)%20currently%20known. |url-status=dead }}

There are many species of fungi including lichen-forming species, and the mycobiota is less poorly known than in many other parts of the world. The most recent checklist of Basidiomycota (bracket fungi, jelly fungi, mushrooms and toadstools, puffballs, rusts and smuts), published in 2005, accepts over 3600 species.Legon & Henrici, Checklist of the British & Irish Basidiomycota The most recent checklist of Ascomycota (cup fungi and their allies, including most lichen-forming fungi), published in 1985, accepts another 5100 species.Cannon, Hawksworth & Sherwood-Pike, The British Ascomycotina. An Annotated Checklist These two lists did not include conidial fungi (fungi mostly with affinities in the Ascomycota but known only in their asexual state) or any of the other main fungal groups (Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Zygomycota). The number of fungal species known very probably exceeds 10,000. There is widespread agreement among mycologists that many others are yet to be discovered.

{{Main|Demographics of the United Kingdom}}

{{see|Demographics of England|Demographics of Scotland|Demographics of Northern Ireland|Demographics of Wales}}

London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom as a whole, and is the seat of the United Kingdom's government. Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, and is the seat of the Scottish Government as well as the highest courts in Scotland. The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Cardiff is the capital city of Wales, and is the seat of the Welsh Government.

;Largest urban areas

{{See also|List of urban areas in the United Kingdom}}

{{Further|Languages of England|Languages of Scotland|Languages of Wales}}

{{See also|Languages of the United Kingdom}}

File:Welcome to South Ayrshire - geograph.org.uk - 6273071.jpg]]

Celtic languages originated in the Hallstatt culture.{{cite journal|last1=Eska|first1=Joseph F.|title=Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.12.35|url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2013/2013-12-35.html|journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review|access-date=2 September 2014|date=December 2013}}[http://www.aber.ac.uk/aberonline/en/archive/2008/05/au7608/ Aberystwyth University – News]. Aber.ac.uk. Retrieved on 17 July 2013.{{cite web| url= http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/ODonnell.pdf| work =O'Donnell Lecture | year = 2008 | title = Appendix | access-date = 15 August 2011}}{{Cite journal| last = Koch | first = John | title = Tartessian: Celtic from the Southwest at the Dawn of History in Acta Palaeohispanica X Palaeohispanica 9 | journal = Palaeohispánica: Revista Sobre Lenguas y Culturas de la Hispania Antigua | publisher = Palaeohispanica | year = 2009 | pages = 339–51 | url = http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/54/26koch.pdf | issn = 1578-5386 | access-date = 17 May 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413465|title=New research suggests Welsh Celtic roots lie in Spain and Portugal|last=Koch|first=John|access-date=10 May 2010}}

All the modern Brythonic languages (Breton, Cornish, Welsh) are generally considered to derive from a common ancestral language termed Brittonic, British, Common Brythonic, Old Brythonic or Proto-Brythonic, which is thought to have developed from Proto-Celtic or early Insular Celtic by the 6th century AD.{{cite book| title=An Atlas for Celtic Studies| first=John T.| last=Koch| publisher=Oxbow Books| location=Oxford| year=2007| isbn=978-1-84217-309-1}} Brythonic languages were probably spoken before the Roman invasion at least in the majority of Great Britain south of the rivers Forth and Clyde, though the Isle of Man later had a Goidelic language, Manx. Northern Scotland mainly spoke Pritennic, which became Pictish, which may have been a Brythonic language. During the period of the Roman occupation of Southern Britain (AD 43 to {{Circa|410}}), Common Brythonic borrowed a large stock of Latin words. Approximately 800 of these Latin loan-words have survived in the three modern Brythonic languages. Romano-British is the name for the Latinised form of the language used by Roman authors.

British English is spoken in the present day across the island, and developed from the Old English brought to the island by Anglo-Saxon settlers from the mid 5th century. Some 1.5 million people speak Scots—which was indigenous language of Scotland and has become closer to English over centuries.Scotland's Census 2011 – Language, All people aged 3 and over. Out of the 60,815,385 residents of the UK over the age of three, 1,541,693 (2.5%) can speak Scots.A.J. Aitken in The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press 1992. p.894 An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh,[http://www.byig-wlb.org.uk/English/publications/Publications/A%20statistical%20overview%20of%20the%20Welsh%20languagef2.pdf Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg, A statistical overview of the Welsh language]{{dead link|date=August 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, by Hywel M Jones, page 115, 13.5.1.6, England. Published February 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2016. an official language in Wales.{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/mwa/2011/1/section/1/enacted |publisher=The National Archives |work=legislation.gov.uk |title=Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 |access-date=30 May 2016 }} In parts of north west Scotland, Scottish Gaelic remains widely spoken. There are various regional dialects of English, and numerous languages spoken by some immigrant populations.

{{Further|Religion in England|Religion in Scotland|Religion in Wales}}

{{See also|Religion in the United Kingdom}}

File:Canterbury Cathedral - Portal Nave Cross-spire.jpeg, seat of the Church of England, Great Britain's largest denomination]]

Christianity has been the largest religion by number of adherents since the Early Middle Ages: it was introduced under the ancient Romans, developing as Celtic Christianity. According to tradition, Christianity arrived in the 1st or 2nd century. The most popular form is Anglicanism (known as Episcopalism in Scotland). Dating from the 16th-century Reformation, it regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed. The Head of the Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom, as the Supreme Governor. It has the status of established church in England. The World Christian Database estimated there were just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain in 2005,{{cite web|title=Global Anglicanism at a Crossroads|url=http://pewresearch.org/pubs/896/global-anglicanism-at-a-crossroads|publisher=PewResearch.org|access-date=15 August 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813045413/http://pewresearch.org/pubs/896/global-anglicanism-at-a-crossroads|archive-date=13 August 2011|date=19 June 2008}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. although only around one million regularly attend services. The second largest Christian practice is the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, which traces its history to the 6th century with Augustine of Canterbury and the Gregorian mission. It was the main religion for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents today, 4.5 million Catholics in England and Wales{{Cite news|title=People here 'must obey the laws of the land'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578212/People-here-must-obey-the-laws-of-the-land.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1578212/People-here-must-obey-the-laws-of-the-land.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | date=9 February 2008 | access-date=4 May 2010}}{{cbignore}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. and 750,000 in Scotland,{{cite web|title=Cardinal not much altered by his new job|url=http://living.scotsman.com/features/Cardinal-not-much-altered-by.2573781.jp|publisher=Living Scotsman|access-date=15 August 2011}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. although fewer than a million Catholics regularly attend mass.{{cite news|title=How many Catholics are there in Britain?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11297461|publisher=BBC|access-date=15 September 2010|date=15 September 2010}} Retrieved on 17 October 2011.

File:St. Mungos Cathedral 4.jpg, a meeting place of the Church of Scotland]]

The Church of Scotland, a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity, is the third most numerous on the island with around 2.1 million members.{{cite web|title=Analysis of Religion in the 2001 Census – Current Religion in Scotland|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/02/20757/53570|publisher=Scotland.gov.uk|access-date=15 August 2011|date=28 February 2005}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox, it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented by a Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley.{{cite web|title=The Methodist Church|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml|publisher=BBC.co.uk}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, also amongst tin miners in Cornwall.{{cite web|title=Methodism in Britain |url=http://www.goffsoakmethodistchurch.co.uk/page4.html |publisher=GoffsOakMethodistChurch.co.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131203811/http://www.goffsoakmethodistchurch.co.uk/page4.html |archive-date=31 January 2009 }} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. The Presbyterian Church of Wales, which follows Calvinistic Methodism, is the largest denomination in Wales. There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, the United Reformed Church (a union of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians), Unitarians.{{cite web|title=Cambridge History of Christianity |url=http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521815000&ss=exc |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721000044/http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521815000&ss=exc |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 July 2012 |publisher=Hugh McLeod }} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban.Dawkins, The Shakespeare Enigma, 343. He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and sacrificed to the pagan gods.Butler, Butler's Lives of the Saints, 141. In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of St Aidan as another patron saint of Britain.{{cite news|title=Cry God for Harry, Britain and... St Aidan |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/homegrown-holy-man-cry-god-for-harry-britain-and-st-aidan-814057.html |newspaper=The Independent |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023202402/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/homegrown-holy-man-cry-god-for-harry-britain-and-st-aidan-814057.html |archive-date=23 October 2012 |location=London |date=23 April 2008 |url-status=dead }} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. From Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria.

The three constituent countries of the United Kingdom have patron saints: Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively.{{cite web|title=United Kingdom – History of the Flag|url=http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-hist.html|publisher=FlagSpot.net}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. These two flags combined to form the basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. There are many other British saints. Some of the best known are Cuthbert, Columba, Patrick, Margaret, Edward the Confessor, Mungo, Thomas More, Petroc, Bede, and Thomas Becket.{{cite web|title=Saints|url=http://www.britsattheirbest.com/heroes_adventurers/h_saints.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109093749/http://www.britsattheirbest.com/heroes_adventurers/h_saints.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=9 November 2007|publisher=Brits at their Best}} Retrieved on 1 February 2009.

Numerous other religions are practised.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/religion/page/0,,818217,00.html |work=The Guardian |title=Guide to religions in the UK |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123210954/http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/page/0%2C%2C818217%2C00.html |archive-date=23 January 2011 }} Retrieved on 16  August 2011 The 2011 census recorded that Islam had around 2.7 million adherents (excluding Scotland with about 76,000).{{Cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/articles/religioninenglandandwales2011/2012-12-11|title = Religion in England and Wales 2011 – Office for National Statistics}} More than 1.4 million people (excluding Scotland's about 38,000) believe in Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism—religions that developed in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Judaism figured slightly more than Buddhism at the 2011 census, having 263,000 adherents (excluding Scotland's about 6000). Jews have inhabited Britain since 1070. However, those resident and open about their religion were expelled from England in 1290, replicated in some other Catholic countries of the era. Jews were permitted to re-establish settlement as of 1656, in the interregnum which was a peak of anti-Catholicism.{{cite web|title=From Expulsion (1290) to Readmission (1656): Jews and England |url=http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/history/350th-anniversary.pdf |publisher=Goldsmiths.ac.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626062306/http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/history/350th-anniversary.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2008 }} Retrieved on 1 February 2009. Most Jews in Great Britain have ancestors who fled for their lives, particularly from 19th century Lithuania and the territories occupied by Nazi Germany.{{cite web|title=Jews in Scotland |url=http://www.british-jewry.org.uk/britishjewry/geography/scotland.htm |publisher=British-Jewry.org.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050509134139/http://british-jewry.org.uk/britishjewry/geography/scotland.htm |archive-date=9 May 2005 }} Retrieved on 1 February 2009.

{{Portal|United Kingdom|Islands}}

• List of islands of England
• List of islands of Scotland
• List of islands of Wales

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

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{{Refend}}

{{sisterprojectlinks}}

• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/coast Coast] – the BBC explores the coast of Great Britain.
• [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles]

• [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=74946 Pathe travelogue, 1960, Journey through Britain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104111813/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=74946 |date=4 November 2011 }}
• [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=74948 Pathe newsreel, 1960, Know the British] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104202317/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=74948 |date=4 November 2011 }}
• [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=33400 Pathe newsreel, 1950, Festival of Britain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105020306/http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=33400 |date=5 November 2011 }}

{{British Isles}}

{{United Kingdom topics}}

{{World's largest islands}}

{{Authority control}}

Britain, Great

Category:British Isles

Category:Metropolitan or continental parts of states