Great Britain, the UK and the British Isles
The Union Flag has no Welsh dragon, Team GB includes Northern Ireland, and Ireland isn't keen on 'British Isles'. Here's how three names got tangled up.
Published
Quick Facts
- Great Britain
- The island containing England, Scotland and Wales
- United Kingdom
- The country made up of Great Britain plus Northern Ireland
- British Isles
- A geographical grouping: Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and thousands of smaller islands
- First 'King of Great Britain'
- James VI and I, who adopted the style in 1604
- Kingdom of Great Britain created
- 1707, through the Acts of Union joining England and Scotland
- Name 'Northern Ireland' added
- 1927, after the Irish Free State left in 1922
- Union Flag first combined
- 1606 (crosses of St George and St Andrew); St Patrick's cross added in 1801
- Country codes
- GB is the UK's ISO two-letter country code, but UK replaced GB as its international vehicle identifier on 28 September 2021
Three names, three different things
Start with the map. Great Britain is an island, the biggest in Europe. England, Scotland and Wales sit on it. The United Kingdom is a country, and it covers that island plus Northern Ireland. Its full name, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is more or less a list of its ingredients. The British Isles is bigger again, and it is geography rather than politics. It takes in Great Britain, the whole island of Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and a scatter of smaller islands. The Republic of Ireland is in the British Isles but is not in the UK, and it has never been part of Great Britain. So you can be in Britain and not in the British Isles' other big island, or in the British Isles and not in the UK. Nearly all the confusion comes from people using the three names as if they meant the same thing.
Why 'Great'? Blame Brittany
The word Britain comes from the Latin Britannia. The Greek explorer Pytheas, who sailed north around 325 BC, described the islands in terms that gave later writers the name. 'Great' was originally a way of telling the big island apart from Brittany, the part of France settled by Britons, which was known as 'Little Britain'. It became a political label in 1604, when James VI of Scotland, who had become James I of England the year before, proclaimed himself King of Great Britain. The two crowns shared a monarch, but there were still two separate kingdoms and two parliaments. Those parliaments merged in 1707. The Acts of Union created the Kingdom of Great Britain, with Queen Anne on the throne.
How Ireland joined, then half-left
In 1801 another Act of Union brought Ireland in, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish Free State separated in 1922 after the War of Independence and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and six counties in the north-east stayed in the UK. The name was not tidied up straight away. The official title United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland remained until 1927, when it changed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. That is why Northern Ireland sits at the end of the name like an afterthought. It is a reminder that the UK has been rearranged before, and not only on paper.
Why the Union Flag has no Welsh dragon
The Union Flag is a stack of saints. In 1606 the red cross of St George for England was layered with the white-and-blue saltire of St Andrew for Scotland. In 1801, when Ireland joined, a red diagonal cross associated with St Patrick was added. Wales isn't there because it was not a separate kingdom by then. Henry VIII's Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542 had legally joined Wales to England, so when the flag was designed in 1606 it was treated as part of the English side. The Welsh dragon is a famous flag in its own right and has been Wales's official flag since 1959, but it was never part of the Union Flag. The flag's asymmetry is also deliberate. St Andrew's white diagonals sit slightly above St Patrick's red ones on the side nearest the flagpole, so neither saint is shown out of position.
Four nations, one passport
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all treated as nations within the UK, and daily life shows the differences. Scotland has kept its own legal system, its own church traditions and its own education system. Since devolution in 1998–99, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have each had their own elected body making decisions on matters such as health and education. Sport is where the names collide most noticeably. In international football, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland all have separate teams. In rugby, England, Scotland and Wales compete separately, while Ireland fields an all-island team representing both Northern Ireland and the Republic. In the Olympics, athletes from the UK come together as Team GB, officially Great Britain and Northern Ireland, so the shorthand quietly leaves the second half out. Passports, stamps and flags show the UK as one state, but ask people in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester where they're from, and the answers will differ.
The name some people avoid
'British Isles' is the most delicate of the three. The term goes back centuries and is still common in geography, weather forecasting and natural history. In Ireland, though, many people dislike it because it can sound as if the whole island belongs to Britain. The Irish government does not use it officially, and prefers phrases such as 'Britain and Ireland' or 'these islands'. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands add another twist. They're in the British Isles and have the Crown as head of state, but they are not part of the UK. They run their own affairs, with their own parliaments and laws. The short version: Britain is an island, the UK is a country, and the British Isles is a map label that not everyone is happy with.
Notable people
- James VI and I
- Henry VIII
- Queen Anne
- Pytheas
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