An Introduction to Wales

General Facts

• Wales is a country within the United Kingdom, bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to the southwest.
• As of 2021, the population was approximately 3.2 million.
• Wales covers a total area of 21,218 square kilometers (8,192 sq mi) and has over 2,700 kilometers (1,680 mi) of coastline.
• The landscape is largely mountainous, with the highest peak being Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa).
• The capital and largest city is Cardiff.
• Both Welsh and English are official languages.

Etymology

• The names "Wales" and "Welsh" come from the Old English word "Wealh," derived from Proto-Germanic and the Roman term for Gauls, "Volcae".
• Anglo-Saxons used "Wealh" to refer to Britons.
• The Welsh name for themselves is "Cymry," and "Cymru" is the Welsh name for Wales, derived from the Brythonic word "combrogi" meaning "fellow-countrymen".
• Latinized forms such as Cambrian, Cambric, and Cambria are still used in names like the Cambrian Mountains.

History

• Wales was permanently settled after the last ice age.
• During the Bronze Age, the Great Orme was a major copper producer.
• The island developed a distinct Celtic culture by the time of the Roman invasion.
• The Romans called the iron age Celtic culture and their language "Britons".
• After the Romans withdrew, Britain split into various kingdoms which formed a post-Roman nation of Britons.
• Germanic Anglo-Saxon settlers gradually displaced the Britons' culture and language, isolating a group in the western peninsula, whom the English named "Welsh" and their land "Wallia".
• Medieval Wales remained divided into separate kingdoms, with coastal Viking/Norse settlements and Saxons settling inland
• In the 10th century, Hywel ap Cadell (Hywel Dda) formed the kingdom of Deheubarth and gained control over Gwynedd and Powys by 942.
• Hywel Dda codified Welsh law which was a foundation in the creation of the nation.
• By 1057, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn united all of Wales, becoming the only king to do so.
• The Norman invasion of England was followed by incursions into Wales, creating the Norman Welsh Marches.
• Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) compelled other Welsh princes to submit to him in 1216.
• In 1267, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was recognized as Prince of Wales by the English King Henry III in the Treaty of Montgomery.
• English victory in 1283 led to the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, ending Welsh independence.
• Wales was divided into the principality and the Marches.
• The Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr from 1400–1415 marked a significant effort to re-establish an independent Welsh state.
• Under Henry VIII, the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542 annexed Wales to England, granting the Welsh full citizenship and parliamentary representation within the English legal system.
• In 1707, the Act of Union created the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• The Industrial Revolution transformed Wales into an industrial society, marked by increased mining and population.
• Religious revivals led to non-conformism and influenced the political sphere.
• Strong Welsh working-class movements spurred events like the Merthyr Rising of 1831 and the Newport Rising of 1839.
• Welsh nationalism grew, leading to the formation of Plaid Cymru in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962.
• Devolution led to the creation of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) in 1998, responsible for devolved policy matters.

Government and Politics

• Wales is a country within the sovereign state of the United Kingdom.
• Formerly defined as a principality, it is now officially referred to as a country.
• There are 32 Welsh Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK House of Commons.
• The Wales Office, headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, is a UK government department responsible for Wales.
• Wales has a devolved, unicameral legislature known as the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) which holds devolved powers from the UK Parliament via a reserved powers model.
• For local government, Wales is divided into 22 council areas responsible for local services.
• The Government of Wales Act 1998 created a Welsh devolved assembly, the National Assembly for Wales, with the power to determine central government expenditure.
• The Government of Wales Act 2006 reformed the National Assembly for Wales.
• Following a referendum in 2011, the National Assembly gained law-making powers on devolved matters.
• In May 2020, the National Assembly was renamed "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament".
• Devolved responsibilities include agriculture, economic development, education, health, housing, local government, social services, tourism, transport, and the Welsh language.
• The Welsh Government promotes Welsh interests abroad.

Law

• Welsh Law was traditionally compiled around 930 by Hywel Dda and emphasized compensation for crimes rather than punishment.
• Welsh Law was replaced by English Law for criminal cases under the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, remaining in force for civil cases until the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542.
• The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided that laws applying to England would automatically apply to Wales unless stated otherwise.
• Since 1536, English law is considered a common law system.
• The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom heads the court system.
• In 2007, Wales became a legal unit in its own right.
• The Senedd can draft and approve laws outside the UK Parliamentary system.
• Since the 2011 referendum, the Senedd can pass primary legislation on subjects like health and education.
• Wales is served by four regional police forces: Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police, North Wales Police, and South Wales Police.
• There are five prisons in Wales, but no women’s prisons.

Geography and Natural History

• Wales is a mountainous country on the western side of central southern Great Britain.
• It is approximately 170 miles (270 km) north to south.
• The area of Wales is about 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi).
• Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in all other directions.
• The coastline of Wales is about 1,680 miles (2,700 km).
• There are over 50 islands off the Welsh mainland.
• The highest mountains are in Snowdonia (Eryri); Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) is the highest at 1,085 m (3,560 ft).
• The Welsh 3000s are 14 or 15 mountains over 3,000 feet (910 meters) high.
• The Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) are in the south
• The Cambrian Mountains are in Mid Wales.
• Wales has three national parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, and Pembrokeshire Coast (Arfordir Penfro).
• There are five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
• The Gower Peninsula was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1956.
• As of 2019, the coastline of Wales had 40 Blue Flag beaches, three Blue Flag marinas and one Blue Flag boat operator.
• The south and west coasts of Wales are frequently blasted by Atlantic westerlies/south-westerlies that have wrecked many vessels over the years.
• Coastal disasters include over 110 ships destroyed off the coast of Wales in 1859 and the Sea Empress oil spill in 1996.
• The first border between Wales and England was zonal, with the River Wye being the first accepted boundary.
• The Act of Union 1536 formed a linear border stretching from the mouth of the Dee to the mouth of the Wye.

Geology

• The Cambrian geological period is named after the Cambrian Mountains, where geologists first identified Cambrian remnants.
• In the mid-19th century, Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick established principles of stratigraphy and palaeontology based on Welsh geology.
• The Ordovician and Silurian periods are named after ancient Celtic tribes from this area.

Climate

• Wales is in the north temperate zone.
• It has a changeable, maritime climate.
• Welsh weather is often cloudy, wet, and windy.
• The highest maximum temperature was 37.1 °C (99 °F) at Hawarden, Flintshire on 18 July 2022.
• The lowest minimum temperature was −23.3 °C (−10 °F) at Rhayader on 21 January 1940.
• The maximum sunshine in a month was 354.3 hours at Dale Fort, Pembrokeshire in July 1955.
• The minimum sunshine in a month was 2.7 hours at Llwynon, Brecknockshire in January 1962.
• The maximum rainfall in a day was 211 millimetres (8.3 in) at Rhondda, Glamorgan, on 11 November 1929.
• The wettest spot averages 4,473 millimetres (176 in) of rain yearly at Crib Goch in Snowdonia, Gwynedd.

Flora and Fauna

• Wales hosts a variety of seabirds, including gannets, Manx shearwater, puffins, and razorbills.
• It supports upland-habitat birds like ravens and ring ouzels.
• Birds of prey include the merlin, hen harrier, and red kite.
• Larger mammals like brown bears, wolves, and wildcats died out during the Norman period.
• Mammals include shrews, voles, badgers, otters, stoats, weasels, hedgehogs, and fifteen species of bat.
• Feral goats can be found in Snowdonia.
• Beavers have been reintroduced in the Dyfi Valley.
• Approximately 2,500 disused coal tips are being studied by the Welsh Government.
• Marine animals in the waters off south-west Wales include basking sharks, Atlantic grey seals, and dolphins.
• Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion are important areas for bottlenose dolphins.
• The gwyniad freshwater fish is unique to Wales, found only in Bala Lake.
• Shellfish include cockles, mussels, and periwinkles.
• The north facing high grounds of Snowdonia support pre-glacial flora like the Snowdon lily.
• Wales has several plant species not found elsewhere in the UK.

Economy

• The Welsh economy has transitioned from agricultural to industrial to post-industrial.
• In 2018, Wales's GDP was £75 billion, a 3.3% increase from 2017.
• GDP per head in Wales in 2018 was £23,866, a 2.9% increase on 2017
• In the three months to December 2017, 72.7% of working-age adults were employed.
• For the 2018–19 fiscal year, the Welsh fiscal deficit accounts for 19.4% of Wales's estimated GDP.
• In 2019, Wales was a net exporter of electricity.
• By 2021, renewable sources met more than half the country's energy needs.
• Wales contributes to UK items that do not directly benefit Wales.
• Wales pays also more in military costs than most similar-sized countries.
• From the mid-19th century until the post-war era, coal mining and export was the dominant industry, peaking in 1913.
• Cardiff was once the largest coal-exporting port in the world.
• The Great Depression devastated Wales due to its dependence on coal and steel.
• Since the mid-1970s, the Welsh economy has undergone restructuring.
• Wales attracted foreign direct investment in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
• Livestock farming is common due to poor-quality soil.
• Tourism is important to the rural economy.
• Wales has relatively few high value-added employment in finance and research and development.
• In June 2008, Wales was recognized as the first Fairtrade nation.
• The pound sterling is the currency of Wales.
• During 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic affected all sectors of the economy.

Transport

• The M4 motorway links South Wales to London.
• The A55 expressway runs along the North Wales coast.
• The main north-south Wales link is the A470.
• Rail transport includes the Wales & Borders franchise.
• Beeching cuts means the network is geared for east-west travel.
• Services between north and south Wales run via English cities.
• Cardiff Airport is the international airport of Wales.
• Wales has four commercial ferry ports.

Education

• Formal education before the 18th century was mainly for the elite.
• Griffith Jones introduced the circulating schools in the 1730s.
• In the early 19th century, English became the usual language of instruction.
• The University College of Wales opened in Aberystwyth in 1872.
• The Welsh Intermediate Education Act was in 1889.
• A Welsh Department for the Board of Education followed in 1907.
• A resurgence in Welsh-language schools occurred in the latter half of the 20th century.
• Welsh is a compulsory subject in all state schools.
• Welsh-medium higher education is supported by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
• In 2021–2022, there were 1,470 maintained schools in Wales.

Healthcare

• Public healthcare in Wales is provided by NHS Wales (GIG Cymru).
• The National Health Service Act 1946 originally structured the formation of the NHS structure for England and Wales.
• Powers over NHS in Wales came under the Secretary of State for Wales in 1969.
• NHS Wales came under the Welsh Assembly in 1999.
• Clinical work has been concentrated in newer, larger district hospitals.
• There were seventeen district hospitals in Wales in 2006.
• NHS Wales directly employs over 90,000 staff.
• The National Survey for Wales in 2021–22 reported that 72 per cent of adults surveyed had good or very good general health.

Demography

• The population of Wales doubled between 1801 and 1851, then doubled again by 1911.
• Migration into Wales contributed to the increase during the Industrial Revolution.
• The population fell in the early 1980s due to net migration out of Wales.
• Since the 1980s, net migration has generally been inward.
• The population of Wales in 2021 was 3,107,500, an increase of 1.4 per cent over 2011.
• Wales accounted for 5.2 per cent of the population of England and Wales in 2021.
• Wales has seven cities: Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Wrexham, Bangor, St Asaph, and St Davids.

Language

• Welsh is an official language in Wales as legislated by the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011.
• Both Welsh and English are also official languages of the Senedd.
• The proportion of Welsh speakers fell from just under 50 per cent in 1901 to 18.9 per cent in 1981.
• In the 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 17.8 per cent (538,300 people).
• English is spoken by almost all people in Wales.
• Code-switching is common in all parts of Wales.
• Polish is the most common main language in Wales after English and Welsh.

Religion

• Christianity has dominated religious life in Wales for over 1,400 years.
• The 2021 census recorded that 46.5 per cent had "No religion".
• The largest religion in Wales is Christianity, with 43.6 per cent of the population describing themselves as Christian in the 2021 census.
• The patron saint of Wales is Saint David (Dewi Sant).
• The Church in Wales is a member of the Anglican Communion.
• The second largest attending faith in Wales is Roman Catholic.
• Non-Christian religions are small in Wales, making up approximately 2.7 per cent of the population.
• Islam is the largest non-Christian religion.
• There are also communities of Hindus and Sikhs, mainly in the south Wales cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea.

Ethnicity

• The 2021 census showed that 93.8 per cent of the population of Wales identified as "White".
• The second-highest ethnicity in 2021 was "Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British" at 2.9 per cent of the population.
• 5.3 per cent of households in Wales were multiple ethnic group households.
• In 2021, the first statue of a named, non-fictional woman outdoors was raised for Wales's first black headteacher, Betty Campbell.
• In 2023, Patti Flynn (a contemporary of Shirley Bassey, both of Tiger Bay, Cardiff) became the first black Welsh woman to be awarded a purple plaque.
• In 2024, Vaughan Gething was elected First Minister of Wales becoming the first black head of government in Europe having previously served as Secretary for Finance.

National Identity

• The 2021 census showed that 55.2 per cent identified as "Welsh only" and 8.1 per cent identified as "Welsh and British".
• The Welsh Annual Population Survey showed that the proportion of people who identified as Welsh versus another identity was 62.3 per cent in 2022, compared to 69.2 per cent in 2001.
• A 2022 YouGov poll found that 67 per cent considered themselves Welsh to some degree.

Culture

• Wales has its own language, customs, holidays, and music.
• There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales.

Mythology

• Remnants of native Celtic mythology were passed down orally.
• Surviving material is in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Black Book of Carmarthen and the White Book of Rhydderch.
• These texts include the earliest forms of the Arthurian legend.

Literature

• Wales has one of the oldest unbroken literary traditions in Europe.
• Early Welsh verse by poets Taliesin and Aneirin survives in medieval versions.
• Renaissance scholars such as William Salesbury and John Davies brought humanist ideals.
• In 1588 William Morgan became the first person to translate the Bible into Welsh.
• Lady Charlotte Guest translated the Mabinogion into English.
• Daniel Owen wrote Rhys Lewis, the first novel written in the Welsh language.
• Dylan Thomas was one of the most notable and popular Welsh writers of the 20th century, known for works such as Under Milk Wood.
• Major writers in the second half of the 20th century include Emyr Humphreys and Raymond Williams.

Museums and Libraries

• Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales operates at seven sites with free entry.
• The National Library of Wales houses collections of printed works, art, and maps.

Visual arts

• Works of Celtic art have been found in Wales.
• The 11th-century Ricemarch Psalter shows a late Insular style influenced by Vikings.
• Richard Wilson (1714–1782) is arguably the first major British landscapist.
• The Cardiff School of Art opened in 1865.
• Betws-y-Coed became a popular centre for artists.
• Augustus John and his sister Gwen John lived mostly in London and Paris.
• Notable potteries include the Ewenny Pottery, Cambrian Pottery, and Nantgarw Pottery.

National Symbols and Identity

• Wales is regarded as a modern Celtic nation which contributes to its national identity, with Welsh artists regularly appearing at Celtic festivals.
• The red dragon symbolizes national identity and pride.
• The dragon is first referenced as a symbol of the people in the Historia Brittonum.
• The red dragon emblem has been used since the reign of Cadwaladr, around 655 AD, and appears on the national flag.
• The banner of Owain Glyndŵr is associated with Welsh nationhood.
• The Prince of Wales's feathers is also used in Wales.
• Saint David's Day is celebrated on 1 March.
• "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (Land of My Fathers) is the national anthem of Wales.
• "Cymru am byth" ("Wales forever") is a popular Welsh motto.

Sport

• More than 50 national governing bodies regulate and organise their sports in Wales.
• Wales is represented at major world sporting events.
• At the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete alongside those of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland as part of a Great Britain team.
• Wales has hosted events like the 1958 Commonwealth Games and the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
• Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity.
• The Wales national rugby union team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and has also competed in every Rugby World Cup, hosting the tournament in 1999.
• Welsh regional teams play in the United Rugby Championship, the Heineken Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
• Wales has had its own football league, the Welsh Premier League, since 1992.
• Wales has produced a considerable number of footballers who have played at international level.
• In international cricket, Wales and England field a single representative team controlled by the ECB.
• Glamorgan County Cricket Club is the only Welsh participant in the England and Wales County Championship.

Media

• Wales became the UK's first digital television nation in 2010.
• BBC Cymru Wales is the national broadcaster.
• ITV has a Welsh-orientated service branded ITV Cymru Wales.
• S4C broadcasts exclusively in Welsh.
• BBC Radio Cymru is the BBC's Welsh-language radio service.
• The Western Mail is Wales's only print national daily newspaper.
• Y Cymro is a Welsh-language newspaper, published weekly.
• The Books Council of Wales promotes Welsh literature.
• Wales's main publishing houses include Gomer Press, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, and Honno.

Cuisine

• Traditional Welsh dishes include laverbread, bara brith, cawl, and Welsh cakes.
• Chicken tikka masala is the country's favourite dish.

Performing Arts

• Wales is "the land of song," known for solo artists, male voice choirs, and harpists.
• The National Eisteddfod is the country's main performance festival.
• Traditional instruments include the telyn deires, fiddle, crwth, and pibgorn.
• The BBC National Orchestra of Wales performs in Wales and internationally.
• The Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre.
• A recognised Welsh tradition of theatre emerged during the 18th century.
• Traditional dances include Welsh folk dancing and clog dancing.