Everything about Cymru totally explained
Wales (; pronounced ) is a
constituent country of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is situated in the west of mainland
Britain, with
England inland to its east and the
Irish Sea and
Atlantic Ocean to the west. Wales has a population estimated at three million and is a bilingual country, with
English the language spoken by the majority, and
Welsh the native tongue.
Originally (and traditionally) one of the
Celtic nations, a distinct
Welsh national identity emerged in the early 5th century, after the
Roman withdrawal from Britain. The Edwardian conquest in the
13th Century brought about centuries of English occupation, and Wales was eventually annexed to the English legal system with the formation of the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, creating the legal entity known today as
England and Wales. Distinctive
Welsh politics developed in the 19th century eventually leading to a
devolved legislature and
government in
1999, with the formation of the
National Assembly for Wales in
Cardiff Bay. Today, Wales continues to share
political and
legal structures to varying degrees with the United Kingdom, while now maintaining more direct ties with various international bodies
and the business world.
The Assembly Government has also increased its direct links with the
European Union, although foreign policy remains the
reserved responsibility of the
UK Government.
The capital
Cardiff (
Caerdydd), located in the more urbanised South East, is Wales' largest city with 317,500 people.. Cardiff has been a prosperous city since the
Victorian era, when it was the biggest coal port in the world.
Two-thirds of the Welsh population lives in the southeast, with another concentration in the northeast.
Wales is known for its divergent and often spectacular landscape,
and
tourism is popular throughout the land.
From the late
19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", attributable in part to the revival of the
eisteddfod tradition. Historically, the Welsh tradition for storytelling was an oral one, handed-down over the generations. Vocal performers - actors, singers and speakers - are celebrated in Wales today, often attaining international success.
Wales has in recent years undergone a cultural revival, and the rapidly-developing capital is the home of the
largest media centre in the UK outside of
London.
Wales is sometimes referred to as a
Principality.
Llywelyn the Great founded the
Principality of Wales in 1216, and following the
Edwardian Conquest,
Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored its independence in the early
15th century. Traditionally the
British Royal Family have used the
courtesy title '
Prince of Wales' for the
Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch.
Etymology
The English name "Wales"
originates from the
Germanic word
Walha, meaning "foreigner," probably derived from the term
Volcae. The term also appears in the "-wall" of
Cornwall. The Welsh call their country
Cymru in the
Welsh language, which most likely meant "compatriots" in
Old Welsh. The name competed for a long time in
Welsh literature with the older name
Brythoniaid (
Brythons). Only after 1100 did the former become as common as the latter; both terms applied originally not only to the inhabitants of what is now called Wales, but in general to speakers of the
Brythonic language and its descendants, many of whom lived in "
the Old North": the placenames Cymru (Welsh for Wales) and
Cumbria are of the same origin. It was in the 4th century during the Roman occupation that
Christianity was introduced to Wales.
After the
Roman withdrawal from Britain in 410, much of the
lowlands were overrun by various
Germanic tribes. However,
Gwynedd,
Powys,
Dyfed and Seisyllg, Morgannwg, and
Gwent emerged as independent Welsh
successor states. They endured, in part because of favourable geographical features such as uplands, mountains, and rivers and a resilient society that didn't collapse with the end of the Roman
civitas.
» :: The Saxons at anchor on the sea always
:: The Cymry venerable until doomsday shall be supreme
» :: They won't seek books nor be covetous of poets
:: The presage of this isle will be no other than this.
» :::[ from
The Omen of Prydein The Great, Book of Taliesin VI ]
This tenacious survival by the
Romano-Britons and their descendants in the western kingdoms was to become the foundation of what we now know as Wales. With the loss of the lowlands, England's kingdoms of
Mercia and
Northumbria, and later
Wessex, wrestled with Powys, Gwent, and Gwynedd to define the frontier between the two peoples.
Having lost much of the
West Midlands to
Mercia in the 6th century and early 7th century, a resurgent late 7th century Powys checked Mercian advancement.
Aethelbald of Mercia, looking to defend recently acquired lands, had built
Wat's Dyke. According to John Davies, this endeavour may have been with Powys king
Elisedd ap Gwylog's own agreement, however, for this boundary, extending north from the valley of the
River Severn to the
Dee estuary, gave
Oswestry (Welsh:
Croesoswallt) to Powys. King
Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultative initiative when he created a larger earth work, now known as
Offa's Dyke (Welsh:
Clawdd Offa). Davies wrote of
Cyril Fox's study of
Offa's Dyke:
In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan, the dyke veers to the east, leaving the fertile slops in the hands of the Welsh; near Rhiwabod, it was designed to ensure that Cadell ap Brochwel retained possession of the Fortress of Penygadden." And for Gwent Offa had the dyke built "on the eastern crest of the gorge, clearly with the intention of recognizing that the River Wye and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of Gwent. |
Offa's Dyke largely remained the frontier between the Welsh and English, though the Welsh would recover by the 12th century the area between the
Dee and the Conwy known then as the
Perfeddwlad. By the 8th century the eastern borders with the
Anglo-Saxons had broadly been set.
Following the successful examples of
Cornwall in 722 and
Brittany in 865, the Britons of Wales made their peace with the
Vikings and asked the Norsemen to help the Britons fight the
Anglo-Saxons of
Mercia to prevent an Anglo-Saxon conquest of Wales. In 878 AD the Britons of Wales unified with the Vikings of Denmark to destroy an Anglo-Saxon army of Mercians. Like Cornwall in 722, this decisive defeating of the Saxons gave Wales some decades of peace from Anglo-Saxon attack. In 1063, the Welsh prince
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn made an alliance with Norwegian Vikings against Mercia which, as in 878 AD was successful, and the Saxons of Mercia defeated. As with Cornwall and
Brittany, Viking aggression towards the Saxons/Franks ended any chance of the Anglo-Saxons/Franks conquering their
Celtic neighbours.
Medieval Wales
The southern and eastern lands lost to English settlement became known in Welsh as
Lloegyr (Modern Welsh
Lloegr), which may have referred to the kingdom of
Mercia originally, and which came to refer to
England as a whole. The Germanic tribes who now dominated these lands were invariably called
Saeson, meaning "
Saxons". The
Anglo-Saxons, in turn, labelled the
Romano-British as
Walha, meaning 'foreigner' or 'stranger'. The Welsh continued to call themselves
Brythoniaid (Brythons or Britons) well into the
Middle Ages, though the first use of
Cymru and
y Cymry is found as early as 633 in the
Gododdin of
Aneirin. In
Armes Prydain, written in about 930, the words
Cymry and
Cymro are used as often as 15 times. It wasn't until about the 12th century however, that
Cymry began to overtake
Brythoniaid in their writings.
From the year 800 onwards, a series of dynastic marriages led to
Rhodri Mawr's (r. 844-877) inheritance of
Gwynedd and
Powys. His sons in turn would found three principal dynasties (
Aberffraw for Gwynedd,
Dinefwr for
Deheubarth, and
Mathrafal for Powys), each competing for
hegemony over the others. Rhodri's grandson
Hywel Dda (r.900-950) founded Deheubarth out of his maternal and paternal inheritances of
Dyfed and
Seisyllwg, oust the
Aberffraw dynasty from Gwynedd and Powys, and codify
Welsh law in 930, finally going on a
pilgrimage to
Rome (and allegedly having the Law Codes blessed by the
Pope).
Maredudd ab Owain (r.986-999) of Deheubarth (Hywel's grandson) would, (again) temporarily oust the Aberffraw line for control of Gwynedd and Powys. Maredudd's great-grandson (through his daughter Princess
Angharad)
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (r.1039-1063) would conquer his cousins' realms from his base in Powys, and even extend his authority into England.
Owain Gwynedd (1100-1170) of the Aberffraw line was the first Welsh ruler to use the title
princeps Wallensium (prince of the Welsh), a title of substance given his victory on the
Berwyn Mountains, according to historian
John Davies. The Aberffraw dynasty would surge to pre-eminence with Owain Gwynedd's grandson
Llywelyn Fawr (the Great) (b.1173-1240), wrestling concessions out of the
Magna Carta in 1215 and receiving the
fealty of other Welsh lords in 1216 at the council at
Aberdyfi, becoming the first
Prince of Wales. His grandson
Llywelyn II also secured the recognition of the title
Prince of Wales from
Henry III with the
Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. Later however, a succession of disputes, including the imprisonment of Llywelyn's wife
Eleanor, daughter of
Simon de Montfort, culminated in the first invasion by
Edward I. As a result of military defeat, the
Treaty of Aberconwy exacted Llywelyn's fealty to England in 1277. Peace was short lived and with the 1282
Edwardian conquest the rule of the Welsh princes permanently ended. With Llywelyn's death and his brother prince
Dafydd's execution, the few remaining
Welsh lords did homage for their lands to
Edward I. Llywelyn's head was then carried through London on a spear; his baby daughter
Gwenllian was locked in the
priory at
Sempringham, where she remained until her death fifty four years later.
To help maintain his dominance, Edward constructed a series of great stone
castles.
Beaumaris,
Caernarfon, and
Conwy were built mainly to overshadow the Welsh royal home and headquarters
Garth Celyn,
Aber Garth Celyn, on the north coast of Gwynedd.
There was no major uprising except that led by
Owain Glyndŵr a century later, against
Henry IV of England. In 1404 Owain was reputedly crowned
Prince of Wales in the presence of emissaries from
France,
Spain and
Scotland; he went on to hold parliamentary assemblies at several Welsh towns, including
Machynlleth. The rebellion was ultimately to founder, however, and Owain went into hiding in 1412, with peace being more or less restored in Wales by 1415.
Although English conquest of Wales took place under the 1284
Statute of Rhuddlan, a formal Union didn't occur until 1536, shortly after which Welsh law, which continued to be used in Wales after the conquest, was fully replaced by English law under the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. Wales remains the largest
principality in the world.
Nationalist revival
In the 20th century, Wales saw a revival in its national status.
Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925, seeking greater autonomy or independence from the rest of the
UK. In 1955, the term
England and Wales became common for describing the area to which English law applied, and
Cardiff was proclaimed as
capital city. In 1962 the
Welsh Language Society (
Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) was formed in response to fears that the language might soon die out. Nationalism grew, particularly following the flooding of the
Tryweryn valley in 1965, drowning the village of
Capel Celyn to create a
reservoir supplying water to
Liverpool. In 1966 the
Carmarthen Parliamentary seat was won by Plaid Cymru at a by-election, their first Parliamentary seat. A terror campaign was waged for a short period by the
Free Wales Army and
Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru (MAC - Welsh Defence Movement). In the years leading up to the investiture of
Prince Charles as
Prince of Wales in 1969, these groups were responsible for a number of bomb blasts destroying water pipes and tax and other offices. In 1967, the
Wales and Berwick Act 1746 was repealed for Wales, and a legal definition of Wales, and of the boundary with England was stated.
A referendum on the creation of an assembly for Wales in 1979 (see
Wales referendum, 1979) led to a large majority for the "no" vote. However, in 1997 a referendum on the same issue secured a "yes", although by a very narrow majority. The
National Assembly for Wales (
Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was set up in 1999 (as a consequence of the
Government of Wales Act 1998) and possesses the power to determine how the central government budget for Wales is spent and administered (although the UK parliament reserves the right to set limits on the powers of the Welsh Assembly). The 1998 Act was amended by the
Government of Wales Act 2006 which enhanced the Assembly's powers, giving it legislative powers akin to the
Scottish Parliament and
Northern Ireland Assembly. Following the 2007 Assembly election, the One Wales Government was formed under a coalition agreement between
Plaid Cymru and the
Welsh Labour Party, under that agreement, a convention is due to be established to discuss further enhancing Wales' legislative and financial autonomy.
Politics
The head of state in Wales, a constituent part of the United Kingdom, is the
British monarch, currently
Queen Elizabeth II (since 1952). Executive power is derived by the Queen, and exercised by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom at
Westminster, with some powers devolved to the
National Assembly for Wales in
Cardiff. The United Kingdom Parliament retains responsibility for passing
primary legislation in Wales. The National Assembly has regulatory authority over laws passed that are applicable to Wales, and has limited power to vary these by
secondary legislation. The National Assembly isn't a sovereign authority, and the UK Parliament could, in theory, overrule or even abolish it at any time. However, its powers are set to increase as the
Government of Wales Act 2006 will allow it to speed up the passage of 'Assembly Measures'.
The National Assembly was first established in 1998 under the
Government of Wales Act. There are 60 members of the Assembly, known as "
Assembly Members (AM)". Forty of the AMs are elected under the
First Past the Post system, with the other 20 elected via the
Additional Member System via regional lists in 5 different regions. The largest party elects the
First Minister of Wales, who acts as the head of government. The
Welsh Assembly Government is the
executive arm, and the Assembly has delegated most of its powers to the Assembly Government. The new Assembly Building designed by
Lord Rogers was opened by
The Queen on
St David's Day (March 1) 2006.
The current First Minister of Wales is
Rhodri Morgan (since 2000), of the
Welsh Labour party, with 26 of 60 seats. After the
National Assembly for Wales election, 2007 Welsh Labour and
Plaid Cymru; The Party of Wales, which favours Welsh independence and separation from the United Kingdom entered into a
coalition partnership to form a stable government with the "historic"
One Wales agreement. As the second largest party in the Assembly with 15 out of 60 seats,
Plaid Cymru is currently led by
Ieuan Wyn Jones, now the
Deputy First Minister of Wales. The
presiding officer of the Assembly is
Plaid Cymru member
Lord Elis-Thomas. Other parties include the
Conservative Party, currently the
loyal opposition with 12 seats, and the
Liberal Democrats with six seats. The "LibDems" had previously formed part of a coalition government with Labour in the first Assembly. There is one independent member.
In the
British House of Commons, Wales is represented by 40
MPs (out of a total of 646) in
the Welsh constituencies. Currently,
Welsh Labour represents 29 of the 40 seats, the Liberal Democrats hold four seats, Plaid Cymru three and the Conservatives three. A
Secretary of State for Wales sits in the UK cabinet and is responsible for representing matters that pertain to Wales. The
Wales Office is a department of the United Kingdom government, responsible for Wales. The current Secretary of State for Wales is
Paul Murphy, who replaced
Peter Hain on 24 January 2008 over an investigation on undeclared donations.
Law
England fully annexed Wales under the
Laws in Wales Act 1535, in the reign of
King Henry VIII. Prior to that
Welsh Law had survived
de facto after the conquest up to the 15th century in areas remote from direct English control. The
Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided that all laws that applied to England would automatically apply to Wales (and
Berwick-upon-Tweed, a town located on the Anglo-Scottish border) unless the law explicitly stated otherwise. This act, with regard to Wales, was repealed in 1967. However, Wales and England, as part of the legal entity
England and Wales, share the same legal system — except for a few changes to accommodate the autonomy recently afforded to Wales. In this sense,
English law is the law of Wales.
English law is regarded as a
common law system, with no major
codification of the law, and legal
precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. The
court system is headed by the
House of Lords which is the highest court of appeal in the land for criminal and civil cases (although this is due to be replaced by a
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom). The Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales is the highest
court of first instance as well as an
appellate court. The three divisions are the
Court of Appeal; the
High Court of Justice and the
Crown Court. Minor cases are heard by the
Magistrates' Courts or the
County Court.
Following
devolution in 2006, the
Welsh Assembly has authority to draft and approve some laws outside of the UK
Parliamentary system to meet the specific needs of Wales. Under powers conferred by
Legislative Competency Orders agreed by all parliamentary stakeholders, it's able to pass laws known as
Assembly Measures in relation to
specific fields, such as health and education. As such, Assembly Measures are a subordinate form of
primary legislation, lacking the scope of UK-wide
Acts of Parliament, but able to be passed without the approval of the UK parliament or Royal Assent for each 'act'. Through this primary legislation, the
Welsh Assembly Government can then also draft more specific
secondary legislation. With devolution, the ancient and historic Wales and Chester court circuit was also disbanded and a separate Welsh court circuit was created to allow for any Measures passed by the Assembly.
Principal areas
The traditional counties of Wales have changed over the years. For the purposes of local government, Wales was divided into 22 council areas in 1996. These "
unitary authorities" are responsible for the provision of all local government services.
There are five cities in Wales:
Bangor,
Cardiff (the capital),
Newport,
St David's and
Swansea.
Unitary authorities of Wales
Areas are Counties, unless marked * (for Cities) or † (for County Boroughs). Welsh language forms are given in parentheses, where they differ from the English.Geography
Wales is located on a
peninsula in central-west
Great Britain. Its area,
the size of Wales, is about 20,779 km² (8,023 square miles - about the same size as
Massachusetts,
Slovenia or
El Salvador and about a quarter of the size of
Scotland). It is about 274 km (170 miles)
north-
south and 97 km (60 miles)
east-
west. Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in the other three directions: the
Môr Hafren (Bristol Channel) to the south,
St. George's Channel to the west, and the
Irish Sea to the north. Altogether, Wales has over 1,200 km (750 miles) of coastline. There are several
islands off the Welsh mainland, the largest being
Ynys Môn (Anglesey) in the northwest.
The main population and industrial areas are in
South Wales, consisting of the cities of
Cardiff (
Caerdydd),
Swansea (
Abertawe) and
Newport (
Casnewydd) and surrounding areas, with another significant population in the north-east around
Wrexham (
Wrecsam).
Much of Wales' diverse landscape is mountainous, particularly in the north and central regions. The mountains were shaped during the last
ice age, the
Devensian glaciation. The highest mountains in Wales are in
Snowdonia (
Eryri), and include
Snowdon (
Yr Wyddfa), which, at 1085 m (3,560 ft) is the highest peak in Wales. The 14 (or possibly 15) Welsh mountains over 3,000 feet (914 m) high are known collectively as the
Welsh 3000s. The
Brecon Beacons (
Bannau Brycheiniog) are in the south (highest point
Pen-y-Fan 886 m (2,907 ft)), and are joined by the
Cambrian Mountains in
Mid Wales, the latter name being given to the earliest geological period of the
Paleozoic era, the
Cambrian.
In the mid 19th century, two prominent
geologists,
Roderick Murchison and
Adam Sedgwick, used their studies of the
geology of Wales to establish certain principles of
stratigraphy and
palaeontology. After much dispute, the next two periods of the Paleozoic era, the
Ordovician and
Silurian, were named after ancient
Celtic tribes from this area. The older rocks underlying the
Cambrian rocks were referred to as
Pre-cambrian.
Wales has three
National Parks:
Snowdonia,
Brecon Beacons and
Pembrokeshire Coast. It also has four
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. These areas include
Anglesey, the
Clwydian Range, the
Gower peninsula and the
Wye Valley. The Gower peninsula was the first area in the whole of the
United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1956.
Along with its Celtic cousins in
Cornwall, the coastline of South and West Wales has more miles of
Heritage Coast than anywhere else. The coastline of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, the
Gower peninsula,
Pembrokeshire,
Carmarthenshire, and
Ceredigion is particularly wild and impressive. Gower, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and
Cardigan Bay all have clean blue water, white sand beaches and impressive marine life. Despite this scenic splendour the coast of Wales has a dark side; the south and west coasts of Wales, along with the Irish and Cornish coasts, are frequently blasted by huge
Atlantic westerlies/south westerlies that, over the years, have sunk and wrecked many vessels. On the night of October 25, 1859, 114 ships were destroyed off the coast of Wales when a hurricane blew in from the Atlantic; Cornwall and
Ireland also had a huge number of fatalities on its coastline from shipwrecks that night. Wales has the somewhat unenviable reputation, along with Cornwall, Ireland and
Brittany, of having per square mile, some of the highest
shipwreck rates in
Europe. The shipwreck situation was particularly bad during the industrial era when ships bound for Cardiff got caught up in Atlantic gales and were decimated by "the cruel sea".
Like Cornwall, Brittany and Ireland, the clean, clear waters of South-west Wales of Gower, Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay attract marine visitors including
basking sharks, Atlantic
grey seals, leatherback
turtles,
dolphins,
porpoises,
jellyfish,
crabs and
lobsters. Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion in particular are recognised as an area of international importance for
Bottlenose dolphins, and
New Quay in the middle of Cardigan Bay has the only summer residence of bottle nosed dolphins in the whole of the U.K.
The modern border between Wales and England was largely defined in the 16th century, based on
medieval feudal boundaries. The boundary line (which very roughly follows
Offa's Dyke up to 40 miles (64 km) of the northern coast) separates
Knighton from its railway station, virtually cuts off
Church Stoke from the rest of Wales, and slices straight through the village of
Llanymynech (where a pub actually straddles the line).
The
Seven Wonders of Wales is a list in
doggerel verse of seven geographic and cultural landmarks in Wales probably composed in the late 18th century under the influence of tourism from England. All the "wonders" are in north Wales:
Snowdon (the highest mountain), the
Gresford bells (the peal of bells in the
medieval church of
All Saints at
Gresford), the
Llangollen bridge (built in 1347 over the
River Dee,
Afon Dyfrdwy),
St Winefride's Well (a
pilgrimage site at
Holywell,
Treffynnon) in
Flintshire), the Wrexham (
Wrecsam)
steeple (16th century tower of
St. Giles Church in
Wrexham), the
Overton Yew trees (ancient
yew trees in the churchyard of
St. Mary's at
Overton-on-Dee) and
Pistyll Rhaeadr (Wales' tallest
waterfall, at ). The wonders are part of the rhyme:
» Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple,
Snowdon's mountain without its people, » Overton yew trees, St Winefride's Wells,
Llangollen bridge and Gresford bells.
Climate
Highest maximum temperature: 35.2 °C (95.4 °F) at Hawarden Bridge, Flintshire on 2 August 1990.
Lowest minimum temperature: -23.3 °C (-10 °F) at Rhayader, Radnorshire on 21 January 1940. (External Link
)
Maximum number of hours of sunshine in a month: 354.3 hours at Dale Fort, Pembrokeshire in July 1955.
Minimum number of hours of sunshine in a month: 2.7 hours at Llwynon, Brecknockshire in January 1962. (External Link)
Maximum rainfall in a day (0900 UTC - 0900 UTC): 211 mm (8.30 inches) at Rhondda, Glamorgan, on 11 November 1929. (External Link)
Economy
Parts of Wales have been heavily industrialised since the 18th century and the early Industrial Revolution. Coal, copper, iron, silver, lead, and gold have been extensively mined in Wales, and slate has been quarried. By the second half of the 19th century, mining and metallurgy had come to dominate the Welsh economy, transforming the landscape and society in the industrial districts of south and north-east Wales.
From the early 1970s, the Welsh economy faced massive restructuring with large numbers of jobs in traditional heavy industry disappearing and being replaced eventually by new ones in light industry and in services. Over this period Wales was successful in attracting an above average share of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the UK. However, much of the new industry has essentially been of a 'branch factory' type, often routine assembly employing low skilled workers.
Wales has struggled to develop or attract high value-added employment in sectors such as finance and research and development, attributable in part to a comparative lack of economic mass (for example population) - Wales lacks a large metropolitan centre and most of the country, except south east Wales, is sparsely populated. The lack of high value-added employment is reflected in lower economic output per head relative to other regions of the UK - in 2002 it stood at 90% of the EU25 average and around 80% of the UK average. However, care is needed in interpreting these data, which don't take account of regional differences in the cost of living. The gap in real living standards between Wales and more prosperous parts of the UK isn't pronounced.
In 2002, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Wales was just over £26 billion ($48 billion), giving a per capita GDP of £12,651 ($19,546). As of 2006, the unemployment rate in Wales stood at 5.7% - above the UK average, but lower than in the majority of EU countries.
Due to poor-quality soil, much of Wales is unsuitable for crop-growing, and livestock farming has traditionally been the focus of agriculture. The Welsh landscape (protected by three National Parks) and 42 Blue Flag beaches, as well as the unique culture of Wales, attract large numbers of tourists, who play an especially vital role in the economy of rural areas.(External Link)
Healthcare
Public healthcare in Wales is provided by NHS Wales which was originally formed as part of the same NHS structure created by the National Health Service Act 1946 but with powers over the NHS in Wales coming under the Secretary of State for Wales in 1969. In turn, responsibility for NHS Wales was passed to the Welsh Assembly and Executive under devolution in 1999. NHS Wales provides public healthcare in Wales and employs some 90,000 staff, making it Wales’ biggest employer.The Minister for Health and Social Services is the person within the Welsh Assembly Government who holds cabinet responsibilities for both health and social care in Wales.
Demography
The population of Wales in the 2001 census was 2,903,085, which has risen to 2,958,876 according to 2005 estimates. This would make Wales the 132nd largest country by population if it were a sovereign state.
According to the 2001 census, 96% of the population was White British, and 2.1% non-white (mainly of Asian origin). Most non-white groups were concentrated in the southern cities of Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. Welsh Asian communities developed mainly through immigration since World War II. More recently, parts of Wales have seen an increased number of immigrants settle from recent EU accession countries such as Poland - although some Poles also settled in Wales in the immediate aftermath of World War II.
In the 2001 Labour Force Survey, 72% of adults in Wales considered their national identity as wholly Welsh and another 7% considered themselves to be partly Welsh (Welsh and British were the most common combination). A recent study estimated that 35% of the Welsh population have surnames of Welsh origin (5.4% of the English population and 1.6% of the Scottish also bore 'Welsh' names). However, some names identified as English (such as 'Greenaway') may be corruptions of Welsh ('Goronwy'). Other names common in Wales, such as 'Richards', may have originated simultaneously in other parts of Britain.
In 2001 a quarter of the Welsh population were born outside Wales, mainly in England; about 3% were born outside the UK. The proportion of people who were born in Wales differs across the country, with the highest percentages in the South Wales Valleys, and the lowest in Mid Wales and parts of the north-east. In both Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil 92% were Welsh-born, compared to only 51% in Flintshire and 56% in Powys. One of the reasons for this is that the locations of the most convenient hospitals in which to give birth are over the border in England.
Languages
The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated on a basis of equality. However, even English has only de facto official status in the UK (see Languages of the United Kingdom) and this has led political groups like Plaid Cymru to question whether such legislation is sufficient to ensure the survival of the Welsh language.
English is spoken by almost all people in Wales and is therefore the de facto main language (see Welsh English). However, northern and western Wales retain many areas where Welsh is spoken as a first language by the majority of the population and English is learnt as a second language. 21.7% of the Welsh population is able to speak or read Welsh to some degree (based on the 2001 census), although only 16% claim to be able to speak, read and write it, which may be related to the stark differences between colloquial and literary Welsh. According to a language survey conducted in 2004, a larger proportion that 21.7% claim to have some knowledge of the language. Today there are very few truly monoglot Welsh speakers, other than small children, but individuals still exist who may be considered less than fluent in English and rarely speak it. There were still many monoglots as recently as the middle of the 20th century. Road signs in Wales are generally in both English and Welsh; where place names differ in the two languages, both versions are used (for example "Cardiff" and "Caerdydd").
During the 20th century a number of small communities of speakers of languages other than English or Welsh, such as Bengali or Cantonese, have established themselves in Wales as a result of immigration. This phenomenon is almost exclusive to urban Wales. The Italian Government funds the teaching of Italian to Welsh residents of Italian ancestry. These other languages don't have legal equality with English and Welsh, although public services may produce information leaflets in minority ethnic languages where there's a specific need, as happens elsewhere in the United Kingdom.
Code-switching is common in all parts of Wales, and the result is known by various names, such as "Wenglish" or (in Caernarfon) "Cofi".
Religion
The largest religion in Wales is Christianity, with 72% of the population describing themselves as Christian in the 2001 census. The Presbyterian Church of Wales is the largest denomination and was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811. The Church in Wales is the next largest denomination, and forms part of the Anglican Communion. It too was part of the Church of England, and was disestablished by the British Government under the Welsh Church Act 1914 (the act didn't take effect until 1920). The Roman Catholic Church makes up the next largest denomination at 3% of the population. Non-Christian religions are small in Wales, making up approximately 1.5% of the population. 18% of people declare no religion. The Apostolic Church holds its annual Apostolic Conference in Swansea each year, usually in August.
The patron saint of Wales is Saint David (Welsh: Dewi Sant), with St David's Day (Welsh: Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant) celebrated annually on March 1.
In 1904, there was a religious revival (known by some as the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival or simply The 1904 Revival) which started through the evangelism of Evan Roberts and took many parts of Wales by storm with massive numbers of people voluntarily converting to Christianity, sometimes whole communities. Many of the present-day Pentecostal churches in Wales claim to have originated in this revival.
Islam is the largest non-Christian religion in Wales, with over 30,000 reported in the 2001 census. There are also communities of Hindus and Sikhs mainly in the South Wales cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea, while curiously the largest concentration of Buddhists is in the western rural county of Ceredigion.
Judaism was the first non-Christian faith (excluding pre-Roman animism) to be established in Wales, however as of the year 2001 the community has declined to approximately 2,000.
Culture
Sport
The most popular sports in Wales are Rugby Union and football. Wales, like other constituent nations, enjoys independent representation in major world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and in the Commonwealth Games (however as Great Britain in the Olympics). As in New Zealand, rugby is a core part of the national identity, although football has traditionally been more popular sport in the North Wales, possibly due to its close proximity to England's north-west. Wales has its own governing bodies in rugby, the Welsh Rugby Union and in football, the Football Association of Wales (the third oldest in the world) and most other sports. Many of Wales' top athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen train at the Welsh Institute of Sport and National Indoor Athletics Centre in Cardiff, the Wales National Velodrome in Newport and the Wales National Pool in Swansea. However the Cardiff International Swimming Pool is the only Olympic standard pool in Wales.
The Welsh national rugby union team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship, and the Rugby World Cup. Welsh teams also play in the European Heineken Cup and Magners League (rugby union) alongside teams from Ireland and Scotland, the EDF Energy Cup and the European Heineken Cup. Wales hosted the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Wales most recognised club teams include Llanelli, Swansea, Neath, Newport and Cardiff. With the recent regional rugby setup however these teams were relegated to an amateur game with the four professional regions (Llanelli Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, Newport Gwent Dragons and Neath-Swansea Ospreys) competing in the aforementioned tournaments. Wales has produced ten members of the International Rugby Hall of Fame including Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams and Gerald Davies. Newport Rugby Club also achieved an historic win over the 'invincible' New Zealand Rugby team of 1963. A similar feat was achieved by Llanelli Rugby Club in October 1972, although the 1972 New Zealand squad is often seen as an inferior touring team to the 1963 squad.
Wales has had its own football league since 1992 although, for historical reasons, two Welsh clubs (Cardiff City, and Swansea City) play in the English Football League and another four Welsh clubs in its feeder leagues. (Wrexham, Newport County, Merthyr Tydfil, and Colwyn Bay.)
Rugby league is now developing in Wales. There has been a national league since 2003 and the admission of the Bridgend-based Celtic Crusaders to National League Two in 2006 brought the semi-professional game to Wales.
In international cricket, England and Wales field a single representative team which is administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). There is a separate Wales team that occasionally participates in limited-overs domestic competition. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is the only Welsh participant in the England and Wales County Championship. A Wales team also plays in the English Minor Counties competition. However there has been recent debate as to whether Welsh players (such as Simon Jones) should play for an England team, and not an England and Wales team.
Wales' other bat-and-ball sport is British Baseball, which is chiefly confined to Cardiff and Newport, two cities with very long baseball traditions. The sport is governed by the Welsh Baseball Union.
The Isle of Anglesey/Ynys Môn is a member island of the International Island Games Association. The next Island Games will be held in 2007 on Rhodes (Greece). In the 2005 Games, held on the Shetland Islands, the Isle of Anglesey/Ynys Môn came 11th on the medal table with 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals.
Wales has produced several world class snooker players such as Ray Reardon, Terry Griffiths, Mark Williams, Matthew Stevens and Ryan Day. Amateur participation in the sport is very high. The rugged terrain of the country also gives plenty of opportunities for rally driving and Wales currently hosts the finale of the World Rally Championship. Glamorgan compete in county cricket competitions and the Cardiff Devils were once a strong force in British ice hockey. Wales has also produced a number of athletes who have made a mark on the world stage, including the 110 m hurdler Colin Jackson who is a former world record holder and the winner of numerous Olympic, World and European medals as well as Tanni Grey-Thompson who has won many Paralympic gold medals and Marathon victories in her illustrious career.
There is also some success in boxing. Joe Calzaghe the half-Welsh, half-Italian boxer has been WBO World Super-Middleweight Champion since 1997 and recently won the WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine super middleweight titles. Former World champions include Enzo Maccarinelli, Gavin Rees, Colin Jones, Howard Winstone, Percy Jones, Jimmy Wilde, Steve Robinson and Robbie Regan.
Two Welsh drivers have competed in the Formula One championship: the first was Alan Rees at the 1967 British Grand Prix, who finished in ninth position, four laps behind the winner, Jim Clark. Tom Pryce was the more notable of the two drivers, as he finished on the podium twice and, at the 1975 British Grand Prix, qualified in pole position. Pryce's career was cut short after he collided with volunteer marshal, Jansen Van Vuuren, killing both instantly. As well as Formula One, Wales have had some notability in the World Rally Championship, producing two championship winning Co-Drivers, those being Nicky Grist, who helped Colin McRae to victory in 1995 and Phil Mills who helped Petter Solberg win the 2003 title.
Freddie Williams was World Motorcycle speedway champion twice - in 1950 and 1953 - and the country has a professional speedway team, Newport Wasps. The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff hosts the annual British Speedway Grand Prix, the United Kingdom's round of the World Championship.
Other notable Welsh sports people include 11 times gold medal winning paralympic athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson, footballer Ryan Giggs who is currently playing for Manchester United in the English Premiership, and formerly for the Welsh national team football team prior to his retirement from international football, BDO world darts champions Richie Burnett and Mark Webster, international champion cyclists Nicole Cooke and Geraint Thomas, who competed in the 2007 Tour de France and Commonwealth Games gold and bronze medallist in shooting Dave Phelps.
Since 2006, Wales has had its own professional golf tour, the Dragon Tour. Notable Welsh golfers include Brian Huggett, Ian Woosnam and Phillip Price. The Celtic Manor in Newport will host the 2010 Ryder Cup.
Media
Cardiff is home to the Welsh national media. BBC Wales is based in Llandaff, Cardiff and produces Welsh-oriented output for BBC One and BBC Two channels. BBC 2W is the Welsh digital version of BBC Two, and broadcasts between 8.30pm and 10pm each week night for specific Wales based programming. ITV the UK's main commercial broadcaster has a Welsh-oriented service branded as ITV Wales, whose studios are in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff. S4C, based in Llanishen, Cardiff, broadcasts mostly Welsh-language programming at peak hours, but shares English-language content with Channel 4 at other times. S4C Digidol (S4C Digital), on the other hand, broadcasts mostly in Welsh. Channel 4 and Channel 5 are now available in most parts of the country via digital television and satellite.
BBC Radio Wales is Wales's only national English-language radio station, while BBC Radio Cymru broadcasts throughout Wales in Welsh. There are also a number of independent radio stations across Wales. Radio stations around the country include Red Dragon FM, Xfm South Wales, Marcher Sound, Coast FM, Swansea Sound, 96.4FM The Wave, Radio Pembrokeshire, Radio Carmarthenshire, Champion 103, Radio Ceredigion and Real Radio.
Most of the newspapers sold and read in Wales are national newspapers sold and read throughout Britain, unlike in Scotland where many newspapers have rebranded into Scottish based titles. Wales-based newspapers include: South Wales Echo, South Wales Argus, South Wales Evening Post, Liverpool Daily Post (Welsh edition) and Y Cymro, a Welsh language publication.
The Western Mail is the main daily newspaper and includes a Sunday edition Wales on Sunday. Both are published by the UK's largest newspaper corporation -- Trinity Mirror.
The first Welsh language daily, Y Byd, was due to commence on 3 March 2008. However, on 15 February 2008, it was announced that plans for Y Byd had been abandoned because of funding problems..
The Western Mail and South Wales Echo have their offices in Thomson House, Cardiff city centre
In addition to English-language magazines, a number of weekly and monthly Welsh-language magazines are published. Wales has some 20 publishing companies, publishing mostly English titles. However, some 500-600 titles are published each year in Welsh(External Link).
Notably, the recent hit revival of cult classic series Doctor Who was and is conceived in Wales (BBC Wales), with many episodes set in Cardiff. Most of the filming and production takes place in locations all over Wales and attracts staggering audiences worldwide. Its adult spin-off Torchwood, fronted by John Barrowman, is also set in Cardiff, with many links to Doctor Who.
Food
About 80% of the land surface of Wales is given over to agricultural use. However, very little of this is arable land; the vast majority consists of permanent grass pasture or rough grazing for herd animals such as sheep and cows. Although both beef and dairy cattle are raised widely, especially in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, Wales is more well-known for its sheep farming, and thus lamb is the meat traditionally associated with Welsh cooking.
Some traditional dishes include laverbread (made from seaweed), bara brith (fruit bread), cawl cennin (leek soup), Welsh cakes, Welsh rarebit, and Welsh lamb. Cockles are sometimes served with breakfast bacon. (External Link)
In 2005 the Welsh National Culinary Teams returned from the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg with eight gold, 15 silver and seven bronze medals, and were placed 7th in the world.
Music
The principal Welsh festival of music and poetry is the National Eisteddfod. This takes place annually in a different town or city. The Llangollen International Eisteddfod echoes the National Eisteddfod but provides an opportunity for the singers and musicians of the world to perform.
Wales is often referred to as "the land of song", being particularly famous for harpists, male voice choirs, and solo artists including Sir Geraint Evans, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Dame Anne Evans, Ivor Novello, Madam Adelina Patti, John Cale, Sir Tom Jones, Charlotte Church, Bonnie Tyler, Bryn Terfel, Mary Hopkin, Katherine Jenkins, Meic Stevens, Shirley Bassey and Aled Jones.
Indie bands like the Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia, Stereophonics, Feeder, Super Furry Animals, and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, in the 1990s, and later Goldie Lookin' Chain, mclusky, The Automatic, Steveless. Other, less mainstream bands have emerged from Wales, such as Skindred, The Blackout, Lostprophets,Kids In Glass Houses, Bullet For My Valentine, Funeral for a Friend and were preceded by Man in the 1970s. The Beatles-nurtured power pop group Badfinger also has its roots in Wales (both the founder Peter Ham and drummer Mike Gibbins from Swansea). Another famous Welsh singer is pop icon Jem who has recorded songs for/performed on TV programmes such as Las Vegas and The OC, and movies such as Eragon. The popular New Wave/synthpop group Scritti Politti was a vehicle for singer/songwriter and Cardiff native Green Gartside.
The Welsh traditional and folk music scene, long overshadowed by its Irish and Scottish cousins, is in resurgence with performers and bands such as Crasdant, Carreg Lafar, Fernhill, Siân James, Robin Huw Bowen, Llio Rhydderch, KilBride and The Hennessys. Traditional music and dance in Wales is supported by a myriad of societies. Welsh Folk Song Society (Cymdeithas Alawon Gwerin Cymru) has published a number of collections of songs and tunes. The Welsh Folk Dance Society (Cymdeithas Ddawns Werin Cymru) supports a network of national amateur dance teams and publishes support material. Clear (Traditional instruments society) runs workshops to promote the harp, telyn deires (triple harp), fiddle, crwth, pibgorn (hornpipe) and other instruments. The Cerdd Dant Society promotes its specific singing art primarily through an annual one-day festival. The traditional music development agency, trac, runs projects in communities throughout Wales and advocates on behalf of traditional music. There are also societies for Welsh hymnology, oral history, small eisteddfodau, oral history, and poetry.
The 'Sîn Roc Gymraeg' (Welsh language Rock Scene) in Wales is thriving, with acts ranging from rock to hip-hop which routinely attracts immense crowds and audiences. The Welsh-language Rock scene presently is stated as 'the best yet,' with more bands, and more audiences than the 'Sin Roc Gymraeg' has ever seen in its existence. Dolgellau, in the heart of Snowdonia has held the annual Sesiwn Fawr (mighty session) festival since 1992. From humble beginnings the festival has grown to be Wales' largest Welsh-Language Music Festivals.
The BBC National Orche
