Are you confused about what “Great Britain” really is? Do you become perplexed when asked to discern the difference between Britain, England, and the U.K.? And what the heck is Wales!? (Apologies to Wales.) You are not alone! CGP Grey offers an entertaining explanation that both clears up the questions, and makes us feel less stupid for not understanding them in the first place. And you’ll learn some stunning facts about the residuals of empire. Enjoy:
And if that wasn’t enough, here’s Grey’s historical rendering of how Scotland became a part of Great Britain.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 19
Darren J — July 8, 2011
Northern Ireland is given the colour orange. Perhaps unaware of the significance of that colour in Northern Ireland, especially when July 12th celebrations are coming up!
Paul — July 8, 2011
The 4 "countries" of the UK are not sovereign. For example, Wales can't enter into a treaty with France.
Kinelfire — July 8, 2011
And I'm back again. The countries that "broke away violently" from the British Empire; the USA and India. Illustrated with a photograph of Ghandi?
Liz Scott — July 8, 2011
I like his video he did about coffee better.
Brian — July 8, 2011
It's surprising how much people don't know. I can't recount the number of times I've had to explain that the Queen of Canada and the Queen of the United Kingdom are different queens, just the same person.
JohnMWhite — July 8, 2011
"What the heck is Wales!!" Wouldn't these pages be the first to tear into a joke dismissing an entire country and its people as an obscure irrelevance?
Finnegan — July 8, 2011
Posing Ireland and Northern Ireland as two distinct nations was sort of
questionable, or at least a rather cavalier approach to that particular
issue.
Seanpodge — July 9, 2011
The video is wrong about Ireland merely being a geographical description. If CGP Grey had looked a bit more throughly at wikipedia which he claims was his source, he'd have discovered that the official name of the state according to the Irish constitution is Éire (in Irish) or Ireland. The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 merely states that the term "Republic of Ireland" (Poblacht na hÉireann) is a description, not a name. Republic of Ireland is not used by the government in any official documents (e.g. passports). This naming issue is taken seriously enough that in the late 1980s, an extradition request from the UK was rejected by an Irish court because the British used the term Republic of Ireland rather than the actual name of the state. In newspapers and TV news, the term "the state" is often used rather than "the republic".
Also, people in the North of Ireland often refer to themselves as beign Irish. People in the North are also able to hold Irish passports (which confirm Irish citizenship) if they wish.
Finally, eipc LOLs at Ghandi being the violent war leader!
[links] Link salad lazes on Saturday morning | jlake.com — July 9, 2011
[...] ?What The Bleep Is the United Kingdom — In case you were wondering. (And btw, I am quite annoyed by blogs that use ALL CAPS for their heading, because it makes extra work to post a link. Totally unnecessary.) [...]
Estella — July 9, 2011
Oh, I see, the convenient version of history where imperialism is benign and a belief in the divine right of kings(/queens) is still a completely acceptable theory of government.
betsy santos — July 11, 2011
That first bit was great at explaining the differences between Great Britain, England, the UK, and the British Isles. I'm always explaining this to people. It is pretty complicated, though.
Kenneth Moyle — March 18, 2014
"The Commonwealth Realm"?? He means "the Commonwealth" - formerly the British Commonwealth, and before that the British Empire.
Canada is *a* Commonwealth Realm, as is Australia, and New Zealand, and for that matter the UK.