Names of the British Isles
The toponym "British Isles" refers to a European archipelago comprising Great Britain, Ireland and the smaller, adjacent islands.[1] The word "British" has also become an adjective and demonym referring to the United Kingdom[2] and more historically associated with the British Empire. For this reason, the name British Isles is avoided by some, as such usage could be misrepresented to imply continued territorial claims or political overlordship of the Republic of Ireland by the United Kingdom.[3][4][5][6][7]
Alternative names that have sometimes been coined for the British Isles include "Britain and Ireland",[3][8][9] the "Atlantic Archipelago",[10] the "Anglo-Celtic Isles",[11][12] the "British-Irish Isles",[13] and the Islands of the North Atlantic.[14] In documents drawn up jointly between the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is referred to simply as "these islands".[15]
To some, the reasons to use an alternate name is partly semantic, as the term is a value-free geographic one, while, to others, it is a value-laden political one.[16] The Channel Islands are normally included in the British Isles by tradition, though they are physically a separate archipelago from the rest of the isles.[17][18] United Kingdom law uses the term British Islands to refer to the UK, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man as a single collective entity.
An early variant of the term British Isles dates back to Ancient Greek times, when they were known as the Pretanic or Britannic Islands, although in its etymology section the Oxford English Dictionary describes the plural Latin form, Britannicae insulae or Britannic/British islands, as rare, and only lists singular Old English and Welsh antecedents which refer to Great Britain alone.[19] It was translated as the British Isles into English in the late 16th or early 17th centuries by English and Welsh writers, whose writings have been described as propaganda and politicised.[20][21][22]
The term became controversial after the breakup of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1922. The names of the archipelago's two sovereign states were themselves the subject of a long dispute between the Irish and British governments.
Perspectives in Great Britain
In general, the use of the term
In 2003, Irish newspapers reported a British Government internal briefing that advised against the use of "British Isles".[30][31] There is evidence that its use has been increasingly avoided in recent years in fields like cartography and in some academic work, such as Norman Davies's history of Britain and Ireland The Isles: A History. As a purely geographical term in technical contexts (such as geology and natural history), there is less evidence of alternative terms being chosen.
According to Jane Dawson, "Finding an acceptable shorthand geographical description for the countries which formed the UK before the creation of Eire has proved difficult" and in her 2002 work on Mary, Queen of Scots (r. 1542–1567) and Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll, she wrote: "for convenience, I have used the following as virtual synonyms: the islands of Britain; these islands; the British Isles, and the adjective, British. Without intending to imply any hidden imperial or other agenda, they describe the kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales as they existed in the sixteenth century".[32]
In the 2005 Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names, John Everett-Heath defined the British Isles as "Until 1949 a collective title … In 1949 the Republic of Ireland left the British Commonwealth and so could no longer be included in the title".[33][34] Everett-Heath used the name in a "general note" and in the introduction to the same work.[33][35][36]
In the 2005 preface to the second edition of
Recognition of issues with the term (as well as problems over definitions and terminology) was discussed by the columnist Marcel Berlins, writing in The Guardian in 2006. Beginning with "At last, someone has had the sense to abolish the British Isles", he opines that "although purely a geographical definition, it is frequently mixed up with the political entities Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. Even when used geographically, its exact scope is widely misunderstood". He also acknowledges that some view the term as representing Britain's imperial past, when it ruled the whole of Ireland.[38]
Perspectives in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
From the Irish perspective, some[
Many political bodies, including the Irish government, avoid describing Ireland as being part of the British Isles.[citation needed] The journalist John Gunther, recollecting a meeting in 1936 or 1937 with Éamon de Valera, the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, wrote that the Irish statesman queried his use of the term:[52]
My use of the term "British Isles" was an unconscious little slip. Mr. de Valera did not allow it to go uncorrected. Quite soberly he smiled and said that if I had meant to include Ireland in the British Isles, he trusted that I did so only as a "geographical expression." I explained that my chief duty to my newspaper was to gain knowledge, background, education. "Very well," Mr. de Valera said. "Let your instruction begin at once." And he set out to explain the difference between Ireland and the "British Isles." Some moments later, having again necessity to describe my field of operations, I sought a phrase and said, after a slight pause, "a group of islands in the northern part of Europe." Mr. de Valera sat back and laughed heartily. I hope he will not mind my telling this little story.
— John Gunther, Inside Europe, pp. 373–374
However, the term "British Isles" has been used by individual ministers, as did cabinet minister
"British Isles" has been used in a geographical sense in Irish parliamentary debates by government ministers,[58][59] although it is often used in a way that defines the British Isles as excluding the Republic of Ireland.[60][61][62][63]
In October 2006, Irish educational publisher Folens announced that it was removing the term from its popular school atlas effective in January 2007. The decision was made after the issue was raised by a geography teacher. Folens stated that no parent had complained directly to them over the use of "British Isles" and that they had a policy of acting proactively, upon the appearance of a "potential problem".[64][65] This attracted press attention in the UK and Ireland, during which a spokesman for the Irish Embassy in London said, "'The British Isles' has a dated ring to it, as if we are still part of the Empire".[66] Writing in The Irish Times in 2016, Donald Clarke described the term as "anachronistically named".[67]
A bilingual dictionary website maintained by
Northern Ireland
Different views on terminology are probably most clearly seen in
The overall opinion of the Northern Irish people about the term (like the opinion of those in the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain) has never been formally gauged. Politicians from the
This represents the Irish government coming back into a relationship with the rest of the British Isles. We are ending the cold war that has divided not just Ireland but the British Isles. That division is now going to be transformed into a situation where all parts work together again in a way that respects each other.[76]
In contrast, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, did not use the term in his address to the meeting.[76][relevant?]
At a gathering of the
He understood that the concept of a Council of the Isles had been put forward by the
Ulster Unionists and was referred to as a "Council for the British Isles" by David Trimble. This would cause offence to Irish colleagues; he suggested as an acronym IONA-Islands of the North Atlantic.[77]
In a series of documents issued by the United Kingdom and Ireland, from the Downing Street Declaration to the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Agreement), relations in the British Isles were referred to as the "East–West strand" of the tripartite relationship.[78]
Alternative terms
There is no single accepted replacement of the term British Isles. However, the terms Great Britain and Ireland, British Isles and Ireland, Islands of the North Atlantic etc. are suggested.
British Isles and Ireland
The term British Isles and Ireland has been used in a variety of contexts—among others religious,[79] medical,[80] zoologic,[81] academic[82] and others. This form is also used in some book titles[83] and legal publications.[84]
Islands of the North Atlantic (or IONA)
In the context of the Northern Ireland peace process, the term "Islands of the North Atlantic" (and its acronym, IONA) was a term created by the British MP John Biggs-Davison.[85] It has been used as a term to denote either all the islands, or the two main islands, without referring to the two states.
IONA has been used by (among others) the former Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), Bertie Ahern:
The Government are, of course, conscious of the emphasis that is laid on the East-West dimension by Unionists, and we are, ourselves, very mindful of the unique relationships that exist within these islands – islands of the North Atlantic or IONA as some have termed them.[86]
Others have interpreted the term more narrowly to mean the "Council of the Isles" or "
In the same context, there will be a council of the isles. I think that some people are calling it IONA – the islands of the north Atlantic, from which England, by definition, will be excluded.[87]
His interpretation is not widely shared, particularly in Ireland. In 1997 the leader of the Irish Green Party Trevor Sargent, discussing the Strand Three (or East–West) talks between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, commented in the Dáil Éireann:
I noted with interest the naming of the islands of the north Atlantic under the acronym IONA which the Green Party felt was extremely appropriate.[88]
His comments were echoed by Proinsias De Rossa, then leader of the Democratic Left and later President of the Irish Labour Party, who told the Dáil, "The acronym IONA is a useful way of addressing the coming together of these two islands."[88]
Criticism
The neologism has been criticised on the grounds that it excludes most of the islands in the North Atlantic.[14]
The name is also ambiguous, because of the other islands in the North Atlantic which have never been considered part of the British Isles.[89]
West European Isles
The name "
In
Other terms
these islands
Common among Irish public officials, although as a deictic label it cannot be used outside the islands in question.[94][95] Charles Haughey referred to his 1980 discussions with Margaret Thatcher on "the totality of relationships in these islands";[96] the 1998 Good Friday Agreement also uses "these islands" and not "British Isles".[95][97] In Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable, McMahon writes that this is "cumbersome but neutral" and "the phrase in most frequent use" but that it is "cute and unsatisfactory".[50][51]
Insular
An adjective, meaning "island based", used as a qualifier in cultural history up to the early medieval period, as for example
Atlantic Archipelago
Hibernian Archipelago
Another suggestion is "Hibernian Archipelago". In Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable, McMahon calls this title "cumbersome and inaccurate".[50][51]
Names of the islands through the ages
Pretanic Islands and Britanniae
The earliest known names for the islands come from
There is considerable confusion about early use of these terms and the extent to which similar terms were used as self-description by the inhabitants.[103] Cognates of these terms are still in use.[104]
According to
According to
According to
According to Cunliffe, Diodorus Siculus used the spelling Prettanía, while
The
—Pseudo-Aristotle, On the Universe, 393b.[112]
As explained by Pliny the Elder, this included the Orcades (Orkney), the Hæbudes (Hebrides), Mona (Anglesey), Monopia (Isle of Man), and a number of other islands less certainly identifiable from his names. The deduced Celtic name for Ireland – Iverio – from which its present name was derived, was known to the Greeks by the 4th century BC at least, possibly as early as the 6th century BC. The name meant "the fertile land". It was Latinised to Hiernia or Hibernia. Its people were the Iverni.[citation needed
Around AD 70,
—Pliny the Elder,
The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, written in Greek c. 150 AD, included the British Isles. Ptolemy included essentially the same main islands in the Britannias. He wrote around AD 150, although he used the now-lost work of Marinus of Tyre from about fifty years earlier.[118] Book II, Chapters 1 and 2 of his Geography are respectively titled in Greek: Κεφ. βʹ Ἰουερνίας νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις, romanized: Iouernías nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis, lit. 'Ch. 2, position of Hibernia, British island' and Κεφ. γʹ Ἀλβουίωνος νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις, Albouíōnos nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis, 'Ch. 3, position of Albion, British island'.[119]: 143, 146 Ptolemy included Thule in the chapter on Albion; the coordinates he gives correlate with the location of Shetland, though the location given for Thule by Pytheas may have been further north, in Iceland or Norway.[120] Geography generally reflects the situation c. 100 AD. He retained the names used for the islands by Pliny the Elder: Albion for Great Britain, and Ierne (Latinised as Hibernia) for Ireland.
Following the conquest of AD 43 the Roman province of Britannia was established,[121] and Roman Britain expanded to cover much of the island of Great Britain. An invasion of Ireland was considered but never undertaken, and Ireland remained outside the Roman Empire.[122] The Romans failed to consolidate their hold on the Scottish Highlands; the northern extent of the area under their control (defined by the Antonine Wall across central Scotland) stabilised at Hadrian's Wall across the north of England by about AD 210.[123] Inhabitants of the province continued to refer to themselves as "Brittannus" or "Britto", and gave their patria (homeland) as "Britannia" or as their tribe.[124] The vernacular term "Priteni" came to be used for the barbarians north of the Antonine Wall, with the Romans using the tribal name "Caledonii" more generally for these peoples who (after AD 300) they called Picts.[125]
The post-conquest Romans used Britannia or Britannia Magna (Large Britain) for Britain, and Hibernia or Britannia Parva (Small Britain) for Ireland. The post-Roman era saw
In the Cosmography of Aethicus Ister, the British Isles are mentioned as having been visited by the protagonist (Dein insolas Brittanicas et Tylen navigavit, quas ille Brutanicas appellavit, …, 'Then to the British islands and Thule he sailed, which are called the Brutanics').[126] In 1993, the editor Otto Prinz connected this name with the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville,[126] in which it is stated: "Some suspect that the Britons were so named in Latin because they are brutes"[127] (Brittones quidam Latine nominatos suspicantur eo, quod bruti sint).[126]
In the 9th century, the Irish monk
According to Irmeli Valtonen in 2008, on the so-called Cotton mappa mundi, an
Andronikos Noukios, a Greek writing under the pen name Nikandros Noukios (Latin: Nicander Nucius), visited Great Britain in the reign of Henry VIII (r. 1509–1547) as part of an embassy. In his account, he describes the British Isles as having taken their name from colonists from Brittany, rather than the other way around.[133]
Καὶ τὰς μὲν νήσους ταύτας ἁπάσας καλοῦσι κυρίως Βρετανικὰς, ὡς πάλαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ Βρετανίᾳ τῶν ἐν Γαλατείᾳ οἰκητόρων, ἀποικίαν στειλάντων, καὶ τὰς νήσους οἰκησάντων. Μετηλλάχθησαν δ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν ὀψιγόνων αἱ ὀνομασίαι κατὰ καιρόν. Καὶ ἡ μὲν καλεῖται Αγγλία, ἡ δὲ Σκοτία, ἡ ἑτέρα δὲ Ἱβερνία καὶ ἄλλη ἄλλως. |
Appropriately they call these islands Brittanic because long ago the dwellers in Brittany – which is in France – sent out a colony and peopled the islands. The names were altered by later generations according to circumstances, and one island was called England, another Scotland, another Hibernia, and others likewise. |
—Νικάνδρου Νουκίου τοῦ Κερκυραίου Ἀποδημιῶν, II.[134] | —The Travels of Nikandros Noukios of Corfu, II.[135] |
British Isles
According to the
The term "British Isles" entered the English language in the late 16th century to refer to Great Britain, Ireland and the surrounding islands. In general, the modern notion of "Britishness" evolved after the 1707 Act of Union.[138]
By the middle of the 16th century the term appears on maps made by geographers including Sebastian Münster.[139] Münster in Geographia Universalis, 'Universal Geography' (a 1550 reissue of Ptolemy's Geography) uses the heading De insulis Britannicis, Albione, quæ est Anglia & Hibernia, & de ciuitatibus earum in genere, 'Of the Britannic islands, Albion, which is England, and Ireland, and of their cities in general'.[140] Gerardus Mercator produced much more accurate maps, including one of the Insulæ Britannicæ, 'British islands' in 1564.[140][141]
Abraham Ortelius, in his atlas of 1570 (Theatrum Orbis Terrarum), uses the title Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio, 'A description of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland, or of the Britannic islands'.[142]: 605 According to Philip Schwyzer, "This is among the very first early modern references to the 'British Isles', a term used anciently by Pliny but rarely in the medieval period or earlier in the sixteenth century".[142]: 605
... aryved in this Ilande, whyche was called Albion, at a place now called
Devonshire, the yere of the world. 2855. the yeare before Christs nativitie. 1108. wherein he first began to raigne, and named it Britaine, (as some write) or rather after his owne name Brutaine, as Æthicus that wonderfull Philosopher (a Scithian by race, but an Istrian by countrey) translated by saint Hierome above a thousand yeares past, termeth both it and the Iles adiacent Insulas Britanicas. And for more proufe of this restored name, not only the sayde Philosopher (who travelled through many lands, and in this lande taught the knowledge of minerall works) maye be alledged, but sundrie other: & some English wryters above an hundred yeares since, usually do so name it, and not otherwise, through a large historie of this land, translated out of Frenche., A Summarie of the Chronicles of England, 1575, page 17–18.
The 1580 edition of Stow's work spelled the Latin name Insulas Brutannicas and the English names Brutan and the Brytaines, and additionally cited the authority of the Sibylline Oracles for the conflation of the Latin letter Y with the Greek: υ or Υ (upsilon):[145]
... the Sybils Oracles, who in the name of the Brytaines is written with y. that is the Greekes little u. whyche Oracles althoughe they were not the Sibils owne worke, as some suspecte, yet are they very antient indeede, and that they might seeme more auntient, use the moste auntient name of Countreys and peoples
— John Stow, A Summarie of the Chronicles of England, 1580, page 17–18.
Schwyzer states that Raphael Holinshed's 1577 Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland is the first work of historiography to deal with the British Isles in particular; "To the best of my knowledge, no book published in England before 1577 specified in its title a scope at once inclusive of and restricted to England, Scotland, and Ireland".[142]: 594 According to Holinshed himself in the second chapter (Of the auncient names of this Islande) of the first book (An Historicall Description of the Islande of Britayne, with a briefe rehearsall of the nature and qualities of the people of Englande, and of all such commodities as are to be founde in the same) of the first volume of the Chronicles, Brutus had both renamed Albion after himself and given his name to the British Isles as a whole:
… Brute, who arriving here in the 1127, before Christ, and 2840. after the creation, not onely chaunged it into Britayne (after it had bene called Albion, by the space of 595. yeares) but to declare his sovereigntie over the reast of the Islandes also that are about the same, he called them all after the same maner, so that Albion was sayde in tyme to be Britanniarum insula maxima, that is, the greatest of those Isles that bare the name of Britayne.
— Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1577, Volume I, chapter 2, page 2.
The geographer and occultist
Dee used the term "Brytish Iles" in his General and Rare Memorials Pertaining to Perfecte Arte of Navigation of 1577.
Moreover, (Sayd he) if it should not be taken in worse parte, of our soveraign, than, of the Emperour of Constantinople, Emanuel, the syncere Intent, and faythfull Advise, of Georgius Gemistus Pletho, was, I could (proportionally, for the occasion of the Tyme, and place,) frame and shape very much of Gemistus those his two Greek Orations, (the first, to the Emperor, and the Second to his Sonne, Prince Theodore:) for our brytish iles, and in better and more allowable manner, at this Day, for our People, than that his Plat (for Reformation of the State, at those Dayes, (could be found, for Peloponnesus, avaylable. But, Seeing those Orations, are now published: both in Greek and Latin, I need not Dowbt, but they, to whom, the chief Care of such causes is committed, have Diligently selected the Hony of those Flowres, already, for the Common-Wealths great Benefit.
— John Dee, General and Rare Memorials Pertaining to Perfecte Arte of Navigation, 1577.
According to Yates, "In spite of the difficulties of Dee's style and punctuation his meaning is clear" – Dee argued "that the advice given to the Byzantine Emperor by Pletho is good advice for Elizabeth, the Empress of Britain".[149]: 47 Dee believed that the British Isles had originally been called the "Brutish Isles", a name he had read in Aethicus Ister's Cosmography, which he thought was written in Classical Antiquity.[152]: 85–86 In his copy of John Bale's Scriptorum illustrium maioris Brytanniae catalogus (later in Christ Church Library), at Bale's passage on Gildas, Dee had added an annotation on Brutus, stating: "Note this authority of Gildas concerning Brutus and Brytus, and remember that from the most ancient authority of the astronomer Aethicus, they were called the Brutish Islands" (Nota hanc Gildae authoritatem de Bruto et Bryto, et memor esto de Ethici astronomi authoritate antiquissima, insulas Brutanicas dictas esse)". He underlined Bale's words: "up to the entrance of Brutus, or rather Brytus" (usque ad Bruti, potius Bryti introitum).[152]: 97, note 48
According to
The Latin expression rex Britanniarum, 'king of the Britains' or 'king of the British Isles' was used by some
In John Speed's 1611 Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, the cartographer refers to the islands as Britannish.[159] Before the first chapter, Speed introduces his map of the British Isles as "The British Ilands, proposed in one view in the ensuing map".
Speed describes the position of "the Iland of Great Britaine" as being north and east of Brittany, Normandy, and the other parts of the coast of Continental Europe:[160]
It hath Britaine, Normandy, and other parts of France upon the South, the Lower Germany, Denmarke, and Norway upon the East; the Isles of Orkney and the Deucaledonian Sea, upon the North; the Hebrides upon the West, and from it all other Ilands, and Ilets, which doe scatteredly environ it, and shelter themselves (as it were) under the shadow of Great Albion (another name of this famous Iland) are also accounted Britannish, & are therefore here described altogether
— John Speed, Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, 1611
In his 1621 verse work Palæ-Albion: The history of Great Britanie from the first peopling of this island to this present raigne of or happy and peacefull monarke K: James, William Slatyer described the British Isles as named "the Brutus Iles in Greeke Dialect". Slatyer explained this spelling of the name in a
Æthicus translated by Saint Ierome, above 1000. yeares since, calleth them Insulas Brutanicas: the Greeks writing it by υψιλον, it soundeth our u. And the Welsh doe the like, as is seene in Brytys, by them pronounced Brutus: Also English Writers that are above an hundred yeares since, call it Brutaine. J. Mandevill.
— William Slatyer, Palæ-Albion, 1621, ode III, canto XIIII, page 81, note b.
One of the
- The inhabitants of Ireland must have come from Britain as it was the nearest land
- He notes that ancient writers (such as Ptolemy) called Ireland a Brttish Iland
- He cites the observation of the first-century Roman writer Tacitus that the habits and disposition of the people in Ireland were not much unlike the Brittaines[164]
Modern scholarly opinion[21][22] is that Heylyn "politicised his geographical books Microcosmus ... and, still more, Cosmographie" in the context of what geography meant at that time. Heylyn's geographical work must be seen as political expressions concerned with proving (or disproving) constitutional matters, and "demonstrated their authors' specific political identities by the languages and arguments they deployed." In an era when "politics referred to discussions of dynastic legitimacy, of representation, and of the Constitution ... [Heylyn's] geography was not to be conceived separately from politics."
Robert Morden, in his 1680 Geography Rectified, introduced his map and chapter detailing the British Isles by noting their political unity under a single monarch but their continued separation into three kingdoms, with each of the British Isles beyond Great Britain and Ireland belonging to one of the three mainland kingdoms.[165]
Under this Title are Comprehended several distinct and famous Islands, the whole Dominion whereof (now United) is under the Command of the King of Great Britain, &c. Bounded on the North and West with the Hyperborean and Ducalidonean Ocean, on the South divided from France with the English Channel, on the East seperated from Denmark and Belgia with the British (by some call'd the German) Ocean; But on all sides environed with Turbulent Seas, guarded with Dangerous Rocks and Sands, defended with strong Forts, and a Potent Navy; Of these Islands one is very large, formerly called Albion, now great Britain, comprehending two Kingdoms, England and Scotland; and another of lesser extent makes one Kingdome called Ireland: The other smaller adjacent Isles are comprehended under one or other of these 3 Kingdoms, according to the Situation and Congruity with them.
— Robert Morden, Geography Rectified: or, a Description of the World, 1680, page 13.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b "British Isles". Encyclopedia Britannica. 4 February 2020.
British Isles, group of islands off the northwestern coast of Europe. The group consists of two main islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands and island groups,
- ^ a b Walter, Bronwen (2000). Outsiders Inside: Whiteness, Place, and Irish Women. New York: Routledge. p. 107.
A refusal to sever ties incorporating the whole island of Ireland into the British state is unthinkingly demonstrated in naming and mapping behaviour. This is most obvious in continued reference to 'the British Isles'.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-567-08280-0.
At the outset, it should be stated that while the expression 'The British Isles' is evidently still commonly employed, its intermittent use throughout this work is only in the geographic sense, in so far as that is acceptable. Since the early twentieth century, that nomenclature has been regarded by some as increasingly less usable. It has been perceived as cloaking the idea of a 'greater England', or an extended south-eastern English imperium, under a common Crown since 1603 onwards. … Nowadays, however, 'Britain and Ireland' is the more favoured expression, though there are problems with that too. … There is no consensus on the matter, inevitably. It is unlikely that the ultimate in non-partisanship that has recently appeared the (East) 'Atlantic Archipelago' will have any appeal beyond captious scholars.
- ^ Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology by Judith Jesch 2003
- ^ Myers, Kevin (9 March 2000). "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times.
millions of people from these islands – oh how angry we get when people call them the British Isles
- ^ "Geographical terms also cause problems and we know that some will find certain of our terms offensive. Many Irish object to the term the 'British Isles';..." The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: Power, Conflict and emancipation. Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd. Cambridge University Press. 1996
Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700. (London: Penguin/Allen Lane, 2003): "the collection of islands which embraces England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales has commonly been known as the British Isles. This title no longer pleases all the inhabitants of the islands, and a more neutral description is 'the Atlantic Isles'" (p. xxvi). On 18 July 2004, The Sunday Business Post Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine questioned the use of British Isles as a purely geographic expression, noting:
Retrieved 17 July 2006[The] "Last Post has redoubled its efforts to re-educate those labouring under the misconception that Ireland is really just British. When British Retail Week magazine last week reported that a retailer was to make its British Isles debut in Dublin, we were puzzled. Is not Dublin the capital of the Republic of Ireland?. When Last Post suggested the magazine might see its way clear to correcting the error, an educative e-mail to the publication...:
"... (which) I have called the Atlantic archipelago – since the term 'British Isles' is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously."
OCLC 60611042.
"... what used to be called the "British Isles", although that is now a politically incorrect term." Finnegan, Richard B.; Edward T. McCarron (2000). Ireland: Historical Echoes, Contemporary Politics. Boulder: Westview Press, p. 358."In an attempt to coin a term that avoided the 'British Isles' – a term often offensive to Irish sensibilities – Pocock suggested a neutral geographical term for the collection of islands located off the northwest coast of continental Europe which included Britain and Ireland: the Atlantic archipelago..." Lambert, Peter; Phillipp Schofield (2004). Making History: An Introduction to the History and Practices of a Discipline. New York: Routledge, p. 217.
"..the term is increasingly unacceptable to Irish historians in particular, for whom the Irish Sea is or ought to be a separating rather than a linking element. Sensitive to such susceptibilities, proponents of the idea of a genuine British history, a theme which has come to the fore during the last couple of decades, are plumping for a more neutral term to label the scattered islands peripheral to the two major ones of Great Britain and Ireland." Roots, Ivan (1997). "Union or Devolution in Cromwell's Britain". History Review.
- ^ The A to Z of Britain and Ireland by Trevor Montague "...although it is traditional to refer to the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the British Isles, when considered as a single archipelago, this nomenclature implies a proprietary title which has long since ceased to exist, if indeed it ever really did exist. Despite the very close affinity between the British and Irish people I have no doubt that my title is both expedient and correct".
- ISBN 0-415-12811-0,
Many of the Irish dislike the 'British' in 'British Isles', while the Welsh and Scottish are not keen on 'Great Britain'. … In response to these difficulties, 'Britain and Ireland' is becoming preferred usage although there is a growing trend amounts some critics to refer to Britain and Ireland as 'the archipelago'.
- ^ "Guardian Style Guide". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
British Isles: A geographical term taken to mean Great Britain, Ireland and some or all of the adjacent islands such as Orkney, Shetland and the Isle of Man. The phrase is best avoided, given its (understandable) unpopularity in the Irish Republic. Alternatives adopted by some publications are British and Irish Isles or simply Britain and Ireland
- ISBN 978-0-521-85095-7.
- ISBN 0-12-179780-5,
The geographical term British Isles is not generally acceptable in Ireland, the term these islands being widely used instead. I prefer the Anglo-Celtic Isles, or the North-West European Archipelago.
- ^ Irish historical studies: Joint Journal of the Irish Historical Society and the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies, Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1990, p. 98,
There is much to be said for considering the archipelago as a whole, for a history of the British or Anglo-Celtic isles or 'these islands'.
- ^ John Oakland, 2003, British Civilization: A Student's Dictionary, Routledge: London
British-Irish Isles, the (geography) see BRITISH ISLES
British Isles, the (geography) A geographical (not political or CONSTITUTIONAL) term for ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES, and IRELAND (including the REPUBLIC OF IRELAND), together with all offshore islands. A more accurate (and politically acceptable) term today is the British-Irish Isles.
- ^ a b Ahern, Bertie (29 October 1998). "Address at 'The Lothian European Lecture' – Edinburgh". Department of the Taoiseach, Taoiseach's Speeches Archive 1998. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2006.
[The Island of] Iona is a powerful symbol of relationships between these islands, with its ethos of service not dominion. Iona also radiated out towards the Europe of the Dark Ages, not to mention Pagan England at Lindisfarne. The British-Irish Council is the expression of a relationship that at the origin of the Anglo-Irish process in 1981 was sometimes given the name Iona, islands of the North Atlantic, and sometimes Council of the Isles, with its evocation of the Lords of the Isles of the 14th and 15th centuries who spanned the North Channel. In the 17th century, Highland warriors and persecuted Presbyterian Ministers criss-crossed the North Channel.
- ^ World and its Peoples: Ireland and United Kingdom, London: Marshall Cavendish, 2010, p. 8,
The nomenclature of Great Britain and Ireland and the status of the different parts of the archipelago are often confused by people in other parts of the world. The name British Isles is commonly used by geographers for the archipelago; in the Republic of Ireland, however, this name is considered to be exclusionary. In the Republic of Ireland, the name British-Irish Isles is occasionally used. However, the term British-Irish Isles is not recognized by international geographers. In all documents jointly drawn up by the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is simply referred to as "these islands." The name British Isles remains the only generally accepted terms for the archipelago off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe.
- ^ Marsh, David (11 May 2010). "Snooker and the geography of the British Isles". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary: "British Isles: a geographical term for the islands comprising Great Britain and Ireland with all their offshore islands including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands."
- ISBN 978-0-7506-7978-7.
The British Isles comprise more than 6,000 islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe, including the countries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. The group also includes the United Kingdom crown dependencies of the Isle of Man, and by tradition, the Channel Islands (the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey), even though these islands are strictly speaking an archipelago immediately off the coast of Normandy (France) rather than part of the British Isles.
- ^ https://www.oed.com/dictionary/british-isles_n?tab=etymology
- ^ Ken MacMillan, 2001, "Discourse on history, geography, and law: John Dee and the limits of the British empire", in Canadian Journal of History, April 2001.
- ^ a b R. J. Mayhew, 2000, "Geography is Twinned with Divinity: The Laudian Geography of Peter Heylyn" in Geographical Review, Vol. 90, No. 1 (January 2000), pp. 18–34: "In the period between 1600 and 1800, politics meant what we might now term 'high politics', excluding the cultural and social elements that modern analyses of ideology seek to uncover. Politics referred to discussions of dynastic legitimacy, of representation, and of the Constitution. ... Geography books spanning the period from the Reformation to the Reform Act ... demonstrated their authors' specific political identities by the languages and arguments they deployed. This cannot be seen as any deviation from the classical geographical tradition, or as a tainting of geography by politics, because geography was not to be conceived separately from politics."
- ^ S2CID 145452323." in the British Journal of the History of Science, 38(1): 73–92, March 2005.
- ^ For example, its use can be seen at A Reading University Meteorological Study, and regularly in The Guardian: 9 November 2006, 16 November 2006, 23 November 2006.
- ^ a b "The British Isles: Simple Geography or Complex Histories? - Public History Weekly - The Open Peer Review Journal". Public History Weekly. 1 June 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
- ^ Cruse, Ian (16 June 2008). "House of Lords - Library Note for the Debate on 19th June: Britishness" (PDF). Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ "GENUKI – The UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service on the Internet Archived 5 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine: The website uses the term "British Isles" in various ways, including ways that use Ireland as all of Ireland, while simultaneously using the term "The British Isles and Ireland", e.g. "Anyone using GENUKI should remember that its name is somewhat misleading – the website actually covers the British Isles and Ireland, rather than just the United Kingdom, and therefore includes information about the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland."
- ^ "British Weather (Part One)". Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2007.. This BBC article referred to "a small country such as the British Isles" between at least April 2004 and January 2007. It was changed in February 2007 and now reads "a small area such as the British Isles".
- ^ For example, see Google searches of the BBC website.
- ISBN 978-0-19-182353-4, retrieved 6 October 2023
- ^ "Herr ambassador Pauls, with these comments, you are really spoiling us..." Sunday Tribune. 23 September 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2021.[dead link]
- ^ Revealed: What the British really think of us, Irish Examiner, 13 December 2003 Archived 5 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-80996-2.
Finding an acceptable shorthand geographical description for the countries which formed the UK before the creation of Eire has proved difficult. Whilst accurate, the term 'Atlantic archipelago' is rather cumbersome so, for convenience, I have used the following as virtual synonyms: the islands of Britain; these islands; the British Isles, and the adjective, British. Without intending to imply any hidden imperial or other agenda, they describe the kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales as they existed in the sixteenth century, following the definition of the British Isles in the Oxford English Dictionary: 'a geographical term for the islands comprising Great Britain and Ireland with all their offshore islands including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands'.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-860537-9.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link - ISBN 978-0-19-190563-6, retrieved 6 October 2023
- ISBN 978-0-19-190563-6, retrieved 6 October 2023,
British Isles: from 1536 these have included the following states: …
- Brithonic, Irish and Scottish Gaelic etc) employed earlier" … "The British Isles have experienced five major invasions by foreigners who spoke a different language: Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and Normans
- ^ ISBN 978-1-139-19701-4, retrieved 10 October 2023
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
- ^ On 18 July 2004 The Sunday Business Post Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine questioned the use of British Isles as a purely geographic expression, noting:
Retrieved 17 July 2006[The] "Last Post has redoubled its efforts to re-educate those labouring under the misconception that Ireland is really just British. When British Retail Week magazine last week reported that a retailer was to make its British Isles debut in Dublin, we were puzzled. Is not Dublin the capital of the Republic of Ireland? ... Archipelago of islands lying off the north-western coast of Europe?
- ^ Norman Davies, op. cit., p. xxii.
- ^ "Irish Genealogical Sources No. 25 – History of the Royal Hibernian Military School, Dublin" uses the term "then British Isles" to refer to Ireland's relationship association with it prior to 1922.
- ^ JSTOR 1877393.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-61645-4.
We should start with what I have called the Atlantic archipelago – since the term 'British Isles' is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously
- ISBN 978-0-19-820091-8., it is always described as Britain and Ireland, and I deliberately avoid the politically loaded phrase 'the British Isles' not least because this was not a normal usage in the political discourse of the time
When I refer to the composite monarchy ruled over by James VI and I and by King Charles I
- ISBN 978-0-19-925905-2.
- ^ "Prof. Nicholas Canny, Biography". University of Galway. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ JSTOR 29735809– via JSTOR.
- ^ "Emeritus Professor Steven G. Ellis, Biography". University of Galway. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-304-36334-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-991619-1, retrieved 6 October 2023
- Harper & Brothers. pp. 373–374.
- ^ "Speech by Síle de Valera, T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands at the opening of the Clare Drama Festival in Scarriff Community College". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2006.
- ^ "Gov.ie". Gov.ie. Retrieved 1 November 2018.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Dáil Éireann debate – Wednesday, 28 Sep 2005". Oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie. 28 September 2005. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
- ^ "Dáil Éireann – Volume 606 – 28 September, 2005, reply by Dermot Ahern TD to parliamentary question from Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD". Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
- ^ 'Keeping a Peace Process on Track': A Comparative Study Visit Report: Dublin, Dundalk and Belfast, 19th – 23rd April 2015 (PDF). Democratic Progress Institute. London. 2015. p. 111.
- ^ "Response by the Minister for Health and Children to a question in Parliament". Historical-debates.oireachtas.ie. 3 October 2001. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ Official Report of the Parliament of Ireland: [1] Archived 18 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine, (389 KB)
- ^ Parliamentary Debates: Joint Committee on Education and Science, 17 November 2005 Archived 5 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Díospóireachtaí Coistí – Committee Debates". Gov.ie. 12 January 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ "Díospóireachtaí Coistí – Committee Debates". Gov.ie. 12 January 2011. Archived from the original on 7 September 2004. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ "Díospóireachtaí Coistí – Committee Debates". Gov.ie. 12 January 2011. Archived from the original on 20 April 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- Irish Times, 2 October 2006 Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Details of current editions of Folens atlases: Primary Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Post-primary
- ^ "New atlas lets Ireland slip shackles of Britain". A spokesman for the Irish Embassy in London said: "The British Isles has a dated ring to it, as if we are still part of the Empire. We are independent, we are not part of Britain, not even in geographical terms. We would discourage its usage [sic]."
- ^ Clarke, Donald (9 January 2016). "Donald Clarke: Saoirse Ronan being claimed by the UK not 'a compliment'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ *"British Isles". New English-Irish Dictionary. Foras na Gaeilge. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977). "Bhreatain". Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977). "Éire". Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
- ^ "British Isles". téarma.ie – Dictionary of Irish Terms. Foras na Gaeilge and Dublin City University. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-00-470753-2.
- ^ "Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, 1999. Module: Community Relations. Variable: Irish". Ark.ac.uk. 9 May 2003. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey. Module: Community Relations. Variable: British: Summary: 78% of Protestants replied "Strongly British."
- ^ Tom Hennessey and Robin Wilson, With all due respect – pluralism and parity of esteem, Democratic Dialogue (1997).
- ^ Speech by the Rt Hon David Trimble to the Northern Ireland Forum. Retrieved 16 July 2006.
- ^ Speech by Mr David Trimble to the AGM of the Ulster Unionist Council, 20 March 1999. Retrieved 16 July 2006.
- ^ a b Partnership plan for peace and prosperity Archived 22 January 2004 at the Wayback Machine, Irish Independent, 14 December 1999. Retrieved 16 July 2006.
- ^ British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body. 15th Plenary Session. 30 March 1998 Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Three sets of relationships were defined. (i) Within Northern Ireland. (ii) North–South for the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and (iii) East–West for relationships on the islands.
- ^ "Prayer Association of British Isles and Ireland". Prayer-alert.net. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ Macey & Morgan, Learning on the road: nursing in the British Isles and Ireland (Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, 1988)
- ^ Badham, M., and Richards, V. (1991). Gibbon Regional Studbook: British Isles and Ireland, 13th Edition, Twycross Zoo, East Midland Zoological Society, Twycross.
- ^ "Folklore and Folklife – Courses – Spring 2003 – FOLK 547 640: Folklore of the British Isles and Ireland". Sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
- ^ For example, P. North, The Private International Law of Matrimonial Causes in the British Isles and the Republic of Ireland (1977).
- ^ See Law Society Gazette, Law Society of Ireland, July 2001.
- ^ Open Republic. Retrieved 5 July 2006. Archived 15 April 2013 at archive.today
- ^ Statement by the Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil, Mr Bertie Ahern, TD on "Northern Ireland: Political Situation and Developments Archived 27 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine" at the Forty-Second Plenary Session of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, Dublin Castle, 5 December 1997
- ^ "Referendum (English Parliament) Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 304. House of Commons. 16 January 1998. col. 663. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ a b Dáil Debates. Vol. 484. Col.466. 9 December 1997 Archived 7 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Introduction to the three Northatlantic Islands". Northatlantic-islands.com. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa seems rather appropriate, in Patrick Dinneen. 1927. Irish–English Dictionary. Dublin: Irish Texts Society
- ^ Ellanyn Sheear ny hOarpey in Douglas C. Fargher. 1979. Fargher's English-Manx dictionary. Douglas: Shearwater Press.
- ^ Na hOileáin Bhreatanacha, in T. J. Dunne, tr. Toirdhealbhach Ó Raithbheartaigh. 1937. Tír-Eóluíocht na h-Éireann. Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig Díolta Foillseacháin Rialtais
- ^ Ny hEllanyn Goaldagh s.v. British-Isles, in Douglas C. Fargher. 1979. Fargher's English-Manx dictionary. Douglas: Shearwater Press.
- ^ Guelke, Adrian (2001). "Northern Ireland and Island Status". In John McGarry (ed.). Northern Ireland and the Divided World: The Northern Ireland Conflict and the Good Friday Agreement in Comparative Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 231.|
- ^ a b Ryan, Nicky (28 October 2013). "Complex politics or simple geography: Is Ireland part of the British Isles?". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
- Project MUSE 643004.
- The common, and apparently the best founded opinion, that Thule is the island of Iceland.
- That it is either the Ferroe group, or one of those islands.
- The notion of Ortelius, Farnaby, and Schœnning, that it is identical with Thylemark in Norway.
- The opinion of Malte Brun, that the continental portion of Denmark is meant thereby, a part of which is to the present day called Thy or Thyland.
- The opinion of Rudbeck and of Calstron, borrowed originally from Procopius, that this is a general name for the whole of Scandinavia.
- That of Gosselin, who thinks that under this name Shetland Islands, is meant.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (linkGeographers may have formed the habit of referring to the archipelago consisting of Britain and Ireland as the Britannic isles, but there never had been a historical myth linking the islands. Medieval historians, such as the twelfth-century Geoffrey of Monmouth, had developed the idea that Britain (i.e. England, Scotland, and Wales) had first been settled by Trojan refugees fleeing after the capture and destruction of their city by the Greeks. The founding monarch – Brutus – had then divided up the island between his three sons, the eldest (Albion) inheriting England and the younger sons Scotland and Wales. This permitted English antiquarians to claim a superiority for the English nation and the English Crown. In the fourteenth century the Scots developed their own counter-myth which acknowledged that Trojans had first occupied England and Wales, but asserted that Scotland had been occupied by colonists from Greece – the conquerors of Troy. Faced by such Scottish counter-myths and by the scepticism bred of humanist scholarship, few people took any of these historical claims seriously by 1600. English claims that kings of Scotland had regularly recognised the feudal suzerainty
References
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