Wales

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Wales
Cymru (Welsh)
Anthem: "
Location of Wales (dark green) – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in the United Kingdom (green)
Location of Wales (dark green)

– in

Country
Capital
and largest city
Cardiff
51°29′N 3°11′W / 51.483°N 3.183°W / 51.483; -3.183
Coordinates: 52°18′N 3°36′W / 52.3°N 3.6°W / 52.3; -3.6
Official languages
Ethnic groups )
Religion
(2021)
Demonym(s)Welsh
GovernmentDevolved parliamentary legislature within parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch
Charles III
Mark Drakeford
Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Secretary of StateDavid TC Davies
• House of Commons40 MPs (of 650)
Legislature
Laws in Wales Act[3]
1543
27 July 1967
31 July 1998
Population
• 2022 estimate
Neutral increase 3,267,501[6]
• 2021 census
Neutral increase 3,107,500[7]
• Density
150/km2 (388.5/sq mi)
GVA2020[9] estimate
 • Total£67 billion
 • Per capita£21,010[8]
GB-WLS
Internet TLD.wales .cymru [a]
Website
wales.com
  1. GeoTLDs, open to use by all people in Wales and related to Wales. .uk as part of the United Kingdom is also used. ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb
    is unused.

Wales (

maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff
.

Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by David Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century; a nationalist party, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925, and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. A governing system of Welsh devolution is employed in Wales, of which the most major step was the formation of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament, formerly the National Assembly for Wales) in 1998, responsible for a range of devolved policy matters
.

At the dawn of the

agricultural self-sufficiency
.

The country has a distinct national and cultural identity and from the late 19th century onwards Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", in part due to the eisteddfod tradition and rousing choir singing. Both Welsh and English are official languages. A majority of the population in most areas speaks English whilst a majority of the population in parts of the north and west speak Welsh, with a total of 538,300 Welsh speakers across the whole country.

Etymology

The English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the same

Britons in particular; the plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales.[13][14] Historically in Britain, the words were not restricted to modern Wales or to the Welsh but were used to refer to anything that Anglo-Saxons associated with Britons, including other non-Germanic territories in Britain (e.g. Cornwall) and places in Anglo-Saxon territory associated with Britons (e.g. Walworth in County Durham and Walton in West Yorkshire).[15]

The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced

History

Prehistoric origins

A low grassy mound with an entrance at its centre framed by cyclopean stones
Bryn Celli Ddu, a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey
Caradog by Thomas Prydderch. Caradog was leader of the north Walian Celtic tribe, the Ordovices
.
glaciers by about 10,250 BP, the warmer climate allowing the area to become heavily wooded. The post-glacial rise in sea level separated Wales and Ireland, forming the Irish Sea. By 8,000 BP the British Peninsula had become an island.[21] By the beginning of the Neolithic (c. 6,000 BP) sea levels in the Bristol Channel were still about 33 feet (10 metres) lower than today.[22] The historian John Davies theorised that the story of Cantre'r Gwaelod's drowning and tales in the Mabinogion, of the waters between Wales and Ireland being narrower and shallower, may be distant folk memories of this time.[23]

Neolithic colonists integrated with the indigenous people, gradually changing their lifestyles from a nomadic life of hunting and gathering, to become settled farmers about 6,000 BP – the Neolithic Revolution.[23][24] They cleared the forests to establish pasture and to cultivate the land, developed new technologies such as ceramics and textile production, and built cromlechs such as Pentre Ifan, Bryn Celli Ddu, and Parc Cwm long cairn between about 5,800 BP and 5,500 BP.[25] Over the following centuries they assimilated immigrants and adopted ideas from Bronze Age and Iron Age Celtic cultures. Some historians, such as John T. Koch, consider Wales in the Late Bronze Age as part of a maritime trading-networked culture that included other Celtic nations.[26] This "Atlantic-Celtic" view is opposed by others who hold that the Celtic languages derive their origins from the more easterly Hallstatt culture.[27] By the time of the Roman invasion of Britain the area of modern Wales had been divided among the tribes of the Deceangli (north-east), Ordovices (north-west), Demetae (south-west), Silures (south-east) and Cornovii (east), centuries.[23][28]

Leader of the Ordovices, Caractacus or Caradog, was successful in resisting Roman invasions of north Wales for a period.[29] He was eventually defeated and taken to Rome where, following a famous speech to the Roman senate, his life was spared and he was allowed to live peacefully in Rome.[30]

Roman era

The Roman conquest of Wales began in AD 48 and took 30 years to complete; the occupation lasted over 300 years. The campaigns of conquest were opposed by two native tribes: the

Constantine I issuing an edict of toleration in 313.[35]

Early historians, including the 6th-century cleric Gildas, have noted 383 as a significant point in Welsh history.[36] In that year, the Roman general Magnus Maximus, or Macsen Wledig, stripped Britain of troops to launch a successful bid for imperial power, continuing to rule Britain from Gaul as emperor, and transferring power to local leaders.[37] The earliest Welsh genealogies cite Maximus as the founder of several royal dynasties,[38] and as the father of the Welsh Nation.[36] He is given as the ancestor of a Welsh king on the Pillar of Eliseg, erected nearly 500 years after he left Britain, and he figures in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales.[39]

Post-Roman era

Britons, here labelled Welsh. The pale blue areas in the east were controlled by Germanic tribes, whilst the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and Picts
.

The 400-year period following the collapse of Roman rule is the most difficult to interpret in the history of Wales.[35] After the Roman departure in AD 410, much of the lowlands of Britain to the east and south-east was overrun by various Germanic peoples, commonly known as Anglo-Saxons. Some have theorized that the cultural dominance of the Anglo-Saxons was due to apartheid-like social conditions in which the Britons were at a disadvantage.[40] By AD 500 the land that would become Wales had divided into a number of kingdoms free from Anglo-Saxon rule.

Badon Hill against the Saxons, which was attributed to Arthur by Nennius.[41]

Having lost much of what is now the

Aethelbald of Mercia, looking to defend recently acquired lands, had built Wat's Dyke. According to Davies, this had been with the agreement of king Elisedd ap Gwylog of Powys, as this boundary, extending north from the valley of the River Severn to the Dee estuary, gave him Oswestry.[42] Another theory, after carbon dating placed the dyke's existence 300 years earlier, is that it was built by the post-Roman rulers of Wroxeter.[43] King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this initiative when he created a larger earthwork, now known as Offa's Dyke (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 slopes in the hands of the Welsh; near Rhiwabon, 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."[42] However, Fox's interpretations of both the length and purpose of the Dyke have been questioned by more recent research.[44]

In 853, the

The southern and eastern parts of Great Britain lost to English settlement became known in Welsh as

Armes Prydain, believed to be written around 930–942, the words Cymry and Cymro are used as often as 15 times.[49] However, from the Anglo-Saxon settlement onwards, the people gradually begin to adopt the name Cymry over Brythoniad.[50]

From 800 onwards, a series of dynastic marriages led to Rhodri Mawr's (r. 844–77) inheritance of Gwynedd and Powys. His sons founded the three dynasties of (Aberffraw for Gwynedd, Dinefwr for Deheubarth and Mathrafal for Powys). Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda (r. 900–50) founded Deheubarth out of his maternal and paternal inheritances of Dyfed and Seisyllwg in 930, ousted the Aberffraw dynasty from Gwynedd and Powys and then codified Welsh law in the 940s.[51] Maredudd ab Owain (r. 986–99) of Deheubarth, (Hywel's grandson), temporarily ousted the Aberffraw line from control of Gwynedd and Powys. Maredudd's great-grandson (through his daughter Princess Angharad) Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (r. 1039–63) conquered his cousins' realms from his base in Powys, and extended his authority into England.[citation needed]

High to late middle ages

Berwyn Mountains, according to Davies.[55] During this time, between 1053 and 1063, Wales lacked any internal strife and was at peace.[56]

Within four years of the

completely subjugated by the Normans.[1] William I of England established a series of lordships, allocated to his most powerful warriors, along the Welsh border, their boundaries fixed only to the east (where they met other feudal properties inside England).[57] Starting in the 1070s, these lords began conquering land in southern and eastern Wales, west of the River Wye. The frontier region, and any English-held lordships in Wales, became known as Marchia Wallie, the Welsh Marches, in which the Marcher lords were subject to neither English nor Welsh law.[58] The extent of the March varied as the fortunes of the Marcher lords and the Welsh princes ebbed and flowed.[59]

Owain Gwynedd's grandson

Builth remained unchanged.
The statue of a man in a tunic and short cape clasped at his right shoulder, sculpted in white stone. The figure, set indoors with its back to an arched window, holds a down-pointed sword in his right hand and a scroll in his left.
Statue of Owain Glyndŵr (c. 1354 or 1359 – c. 1416) at Cardiff City Hall

After the failed revolt in 1294–95 of Madog ap Llywelyn – who styled himself Prince of Wales in the Penmachno Document – and the rising of Llywelyn Bren (1316), the last uprising was led by Owain Glyndŵr, against Henry IV of England. In 1404, Owain was crowned prince of Wales in the presence of emissaries from France, Spain (Castille) and Scotland.[68] Glyndŵr went on to hold parliamentary assemblies at several Welsh towns, including a Welsh parliament (Welsh: senedd) at Machynlleth. The rebellion was eventually defeated by 1412. Having failed Owain went into hiding and nothing was known of him after 1413.[69]

[70]

Richard III in 1485, uniting England and Wales under one royal house. The last remnants of Celtic-tradition Welsh law were abolished and replaced by English law by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 during the reign of Henry VII's son, Henry VIII.[71] In the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales, Wales became unified with the kingdom of England; the "Principality of Wales" began to refer to the whole country, though it remained a "principality" only in a ceremonial sense.[64][72] The Marcher lordships were abolished, and Wales began electing members of the Westminster parliament.[73]

Early modern period

Dowlais Ironworks (1840) by George Childs (1798–1875)

In 1536 Wales had around 278,000 inhabitants, which increased to around 360,000 by 1620. This was primarily due to rural settlement, where animal farming was central to the Welsh economy. Increase in trade and increased economic stability occurred due to the increased diversity of the Welsh economy. Population growth however outpaced economic growth and the standard of living dropped.[74]

Prior to the

manufacture of woollen textiles, through to mining and quarrying.[75] Agriculture remained the dominant source of wealth.[75] The emerging industrial period saw the development of copper smelting in the Swansea area. With access to local coal deposits and a harbour that connected it with Cornwall's copper mines in the south and the large copper deposits at Parys Mountain on Anglesey, Swansea developed into the world's major centre for non-ferrous metal smelting in the 19th century.[75] The second metal industry to expand in Wales was iron smelting, and iron manufacturing became prevalent in both the north and the south of the country.[76] In the north, John Wilkinson's Ironworks at Bersham was a major centre, while in the south, at Merthyr Tydfil, the ironworks of Dowlais, Cyfarthfa, Plymouth and Penydarren became the most significant hub of iron manufacture in Wales.[76] By the 1820s, south Wales produced 40 per cent of all Britain's pig iron.[76]

By the 18th century, lawyers, doctors, estate agents and government officials formed a

South Wales coalfield was exploited, Cardiff, Swansea, Penarth and Barry grew as world exporters of coal. By its height in 1913, Wales was producing almost 61 million tons of coal.[79]

Modern period

A Plaid Cymru rally in Machynlleth in 1949, where the "Parliament for Wales in 5 years" campaign was started

Historian

First World War as a "relatively placid, self-confident and successful nation". The output from the coalfields continued to increase, with the Rhondda Valley recording a peak of 9.6 million tons of coal extracted in 1913.[80] The First World War (1914–1918) saw a total of 272,924 Welshmen under arms, representing 21.5 per cent of the male population. Of these, roughly 35,000 were killed,[81] with particularly heavy losses of Welsh forces at Mametz Wood on the Somme and the Battle of Passchendaele.[82] The first quarter of the 20th century also saw a shift in the political landscape of Wales. Since 1865, the Liberal Party had held a parliamentary majority in Wales and, following the general election of 1906, only one non-Liberal Member of Parliament, Keir Hardie of Merthyr Tydfil, represented a Welsh constituency at Westminster. Yet by 1906, industrial dissension and political militancy had begun to undermine Liberal consensus in the southern coalfields.[83] In 1916, David Lloyd George became the first Welshman to become Prime Minister of Britain.[84] In December 1918, Lloyd George was re-elected at the head of a Conservative-dominated coalition government, and his poor handling of the 1919 coal miners' strike was a key factor in destroying support for the Liberal party in south Wales.[85] The industrial workers of Wales began shifting towards the Labour Party. When in 1908 the Miners' Federation of Great Britain became affiliated to the Labour Party, the four Labour candidates sponsored by miners were all elected as MPs. By 1922, half the Welsh seats at Westminster were held by Labour politicians—the start of a Labour dominance of Welsh politics that continued into the 21st century.[86]

After economic growth in the first two decades of the 20th century, Wales' staple industries endured a prolonged slump from the early 1920s to the late 1930s, leading to widespread unemployment and poverty.

Second World War.[88] The war saw Welsh servicemen and women fight in all major theatres, with some 15,000 of them killed. Bombing raids brought high loss of life as the German Air Force targeted the docks at Swansea, Cardiff and Pembroke. After 1943, 10 per cent of Welsh conscripts aged 18 were sent to work in the coal mines, where there were labour shortages; they became known as Bevin Boys. Pacifist numbers during both World Wars were fairly low, especially in the Second World War, which was seen as a fight against fascism.[89]

Charles in 1969, these groups were responsible for a number of bomb attacks on infrastructure.[95] At a by-election in 1966, Gwynfor Evans won the parliamentary seat of Carmarthen, Plaid Cymru's first Parliamentary seat.[96]

"Cofiwch Dryweryn" mural after rebuild in October 2020, protesting the Tryweryn flooding
to supply water to England

By the end of the 1960s, the policy of bringing businesses into disadvantaged areas of Wales through financial incentives had proven very successful in diversifying the industrial economy.

industrial estates and improvements in transport communications,[97] most notably the M4 motorway linking south Wales directly to London. It was believed that the foundations for stable economic growth had been firmly established in Wales during this period, but this was shown to be optimistic after the recession of the early 1980s saw the collapse of much of the manufacturing base that had been built over the preceding forty years.[98]

Devolution

The Welsh Language Act 1967 repealed a section of the Wales and Berwick Act and thus "Wales" was no longer part of the legal definition of England. This essentially defined Wales as a separate entity legally (but within the UK), for the first time since before the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 which defined Wales as a part of the Kingdom of England. The Welsh Language Act 1967 also expanded areas where use of Welsh was permitted, including in some legal situations.[99]

protest against the "Prince of Wales"
's investiture