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Wales ( ) is a
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
that is part of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It is bordered by the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
to the north and west,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
to the
east East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to the south-west. , it had a population of 3.2 million. It has a total area of and over of coastline. It is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. Its capital and largest city is Cardiff. A distinct
Welsh culture The culture of Wales encompasses the Welsh language, customs, Traditional festival days of Wales, festivals, Music of Wales, music, Welsh art, art, Welsh cuisine, cuisine, Welsh mythology, mythology, History of Wales, history, and Politics of ...
emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was briefly united under Gruffudd ap Llywelyn in 1055. After over 200 years of war, the conquest of Wales by King
Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...
was completed by 1283, though Owain Glyndŵr led the Welsh Revolt against English rule in the early 15th century, and briefly re-established an independent Welsh state with its own national parliament (). In the 16th century the whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the late 19th and early 20th century by David Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of
socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century: a
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
party, , 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 (Welsh Parliament, formerly the National Assembly for Wales) in 1998, responsible for a range of devolved policy matters. At the dawn of the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
, development of the
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
and metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into an industrial one; the South Wales Coalfield's exploitation caused a rapid expansion of Wales's population. Two-thirds of the population live in
South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
, including Cardiff,
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
, Newport, and the nearby valleys. The eastern region of
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
has about a sixth of the overall population, with Wrexham being the largest northern city. The remaining parts of Wales are sparsely populated. Since decline of the country's traditional extractive and heavy industries, the public sector, light and service industries, and
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
play major roles in its
economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
. Agriculture in Wales is largely livestock-based, making Wales a net exporter of animal produce, contributing towards national agricultural self-sufficiency. Both Welsh and English are
official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...
s. A majority of the population of Wales speaks English. Welsh is the dominant language in parts of the
north North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and west, with a total of 538,300 Welsh speakers across the entire country. Wales has four UNESCO world heritage sites, of which three are in the north.


Etymology

The English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the same
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
root (singular , plural ), a descendant of
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
, which was itself derived from the name of the
Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...
known to the Romans as Volcae. This term was later used to refer indiscriminately to inhabitants of the
Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...
.
Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
came to use the term to refer to the Britons in particular; the plural form evolved into the name for their territory, Wales.Davies (1994) p. 71 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 Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
) and places in Anglo-Saxon territory associated with Britons (e.g. Walworth in County Durham and Walton in West Yorkshire). The modern Welsh name for themselves is , and is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced ) are descended from the Brythonic word ''combrogi'', meaning "fellow-countrymen",Davies (1994) p. 69 and probably came into use before the 7th century. In literature, they could be spelt or , regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of these names, ''Cambrian'', ''Cambric'' and '' Cambria'', survive as names such as the Cambrian Mountains and the Cambrian geological period.


History

Although the Welsh nation would not arise until the Middle Ages, the territory of Wales was permanently settled from the end of the last ice age onwards.: ''see'' Red Lady of Paviland These first farmers left many impressive funerary monuments, as well as settlement sites that speak to a dispersed culture. With the arrival of the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
, the Great Orme in North Wales became Britain's premier producer of copper, one of the key ores for smelting bronze. It is likely that the wealth of mineral resources in Britain, and especially Wales, attracted the Roman invasion, but by this time the island had become distinctively Celtic in culture, and the
Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
population was largely replaced. It was this
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
Celtic culture, and their common language, that were called the Britons by the Romans. With the departure of the Romans, Britain fractured into various kingdoms. Despite this, there is a sense in which the Roman withdrawal of 383 created a post Roman nation of Britons, with Magnus Maximus proclaimed Roman emperor in Britannia and Gaul. Although long before the term Cymry (the Welsh term for the Welsh) had been adopted, the concept of a British people, from which the Welsh would emerge, was created here. Encroachment by Germanic Anglo-Saxon settlers gradually displaced the indigenous culture and language of the Britons, and one group of these Britons became isolated by the geography of the western peninsula, bounded by the sea and English neighbours. It was these English neighbours who named the land Wallia, and the people Welsh. The people of Wallia, medieval Wales, remained divided into separate kingdoms that fought with each other as much as they fought their English neighbours. Neither were the communities homogeneously Welsh. Place name, historical records and archaeological evidence point to coastal Viking/Norse settlement in places such as Swansea, Fishguard and Anglesey, and Saxons settled inland amongst the Welsh in places such as Presteigne. In the 10th century, Hywel ap Cadell, later known as Hywel Dda, formed the kingdom of Deheubarth from inheritances in Dyfed and Seisyllwg, and then gained control of the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys in 942. With control of nearly all the territory of Wales, he codified Welsh law, a law code that survived the later fracture of his kingdom, and that became a significant step in the creation of the nation. With a common culture and an external threat, the kingdoms of Wales began to see themselves as one people. A century later the Kingdom of Gwynedd was in ascendency, and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn subdued all opposition by 1057, becoming the only king to unite all of Wales, and parts of England on the border. "Thus, from about 1057 until his death in 1063, the whole of Wales recognised the kingship of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. For about seven brief years, Wales was one, under one ruler, a feat with neither precedent nor successor." The kingdom did not last, and Gruffydd met his death as a result of a surprise attack by Tostig, brother of the English King, Harold. After Gruffydd's death, Harold married his widow, but she would be widowed again by the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The Normans followed their invasion of England with incursions into Wales, forming the semi-independent Norman Welsh marches (from the French for borderlands), and dividing them from the unconquered Pura Wallia. The fortunes of Welsh marcher lords and various Welsh princes ebbed and flowed, until Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn the Great) forced all other Welsh princes to submit to him in 1216. Yet Wales was divided again after his death, and it was left for his grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd to secure the supremacy once more, recognised as Prince of Wales by the English king, Henry III, in the treaty of Montgomery of 1267. Relations with Henry's successor, Edward I, broke down and led to a war of conquest, concluding in 1283 with English victory. The following year the statute of Rhuddlan ended Welsh independence. Wales was divided between principality, ruled by Edward, and the marches and ruled by feudal marcher lords. This persisted, despite the Welsh rebellion under Owain Glyndŵr of 1400–1415, until the rise of the Tudors, with Welsh support. With the Laws in Wales Acts of Henry VIII, the Welsh became full citizens in the Kingdom of England, with parliamentary representation. The Welsh border was also formally defined and the territory reunited. In 1707 the act of union created the Kingdom of Great Britain. The industrial revolution and the beginning of empire led to the rapid increase in mining and exploitation of Welsh natural materials – metals, coal and slate. The population of Wales expanded rapidly and Wales moved to the centre of the British economy, but the changes bred resentment, this time towards industrialists and not the English state. Meanwhile, a series of religious revivals transformed the character of the nation, beginning a tradition of non-conformism. This carried over into the political sphere too. The rapid industrialisation of parts of Wales gave rise to strong and radical Welsh working class movements which led to the Merthyr Rising of 1831, the widespread support for Chartism, and the Newport Rising of 1839. Strong liberal traditions were forged and later replaced by socialism. Since 1922 Wales has voted Labour in every general election. From the mid 19th century until 1914, Wales experienced a strengthened political culture, religious and cultural revival, renewed interest in Welsh literature, the revival of eisteddfodau. There was a thriving economy a renewed interest in Welsh language, and music, non-conformist Christianity and the emergence of strong national identity, along with the founding of many national institutions. However the period also saw the publication of a report on education that became known as the Treachery of the Blue Books. The report blamed Welsh language and non conformism for poor educational standards and led to a requirement for bilingual education. This fed the rise of the Welsh nationalist movement, expressed in the Cymru Fydd movement, which advocated for greater autonomy and recognition of Welsh identity within the United Kingdom. Calls for
devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...
grew over the course of a century, and in 1998 the Government of Wales Act created a devolved Welsh assembly for the first time, now renamed the Senedd or Welsh Parliament.


Government and politics

Wales is a country that is part of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom. ISO 3166-2:GB formerly defined Wales as a principality, with England and Scotland defined as countries and Northern Ireland as a province. However, this definition was raised in the Welsh Assembly in 2010 and the then Counsel General for Wales, John Griffiths, stated, 'Principality is a misnomer and that Wales should properly be referred to as a country.' In 2011, ISO 3166-2:GB was updated and the term 'principality' was replaced with 'country'. UK Government toponymic guidelines state that, 'though there is a Prince of Wales, this role is deemed to be titular rather than exerting executive authority, and therefore Wales is described as a country rather than a principality.' In the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
– the 650-member
lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...
of the UK Parliament – there are 32 members of Parliament (MPs) who represent Welsh constituencies. At the 2024 general election, 27 Labour and Labour Co-op MPs were elected, along with 4 Plaid Cymru MPs and 1 Liberal Democrat MP from Wales. The Wales Office is a department of the UK government responsible for Wales, whose minister, the Secretary of State for Wales (Welsh secretary), sits in the UK cabinet. Wales has a devolved, unicameral legislature known as the Senedd (Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament) which holds devolved powers from the UK Parliament via a reserved powers model. For the purposes of
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
, Wales has been divided into 22 council areas since 1996. These "principal areas" are responsible for the provision of all local government services.


Devolved Government

Following
devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...
in 1997, the
Government of Wales Act 1998 A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
created a Welsh devolved assembly, the National Assembly for Wales, with the power to determine how Wales's central government budget is spent and administered. Eight years later, the Government of Wales Act 2006 reformed the National Assembly for Wales and allowed further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act also created a system of government with a separate executive, the Welsh Government, drawn from and accountable to the legislature, the National Assembly. Following a successful referendum in 2011, the National Assembly was empowered to make laws, known as Acts of the Assembly, on all matters in devolved subject areas, without requiring the UK Parliament's approval of legislative competence. It also gained powers to raise taxes. In May 2020, the National Assembly was renamed "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament", commonly known as the Senedd in both English and Welsh. Devolved areas of responsibility include agriculture, economic development, education, health, housing, local government, social services, tourism, transport and the Welsh language. The Welsh Government also promotes Welsh interests abroad.


Law

By tradition, Welsh Law was compiled during an assembly held at Whitland around 930 by Hywel Dda, king of most of Wales between 942 and his death in 950. The ' law of Hywel Dda' (), as it became known, codified the previously existing folk laws and legal customs that had evolved in Wales over centuries. Welsh Law emphasised the payment of compensation for a crime to the victim, or the victim's kin, rather than punishment by the ruler. Other than in the Marches, where March law was imposed by the Marcher Lords, Welsh Law remained in force in Wales until the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.
Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...
annexed the Principality of Wales following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and Welsh Law was replaced for criminal cases under the Statute. Marcher Law and Welsh Law (for civil cases) remained in force until
Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
annexed the whole of Wales under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 (often referred to as the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1543), after which English law applied to the whole of Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided that all laws that applied to England would automatically apply to Wales (and the Anglo-Scottish border town of Berwick) unless the law explicitly stated otherwise; this Act was repealed with regard to Wales in 1967. English law has been the legal system of
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
since 1536.Davies (1994) p. 263 English law is regarded as a
common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
system, with no major codification of the law and legal precedents are binding as opposed to persuasive. The court system is headed by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom which is the highest court of appeal in the land for criminal and civil cases. The Senior Courts of England and Wales is the highest court of first instance as well as an
appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...
. The three divisions are the
Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
, the
High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...
, and the Crown Court. Minor cases are heard by magistrates' courts or the County Court. In 2007 the Wales and Cheshire Region (known as the Wales and Cheshire Circuit before 2005) came to an end when Cheshire was attached to the North-Western England Region. From that point, Wales became a legal unit in its own right, although it remains part of the single
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...
of
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
. The Senedd has the authority to draft and approve laws outside of the UK Parliamentary system to meet the specific needs of Wales. Under powers approved by a
referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
held in March 2011, it is empowered to pass primary legislation, at the time referred to as an Act of the National Assembly for Wales but now known as an Act of Senedd Cymru in relation to twenty subjects listed in the Government of Wales Act 2006 such as health and education. Through this primary legislation, the
Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...
can then also enact more specific subordinate legislation. Wales is served by four regional police forces: Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police, North Wales Police, and South Wales Police. There are five prisons in Wales: four in the southern half of the country, and one in Wrexham. Wales has no women's prisons: female inmates are imprisoned in England.


Geography and natural history

Wales is a generally mountainous country on the western side of central southern Great Britain. It is about north to south. The oft-quoted " size of Wales" is about . Wales is bordered by England to the east and by sea in all other directions: the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
to the north and west, St George's Channel and the Celtic Sea to the southwest and the Bristol Channel to the south. Wales has about of coastline (along the mean high water mark), including the mainland,
Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
and Holyhead. Over 50 islands lie off the Welsh mainland, the largest being Anglesey, in the north-west. Much of Wales's 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 (), of which five are over . The highest of these is Snowdon (), at . The 14 Welsh mountains, or 15 if including Carnedd Gwenllianoften discounted because of its low topographic prominenceover high are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s and are located in a small area in the north-west. The highest outside the 3000s is Aran Fawddwy, at , in the south of Snowdonia. The Brecon Beacons () are in the south (highest point Pen y Fan, at ), and are joined by the Cambrian Mountains in Mid Wales (highest point Pumlumon, at ). Wales has three national parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, and Pembrokeshire Coast (). It has five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Anglesey, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, the Gower Peninsula, the
Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...
, and the Wye Valley. The Gower Peninsula was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1956. As of 2019, the coastline of Wales had 40 Blue Flag beaches, three Blue Flag marinas and one Blue Flag boat operator. The south and west coasts of Wales, along with the Irish and Cornish coasts, are frequently blasted by Atlantic westerlies/south-westerlies that, over the years, have sunk and wrecked many vessels. In 1859 over 110 ships were destroyed off the coast of Wales in a hurricane that saw more than 800 lives lost across Britain. The greatest single loss occurred with the sinking of the ''
Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
'' off Anglesey in which 459 people died. The 19th century saw over 100 vessels lost with an average loss of 78 sailors per year.Davies (2008) p.814 Wartime action caused losses near Holyhead,
Milford Haven Milford Haven ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was ...
and Swansea. Because of offshore rocks and unlit islands, Anglesey and Pembrokeshire are still notorious for shipwrecks, most notably the ''Sea Empress'' oil spill in 1996. The first border between Wales and England was zonal, apart from around the River Wye, which was the first accepted boundary.Davies (2008) p. 75 Offa's Dyke was supposed to form an early distinct line but this was thwarted by Gruffudd ap Llewellyn, who reclaimed swathes of land beyond the dyke. The Act of Union 1536 formed a linear border stretching from the mouth of the Dee to the mouth of the Wye. Even after the Act of Union, many of the borders remained vague and moveable until the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881, which forced local businesses to decide which country they fell within to accept either the Welsh or English law.


Geology

The earliest geological period of the Palaeozoic era, the Cambrian, takes its name from the Cambrian Mountains, where geologists first identified Cambrian remnants. In the mid-19th century, Roderick Murchison and Adam Sedgwick used their studies of Welsh geology to establish certain principles of
stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...
and palaeontology. The next two periods of the Palaeozoic era, the
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...
and Silurian, were named after ancient Celtic tribes from this area.


Climate

Wales lies within the north temperate zone. It has a changeable, maritime climate and is one of the wettest countries in Europe.Davies (2008) pp. 148–150 Welsh weather is often cloudy, wet and windy, with warm summers and mild winters. * Highest maximum temperature: at Hawarden, Flintshire on 18 July 2022. * Lowest minimum temperature: at Rhayader, Radnorshire (now
Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...
) on 21 January 1940. * 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. * Maximum rainfall in a day (0900 UTC – 0900 UTC): at Rhondda, Glamorgan, on 11 November 1929. * Wettest spot – an average of rain a year at Crib Goch in Snowdonia, Gwynedd (making it also the wettest spot in the United Kingdom).


Flora and fauna

Wales's wildlife is typical of Britain with several distinctions. Because of its long coastline, Wales hosts a variety of seabirds. The coasts and surrounding islands are home to colonies of gannets, Manx shearwater, puffins, kittiwakes, shags and razorbills. In comparison, with 60 per cent of Wales above the 150m contour, the country also supports a variety of upland-habitat birds, including raven and ring ouzel. Birds of prey include the merlin, hen harrier and the red kite, a national symbol of Welsh wildlife. In total, more than 200 different species of bird have been seen at the RSPB reserve at Conwy, including seasonal visitors. Larger mammals, including brown bears, wolves and wildcats, died out during the Norman period. Today, mammals include shrews, voles, badgers, otters, stoats, weasels, hedgehogs and fifteen species of bat. Two species of small rodent, the yellow-necked mouse and the dormouse, are of special Welsh note being found at the historically undisturbed border area.Davies (2008) p. 533 The pine marten, which has been sighted occasionally, has been reintroduced in parts of Wales since 2015, having previously not been officially recorded since the 1950s. The polecat was nearly driven to extinction in Britain, but hung on in Wales and is now rapidly spreading. Feral goats can be found in Snowdonia. In March 2021,
Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Countryside Council for Wales, E ...
(NRW) granted a licence to release up to six beavers in the Dyfi Valley, the first official beaver release in Wales. Believed to be home to some of Wales's rarest land invertebrates, some 2,500 disused coal tips are the subject of study by the Welsh Government; the tips are home to a wide variety of other wildlife. The waters of south-west Wales of Gower, Pembrokeshire and Cardigan Bay attract marine animals, 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 has the only summer residence of bottlenose dolphins in the whole of the UK. Freshwater fish of note include char, eel, salmon,
shad The Alosidae, or the shads, are a family (biology), family of clupeiform fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 32 species. The shads are Pelagic fish, pelagic (open water) schooling fish, of which many are anadr ...
, sparling and Arctic char, while the
gwyniad The gwyniad (''Coregonus pennantii''), or Welsh whitefish, is a species of freshwater Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Salmonidae, which includes the salmon, trouts and related fishes. This species is End ...
is unique to Wales, found only in Bala Lake. Wales is known for its shellfish, including cockles, limpet,
mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...
s and periwinkles. Herring, mackerel and hake are the more common of the country's marine fish.Davies (1994) pp. 286–288 The north facing high grounds of Snowdonia support a relict pre-glacial flora including the iconic Snowdon lily – '' Gagea serotina'' – and other alpine species such as '' Saxifraga cespitosa'', '' Saxifraga oppositifolia'' and '' Silene acaulis''. Wales has a number of plant species not found elsewhere in the UK, including the spotted rock-rose '' Tuberaria guttata'' on Anglesey and '' Draba aizoides'' on the Gower.


Economy

Over the last 250 years, Wales has been transformed from a predominantly agricultural country to an industrial, and then to a post-industrial economy. In the 1950s, Wales's GDP was twice as big as Ireland's; by the 2020s, Ireland's economy was four times that of Wales. Since the Second World War, the service sector has come to account for the majority of jobs, a feature typifying most advanced economies. in 2018, according to OECD and Eurostat data, gross domestic product (GDP) in Wales was £75 billion, an increase of 3.3 per cent from 2017. GDP per head in Wales in 2018 was £23,866, an increase of 2.9 per cent on 2017. This compares to Italy's GDP/capita of £25,000, Spain £22,000, Slovenia £20,000 and New Zealand £30,000. In the three months to December 2017, 72.7 per cent of working-age adults were employed, compared to 75.2 per cent across the UK as a whole. For the 2018–19 fiscal year, the Welsh fiscal deficit accounts for 19.4 per cent of Wales's estimated GDP. In 2019, Wales was a net exporter of electricity. It produced 27.9 TWh of electricity while only consuming 14.7 TWh. In 2021, the Welsh government said that more than half the country's energy needs were being met by renewable sources, 2 per cent of which was from 363
hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...
projects. By UK law, Wales contributes to items that do not directly benefit Wales e.g. over £5 billion for HS2 "which will damage the Welsh economy by £200m pa", according to the UK and Welsh Government's transport adviser Mark Barry. Wales also pays more in military costs than most similar-sized countries e.g. Wales pays twice the amount Ireland spends on the military. The UK government spends £1.75bn per year on the military in Wales, which is almost as much as Wales spends on education every year (£1.8 billion in 2018/19) and five times as much as the total amount spent on the police in Wales (£365 million). From the middle of the 19th century until the post-war era, the mining and export of coal was the dominant industry. At its peak of production in 1913, nearly 233,000 men and women were employed in the South Wales coalfield, mining 56 million tons of coal. Cardiff was once the largest coal-exporting port in the world and, for a few years before the First World War, handled a greater tonnage of cargo than either London or Liverpool. In the 1920s, over 40 per cent of the male Welsh population worked in heavy industry. According to Phil Williams, the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
"devastated Wales", north and south, because of its "overwhelming dependence on coal and steel". From the mid-1970s, the Welsh economy faced massive restructuring with large numbers of jobs in heavy industry disappearing and being replaced eventually by new ones in light industry and in services. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wales was successful in attracting an above average share of foreign direct investment in the UK. Much of the new industry was essentially of a "branch (or "screwdriver") factory" type where a manufacturing plant or call centre is in Wales but the most highly-paid jobs in the company are elsewhere. Poor-quality soil in much of Wales is unsuitable for crop-growing, so livestock farming has been the focus of farming. About 78 per cent of the land surface is used for agriculture. The Welsh landscape, with its three national parks and Blue Flag beaches, attracts large numbers of tourists, who bolster the economy of rural areas. Wales, like Northern Ireland, has relatively few high value-added employment in sectors such as finance and research and development, attributable in part to a comparative lack of "economic mass" (i.e. population) – Wales lacks a large metropolitan centre. 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 per cent of the EU25 average and around 80 per cent of the UK average. In June 2008, Wales made history by becoming the first nation to be awarded Fairtrade status. The pound sterling is the currency used in Wales. Numerous Welsh banks issued their own banknotes in the 19th century: the last bank to do so closed in 1908. Since then the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
has had a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in Wales. The Commercial Bank of Wales, established in Cardiff by Sir Julian Hodge in 1971, was taken over by the Bank of Scotland in 1988 and absorbed into its parent company in 2002. The Royal Mint, which issues the coinage circulating through the whole of the UK, has been based at a single site in Llantrisant since 1980. Since decimalisation, in 1971, at least one of the coins in circulation emphasises Wales such as the 1995 and 2000 one pound coin (above). As at 2012, the last designs devoted to Wales saw production in 2008. During 2020, and well into 2021, the restrictions and lockdowns necessitated by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
affected all sectors of the economy and "tourism and hospitality suffered notable losses from the pandemic" across the UK. As of 6 April 2021, visitors from "red list" countries were still not allowed to enter unless they were UK residents. Restrictions will "likely be in place until the summer", one report predicted, with June being the most likely time for tourism from other countries to begin a rebound. On 12 April 2021, many tourist facilities were still closed in Wales but non-essential travel between Wales and England was finally permitted. Wales also allowed non-essential retail stores to open. 


Transport


Main roads

*The M4 motorway running from West London to South Wales links Newport, Cardiff and
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
. Responsibility for the section of the motorway within Wales, from the Second Severn Crossing to Pont Abraham services, sits with the Welsh Government. *The A55 expressway has a similar role along the North Wales coast, connecting Holyhead and Bangor with Wrexham and Flintshire. It also links to northwest England, principally Chester. *The main north-south Wales link is the A470, which runs from Cardiff to Llandudno.


Rail

Rail transport in Wales includes the Wales & Borders franchise, which is overseen by the Welsh Government with most passenger services operated by Transport for Wales Rail. The Cardiff region has its own urban rail network. Beeching cuts in the 1960s mean that most of the remaining network is geared toward east–west travel connecting with the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
ports for ferries to Ireland. Services between north and south Wales operate through the English cities of Chester and Hereford and towns of Shrewsbury, Gobowen for Oswestry and along the Welsh Marches Line, with trains on the Heart of Wales Line from
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
to Llandovery, Llandrindod and Knighton, connecting with the Welsh Marches line at Craven Arms. Trains in Wales are mainly diesel-powered but the South Wales Main Line branch of the Great Western Main Line used by services from London Paddington to Cardiff has undergone electrification, although the programme experienced significant delays and cost overruns. Many of the Valley Lines are also undergoing electrification, under the South Wales Metro project. A North-South railway has been suggested to better link North and South Wales.


Air and ferries

Cardiff Airport is the international airport of Wales. Providing links to European, African and Asian destinations, it is about southwest of Cardiff city centre, in the Vale of Glamorgan. Intra-Wales flights used to run between Anglesey (Valley) and Cardiff, and were operated since 2017 by Eastern Airways; as of 2022, those flights are no longer available. Other internal flights operate to northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales has four commercial ferry ports. Regular ferry services to Ireland operate from Holyhead, Pembroke Dock and Fishguard. The Swansea to Cork service was cancelled in 2006, reinstated in March 2010, and withdrawn again in 2012.


Education

A distinct education system has developed in Wales.Davies (2008) p. 238 Formal education before the 18th century was the preserve of the elite. The first grammar schools were established in Welsh towns such as Ruthin, Brecon and Cowbridge. One of the first successful schooling systems was started by Griffith Jones, who introduced the circulating schools in the 1730s; these are believed to have taught half the country's population to read.Davies (2008) p. 239 In the early 19th century, English became the usual language of instruction at schools in Wales. While the country's working class was largely Welsh-speaking at the time, Welsh public opinion wished for children to learn English. Many schools used corporal punishment to stop children from speaking Welsh in the first half of the 19th century; the practice declined in the second half of the century. The British government never prohibited the use of Welsh at schools but it treated English as the assumed language of instruction. More Welsh was gradually used at schools in Welsh-speaking areas in the mid to late 19th century and teaching of the language began to receive moderate government support from the late 19th century. The University College of Wales opened in Aberystwyth in 1872. Cardiff and Bangor followed, and the three colleges came together in 1893 to form the University of Wales. The Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 created 95 secondary schools. The Welsh Department for the Board of Education followed in 1907, which gave Wales its first significant educational devolution. A resurgence in Welsh-language schools in the latter half of the 20th century at nursery and primary level saw attitudes shift towards teaching in the medium of Welsh.Davies (2008) p. 240 Welsh is a compulsory subject in all of Wales's state schools for pupils aged 5–16 years old. While there has never been an exclusively Welsh-language college, Welsh-medium higher education is delivered through the individual universities and has since 2011 been supported by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Welsh-language National College) as a delocalised federal institution. In 2021–2022, there were 1,470 maintained schools in Wales. In 2021–22, the country had 471,131 pupils taught by 25,210 full-time equivalent teachers.


Healthcare

Public healthcare in Wales is provided by NHS Wales (), through seven local health boards and three all-Wales trusts. It was originally formed as part of the NHS structure for England and Wales by the
National Health Service Act 1946 The National Health Service Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 81) came into effect on 5 July 1948 and created the National Health Service in England and Wales thus being the first implementation of the Beveridge model. Though the title 'National Hea ...
, but with powers over the NHS in Wales coming under the Secretary of State for Wales in 1969. Responsibility for NHS Wales passed to the Welsh Assembly under devolution in 1999, and is now the responsibility of the Minister for Health and Social Services. Historically, Wales was served by smaller 'cottage' hospitals, built as voluntary institutions.Davies (2008), p.361 As newer, more expensive, diagnostic techniques and treatments became available, clinical work has been concentrated in newer, larger district hospitals. In 2006, there were seventeen district hospitals in Wales. NHS Wales directly employs over 90,000 staff, making it Wales's biggest employer. The National Survey for Wales in 2021–22 reported that 72 per cent of adults surveyed had good or very good general health, 19 per cent had fair general health and 8 had bad or very bad general health. The survey recorded that 46 per cent of Welsh adults had a long-standing illness, such as arthritis, asthma, diabetes or heart disease. The survey also reported that 13 per cent of the adult population were smokers, 16 per cent admitted drinking alcohol above weekly recommended guidelines, while 56 per cent undertook the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity each week. According to the survey, 30 per cent of adults in Wales reported to have eaten at least 5 portions of fruit or vegetables the previous day and 36 per cent reported a healthy weight.


Demography


Population history

The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of the increase came in the coal mining districts, especially Glamorganshire, which grew from 71,000 in 1801 to 232,000 in 1851 and 1,122,000 in 1911. Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic transition seen in most industrialising countries during the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
, as death rates dropped and birth rates remained steady. However, there was also large-scale migration into Wales during the Industrial Revolution. The English were the most numerous group, but there were also considerable numbers of Irish and smaller numbers of other ethnic groups, including
Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...
, who migrated to South Wales. Wales also received immigration from various parts of the British
Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an International organization, international association of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, 56 member states, the vast majo ...
in the 20th century, and African-Caribbean and Asian communities add to the ethnocultural mix, particularly in urban Wales. Many of these self-identify as Welsh. The population in 1972 stood at 2.74 million and remained broadly static for the rest of the decade. However, in the early 1980s, the population fell due to net migration out of Wales. Since the 1980s, net migration has generally been inward, and has contributed more to
population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The World population, global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to aroun ...
than natural change. The resident population of Wales in 2021 according to the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
was 3,107,500 (1,586,600 female and 1,521,000 male), an increase of 1.4 per cent over 2011. A decreased change from the 5 per cent increase between 2001 and 2011. Wales accounted for 5.2 per cent of the population of England and Wales in 2021. Wales has seven cities: Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Wrexham, Bangor, St Asaph and St Davids. (The last two of these have
city status in the United Kingdom City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the the Crown, monarch of the United Kingdom to specific centres of population, which might or might not meet the generally accepted definition of city, cities. , there are List of cities in the Un ...
despite their small populations.) Wrexham, north Wales's largest settlement, became Wales's newest and seventh city in September 2022.


Language

Welsh is an official language in Wales as legislated by the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. Both Welsh and English are also official languages of the Senedd. The proportion of the Welsh population able to speak the Welsh language fell from just under 50 per cent in 1901 to 43.5 per cent in 1911, and continued to fall to 18.9 per cent in 1981. The results of the 2001 Census showed an increase in the number of Welsh speakers to 21 per cent of the population aged 3 and older, compared with 18.7 per cent in 1991 and 19 per cent in 1981. This compares with a pattern of steady decline indicated by census results during the 20th century. In the 2011 census it was recorded that the proportion of people able to speak Welsh had dropped from 20.8 per cent to 19 per cent (still higher than 1991). Despite an increase in the overall size of the Welsh population this still meant that the number of Welsh speakers in Wales dropped from 582,000 in 2001 to 562,000 in 2011. However this figure was still higher than the 508,000 people (or 18.7 per cent of the population) who said they could speak Welsh in the 1991 census. According to the 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 17.8 per cent (538,300 people) and nearly three-quarters of the population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 29.7 per cent (899,500) of people aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in June 2022. English is spoken by almost all people in Wales and is the main language in most of the country. Code-switching is common in all parts of Wales and is known by various terms, though none is recognised by professional linguists.Davies (2008) p. 262 " Wenglish" is the Welsh dialect of the English language. It has been influenced significantly by Welsh grammar and includes words derived from Welsh. Northern and western Wales retain many areas where Welsh is spoken as a first language by the majority of the population, and English learnt as a second language. Although monoglotism in young children continues, life-long monoglotism in Welsh no longer occurs. Since
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
joined the European Union, Wales has seen a significant increase in Polish immigrants. This has made Polish the most common main language in Wales after English and Welsh, at 0.7 per cent of the population.


Religion

Forms of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
have dominated religious life in what is now Wales for more than 1,400 years. The 2021 census recorded that 46.5 per cent had "No religion", more than any single religious affiliation and up from 32.1 per cent in 2011. The largest religion in Wales is Christianity, with 43.6 per cent of the population describing themselves as Christian in the 2021 census. The patron saint of Wales is Saint David (), with Saint David's Day () celebrated annually on 1 March. The early 20th century saw a religious revival, the 1904–1905 Welsh Revival, which started through the evangelism of Evan Roberts and brought large numbers of converts, sometimes whole communities, to non-Anglican Christianity. The Church in Wales with 56,000 adherents has the largest attendance of the denominations. It is a province of the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...
, and was part of the Church of England until disestablishment in 1920 under the Welsh Church Act 1914. The first Independent Church in Wales was founded at Llanvaches in 1638 by William Wroth. The Presbyterian Church of Wales was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century and seceded from the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
in 1811. The second largest attending faith in Wales is
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, with an estimated 43,000 adherents. Non-Christian religions are small in Wales, making up approximately 2.7 per cent of the population.
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
is the largest, with 24,000 (0.8 per cent) reported Muslims in the 2011 census. There are also communities of
Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
and
Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...
, mainly in the south Wales cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea, while the largest concentration of Buddhists is in the western rural county of
Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...
.
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
was the first non-Christian faith to be established in Wales since Roman times, though by 2001 the community had declined to approximately 2,000 and as of 2019 only numbers in the hundreds.


Ethnicity

The 2021 census showed that 93.8 per cent of the population of Wales identified as "White", compared to 95.6 per cent in 2011. 90.6 per cent of the population identified as "White: Welsh, English, Scottish, Northern Irish or British" in 2021. The second-highest ethnicity in 2021 was "Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British" at 2.9 per cent of the population, compared to 2.3 per cent in 2011. 1.6 per cent of the population identified as "Mixed or multiple ethnic groups", compared to 1.0 per cent in 2011; 0.9 per cent of the population identified as "Black, Black Welsh, Black British, Caribbean or African", compared to 0.6 per cent in 2011; and 0.9 per cent identified as "Other ethnic group" compared to 0.5 per cent in 2011. The local authorities with the highest proportions of "high-level" ethnic groups other than "White" were mainly urban areas including Cardiff, Newport and Swansea. 5.3 per cent of households in Wales were multiple ethnic group households, up from 4.2 per cent in 2011. In 2021, the first statue of a named, non-fictional woman outdoors was raised for Wales's first black headteacher, Betty Campbell. In 2023, Patti Flynn (a contemporary of Shirley Bassey, both of Tiger Bay, Cardiff) became the first black Welsh woman to be awarded a purple plaque. In 2024, Vaughan Gething was elected First Minister of Wales becoming the first black head of government in Europe having previously served as Secretary for Finance.


National identity

The 2021 census showed that 55.2 per cent identified as "Welsh only" and 8.1 per cent identified as "Welsh and British", giving the combined proportion of 63.3 per cent for people identifying as Welsh. The Welsh Annual Population Survey showed that the proportion of people who identified as Welsh versus another identity was 62.3 per cent in 2022, compared to 69.2 per cent in 2001. A 2022 YouGov poll found that 21 per cent considered themselves Welsh not British, 15 per cent more Welsh than British, 24 per cent equally Welsh and British, 7 per cent more British than Welsh, 20 per cent British and not Welsh, and 8 per cent other; a total of 67 per cent thus considered themselves Welsh to some degree.


Culture

Wales has a distinctive culture including its own language, customs, holidays and music. There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Wales: The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd; Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal; the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape; and The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales.


Mythology

Remnants of native Celtic mythology of the pre-Christian Britons was passed down orally by the ''cynfeirdd'' (the early poets). Some of their work survives in later medieval Welsh manuscripts: the Black Book of Carmarthen and the Book of Aneirin (both 13th-century); the Book of Taliesin and the White Book of Rhydderch (both 14th-century); and the Red Book of Hergest (c. 1400). The
prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...
stories from the White and Red Books are known as the '' Mabinogion''. Poems such as '' Cad Goddeu'' (The Battle of the Trees) and mnemonic list-texts like the '' Welsh Triads'' and the '' Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain'', also contain mythological material. These texts include the earliest forms of the Arthurian legend and the traditional history of post- Roman Britain. Other sources of Welsh
folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
include the 9th-century Latin historical compilation '' Historia Britonum'' (the History of the Britons) and Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century Latin
chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...
(the History of the Kings of Britain), and later folklore, such as ''The Welsh Fairy Book'' by W. Jenkyn Thomas.


Literature

Wales has one of the oldest unbroken literary traditions in EuropeDavies (2008) p. 464 going back to the sixth century and including Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales, regarded as among the finest Latin authors of the Middle Ages. The earliest body of Welsh verse, by poets Taliesin and Aneirin, survive not in their original form, but in much-changed, medieval versions. Welsh poetry and native lore and learning survived through the era of the Poets of the Princes (–1280) and then the Poets of the Gentry (–1650). The former were professional poets who composed eulogies and elegies to their patrons while the latter favoured the cywydd metre.Davies (2008) pp. 688–689 The period produced one of Wales's greatest poets, Dafydd ap Gwilym. After the Anglicisation of the gentry the tradition declined. Despite the extinction of the professional poet, the integration of the native elite into a wider cultural world did bring other literary benefits.Davies (2008) p. 465 Renaissance scholars such as William Salesbury and John Davies brought humanist ideals from English universities. In 1588 William Morgan became the first person to translate the Bible into Welsh. From the 16th century the proliferation of the 'free-metre' verse became the most important development in Welsh poetry, but from the middle of the 17th century a host of imported accentual metres from England became very popular. By the 19th century the creation of a Welsh epic, fuelled by the eisteddfod, became an obsession with Welsh-language writers.Davies (2008) p. 466 The output of this period was prolific in quantity but unequal in quality. Initially excluded, religious denominations came to dominate the competitions, with bardic themes becoming scriptural and didactic. Developments in 19th-century Welsh literature include Lady Charlotte Guest's translation into English of the Mabinogion, one of the most important medieval Welsh prose works of Celtic mythology. 1885 saw the publication of '' Rhys Lewis'' by Daniel Owen, credited as the first novel written in the Welsh language. The 20th century saw a move from the verbose Victorian Welsh style, with works such as Thomas Gwynn Jones's '' Ymadawiad Arthur''. The First World War had a profound effect on Welsh literature with a more pessimistic style championed by T. H. Parry-Williams and R. Williams Parry. The industrialisation of south Wales saw a further shift with the likes of Rhydwen Williams who used the poetry and metre of a bygone rural Wales but in the context of an industrial landscape. The inter-war period is dominated by Saunders Lewis, for his political and reactionary views as much as his plays, poetry and criticism. The careers of some 1930s writers continued after World War Two, including those of Gwyn Thomas, Vernon Watkins, and Dylan Thomas, whose most famous work '' Under Milk Wood'' was first broadcast in 1954. Thomas was one of the most notable and popular Welsh writers of the 20th century and one of the most innovative poets of his time. The attitude of the post-war generation of Welsh writers in English towards Wales differs from the previous generation, with greater sympathy for Welsh nationalism and the Welsh language. The change is linked to the nationalism of Saunders Lewis and the burning of the Bombing School on the
Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...
in 1936. In poetry R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) was the most important figure throughout the second half of the 20th century. He "did not learn the Welsh language until he was 30 and wrote all his poems in English". Major writers in the second half of the 20th century include Emyr Humphreys (1919–2020), who during his long writing career published over twenty novels, and
Raymond Williams Raymond Henry Williams (31 August 1921 – 26 January 1988) was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contribu ...
(1921–1988).


Museums and libraries

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales was founded by
royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
in 1907 as the National Museum of Wales. It operates at seven sites: National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National History Museum, Big Pit National Coal Museum, National Wool Museum, National Slate Museum, National Roman Legion Museum, and the National Waterfront Museum. Entry to all sites is free. The National Library of Wales, based in
Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...
, houses important collections of printed works, including the Sir John Williams Collection and the Shirburn Castle collection,Davies (2008) p. 594 as well as art collections including portraits and photographs, ephemera and
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
maps.


Visual arts

Works of Celtic art have been found in Wales. In the
Early Medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...
period, the Celtic Christianity of Wales was part of the Insular art of the
British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
. A number of
illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...
s from Wales survive, including the 8th-century Hereford Gospels and Lichfield Gospels. The 11th-century Ricemarch Psalter (now in
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
) is certainly Welsh, made in
St David's St Davids or St David's (, ,  "Saint David, David's Welsh toponymy, house”) is a St David's Cathedral, cathedral City status in the United Kingdom, city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It lies on the River Alun, Pembrokeshire, River Alun and is ...
, and shows a late Insular style with unusual Viking influence. Some Welsh artists of the 16th–18th centuries tended to leave the country to work, moving to London or Italy. Richard Wilson (1714–1782) is arguably the first major British landscapist; although more notable for his Italian scenes, he painted several Welsh scenes on visits from London. By the late 18th century, the popularity of landscape art grew and clients were found in the larger Welsh towns, allowing more Welsh artists to stay in their homeland. Artists from outside Wales were also drawn to paint Welsh scenery, at first because of the Celtic Revival. An Act of Parliament in 1857 provided for the establishment of a number of art schools throughout the United Kingdom, and the Cardiff School of Art opened in 1865. Graduates still very often had to leave Wales to work, but Betws-y-Coed became a popular centre for artists, and its artists' colony helped to form the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art in 1881. The sculptor Sir William Goscombe John made works for Welsh commissions, although he had settled in London. Christopher Williams, whose subjects were mostly resolutely Welsh, was also based in London. Thomas E. Stephens and Andrew Vicari had very successful careers as portraitists, based respectively in the United States and France. Welsh painters gravitated towards the art capitals of Europe. Augustus John and his sister Gwen John lived mostly in London and Paris. However, the landscapists Sir Kyffin Williams and Peter Prendergast lived in Wales for most of their lives, while remaining in touch with the wider art world. Ceri Richards was very engaged in the Welsh art scene as a teacher in Cardiff and even after moving to London; he was a figurative painter in international styles including Surrealism. Various artists have moved to Wales, including Eric Gill, the London-Welshman David Jones, and the sculptor Jonah Jones. The Kardomah Gang was an intellectual circle in Swansea, centred on the poet Dylan Thomas and the poet and artist Vernon Watkins, which also included the painter Alfred Janes. South Wales had several notable potteries, one of the first important sites being the Ewenny Pottery in Bridgend, which began producing earthenware in the 17th century.Davies (2008) pp. 701–702 In the 18th and 19th centuries, with more scientific methods becoming available, more refined ceramics were produced: this was led by the Cambrian Pottery (1764–1870, also known as "Swansea pottery"), and later Nantgarw Pottery near Cardiff, which was in operation from 1813 to 1820 making fine porcelain, and then utilitarian pottery from 1833 until 1920. Portmeirion Pottery, founded in 1960 by Susan Williams-Ellis (daughter of Clough Williams-Ellis, creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion, Gwynedd) is based in
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
, England.


National symbols and identity

Wales is regarded as a modern Celtic nation which contributes to its national identity, with Welsh artists regularly appearing at Celtic festivals. The red dragon is the principal symbol of national identity and pride, personifying the fearlessness of the Welsh nation. The dragon is first referenced in literature as a symbol of the people in the Historia Brittonum. Vortigern (), King of the Celtic Britons, is interrupted while attempting to build a fort at Dinas Emrys. He is told by Ambrosius to dig up two dragons beneath the castle. He discovers a red dragon representing the Celtic Britons, and a white dragon representing Anglo-Saxons. Ambrosius prophesies that the Celtic Britons will reclaim the island and push the Anglo-Saxons back to the sea.'' Historia Brittonum'' by Nennius (translated by J. A. Giles) As an emblem, the red dragon of Wales has been used since the reign of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd from around 655 AD, and appears prominently on the national flag of Wales, which became an official flag in 1959. The banner of Owain Glyndŵr is associated with Welsh nationhood; it was carried into battle by Welsh forces during Glyndŵr's battles against the English, and includes four lions on red and gold. The standard is similar to the arms of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (Llywelyn the Last), the last Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wales by
Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...
. The design may also be influenced by the arms of Glyndŵr's parents, both of whom had lions in their arms. Owain Glyndŵr Day is celebrated on 16 September in Wales and there have been calls to make it a national bank holiday. The Prince of Wales's feathers is also used in Wales: it consists of three white feathers emerging from a gold coronet, and the German motto ''Ich dien'' (I serve). Several Welsh representative teams, including the Welsh rugby union, and Welsh regiments in the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
, including the Royal Welsh, use the badge or a stylised version of it. On 1 March, Welsh people celebrate Saint David's Day, commemorating the death of the country's patron saint in 589. It is not a recognised bank holiday although there have been calls to make it so. The day is celebrated by schools and cultural societies across Wales, and customs include the wearing of a leek or a daffodil, which are two national emblems of Wales. Children also wear the national costume. The origins of the leek can be traced to the 16th century, while the daffodil became popular in the 19th century, encouraged by David Lloyd George.Davies (2008) p. 189 This is attributed to confusion (or association) between the Welsh for leeks, , and that for daffodils, or St. Peter's leeks. A report in 1916 gave preference to the leek, which has appeared on British pound coins. Other Welsh festivals include Mabsant when parishes would celebrate the patron saint of their local church, although this is now rarely observed, and a more modern celebration, Dydd Santes Dwynwen (St Dwynwen's Day), observed on 25 January in a similar way to St Valentine's Day. "" () is the ''de facto'', national anthem of Wales and is played at events such as football or rugby matches involving the Wales national team, as well as the opening of the Senedd and other official occasions. "" ("Wales forever") is a popular Welsh motto. Another Welsh motto "Y Ddraig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn" ("the red dragon inspires action") has been used on the Royal Badge of Wales when it was created in 1953.


Sport

More than 50 national governing bodies regulate and organise their sports in Wales. Most of those involved in competitive sports select, organise and manage individuals or teams to represent their country at international events or fixtures against other countries. Wales is represented at major world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup,
Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...
, Rugby League World Cup and the Commonwealth Games. At the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
, Welsh athletes compete alongside those of Scotland, England and Northern Ireland as part of a
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
team. Wales has hosted several international sporting events. These include the 1958 Commonwealth Games, the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the
2010 Ryder Cup The 38th Ryder Cup was held 1–4 October 2010 at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales. It was the 17th time the Ryder Cup had been staged in United Kingdom, Britain, but the first time in Wales. It was played on the newly constructed ''Tw ...
and the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. Although football has traditionally been the more popular sport in
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
,
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Wales national rugby union team takes part in the annual
Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...
and has also competed in every
Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...
, hosting the tournament in
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
. The five professional sides that replaced the traditional club sides in major competitions in 2003 were replaced in 2004 by the four regions: Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets. The Welsh regional teams play in the United Rugby Championship, the Heineken Champions Cup if they qualify and the European Rugby Challenge Cup, again dependent on qualification. Rugby league in Wales dates back to 1907. A professional Welsh League existed from 1908 to 1910. Wales has had its own football league, the Welsh Premier League, since 1992. For historical reasons, five Welsh clubs play in the English football league system: Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham, and Merthyr Town. The country has produced a considerable number of footballers who have played at international level. At UEFA Euro 2016, the Wales national team achieved their best ever finish, reaching the semi-finals. In international
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
, Wales and England field a single representative team, administered by the
England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...
(ECB), called the
England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...
, or simply 'England'. Occasionally, a separate Wales team play limited-overs competitions. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is the only Welsh participant in the England and Wales County Championship. Wales has produced notable participants of individual sports including
snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...
, track and field, cycling, and
boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
.


Media

Wales became the UK's first
digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...
nation in 2010. BBC Cymru Wales is the national broadcaster, producing both television and radio programmes in Welsh and English. It has also produced programmes such as '' Life on Mars'', ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' and '' Torchwood'' for BBC's network audience across the United Kingdom. ITV, the UK's main commercial broadcaster, has a Welsh-orientated service branded ITV Cymru Wales. S4C began broadcasting in 1982. Its output was mostly in Welsh at peak hours, but shared English-language content with
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
at other times. Since the digital switchover the channel has broadcast exclusively in Welsh. BBC Radio Cymru is the BBC's Welsh-language radio service, which broadcasts throughout Wales. A number of independent radio stations broadcast in the Welsh regions, predominantly in English. In 2006, several regional radio stations broadcast in Welsh: output ranged from two two-minute news bulletins each weekday ( Radio Maldwyn) to over 14 hours of Welsh-language programmes weekly ( Swansea Sound) to essentially bilingual stations such as Heart Cymru and Radio Ceredigion. Most of the newspapers sold and read in Wales are national newspapers available throughout Britain. The '' Western Mail'' is Wales's only print national daily newspaper. Wales-based regional daily newspapers include the '' Daily Post'' (which covers North Wales), the '' South Wales Evening Post'' (Swansea), the '' South Wales Echo'' (Cardiff), and the '' South Wales Argus'' (Newport). '' Y Cymro'' is a Welsh-language newspaper, published weekly. ''Wales on Sunday'' is the only Welsh Sunday newspaper that covers the whole of Wales. The Books Council of Wales is the Welsh-Government-funded body tasked with promoting Welsh literature in Welsh and English. The BCW provides publishing grants for qualifying English- and Welsh-language publications. Around 650 books are published each year, by some of the dozens of Welsh publishers. Wales's main publishing houses include Gomer Press, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Honno, the University of Wales Press and Y Lolfa. Journals with a Welsh focus include ''Cambria'' (a Welsh affairs magazine published bi-monthly in English), ''Planet,'' and '' Poetry Wales''. Welsh-language magazines include the current affairs titles '' Golwg'' ("View"), published weekly, and '' Barn'' ("Opinion"), published monthly. ''Y Wawr'' ("The Dawn") is published quarterly by '' Merched y Wawr'', the national organisation for women. '' Y Traethodydd'' ("The Essayist"), a quarterly publication by the Presbyterian Church of Wales, first appeared in 1845 and is the oldest Welsh publication still in print.


Cuisine

Traditional Welsh dishes include laverbread (made from '' Porphyra umbilicalis'', an edible seaweed), bara brith (fruit bread), cawl (a lamb stew), cawl cennin ( leek soup), and Welsh cakes. Cockles are sometimes served as a traditional breakfast with bacon and laverbread. Although Wales has its own traditional food and has absorbed much of the cuisine of England, Welsh diets now owe more to the countries of
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Chicken tikka masala is the country's favourite dish, while hamburgers and Chinese food outsell
fish and chips Fish and chips is a hot dish consisting of batter (cooking), battered and fried fish, served with French fries, chips. Often considered the national dish of the United Kingdom, fish and chips originated in England in the 19th century. Today, ...
as takeaways.Davies (2008) p.293


Performing arts


Music and festivals

Wales, "the land of song", is notable for its solo artists, its male voice choirs and its harpists. The annual '' National Eisteddfod'' is the country's main performance festival. The ''Llangollen International Eisteddfod'' provides an opportunity for the singers and musicians of the world to perform. The Welsh Folk Song Society publishes collections of historical songs and tunes. Traditional instruments of Wales include the ''telyn deires'' ( triple harp), fiddle, '' crwth'' (bowed lyre) and the ''pibgorn'' (hornpipe). Male voice choirs emerged in the 19th century, formed as the tenor and bass sections of chapel choirs, and embraced the popular secular hymns of the day.Davies (2008), p. 532. Welsh congregations and choirs were known for singing in a rousing four-voice style, becoming characteristic of the country. Many of the historic choirs survive in modern Wales, singing a mixture of traditional and popular songs. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales performs in Wales and internationally. The Welsh National Opera is based at the Wales Millennium Centre in
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
, while the National Youth Orchestra of Wales was the first of its type in the world. Wales has a tradition of producing notable singers in both the classical and pop arenas, as well as some popular bands. The Welsh
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
scene has enjoyed a resurgence in the 21st century.


Drama

The earliest surviving Welsh plays are two medieval miracle plays, ''Y Tri Brenin o Gwlen'' ("The three Kings from Cologne") and ''Y Dioddefaint a'r Atgyfodiad'' ("The Passion and the Resurrection"). A recognised Welsh tradition of theatre emerged during the 18th century, in the form of an interlude, a metrical play performed at fairs and markets. Drama in the early 20th century thrived, but the country established neither a Welsh National Theatre nor a national ballet company. After the Second World War, the substantial number of amateur theatre companies reduced by two-thirds.Davies (2008) p. 224 Competition from television in the mid-20th century led to greater professionalism in the theatre. Plays by Emlyn Williams and Alun Owen and others were staged, while Welsh actors, including Richard Burton and
Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...
, were establishing international reputations. Wales has also produced some well-known comedians.


Dance

Traditional dances include Welsh folk dancing and clog dancing. The first mention of dancing in Wales is in a 12th-century account by Giraldus Cambrensis, but by the 19th century traditional dance had all but died out due to religious opposition.Davies (2008) p. 192 In the 20th century a revival was led by Lois Blake (1890–1974). Clog dancing was preserved and developed by Hywel Wood (1882–1967) and others who perpetuated the art on local and national stages.Davies (2008) p. 193 The Welsh Folk Dance Society was founded in 1949. Contemporary dance grew out of Cardiff in the 1970s. The National Dance Company Wales, formed in 1983, is now resident at the Wales Millennium Centre.


See also

* List of movements in Wales * Outline of Wales


Notes


References

Citations Sources * Census 2001
''200 Years of the Census in ... Wales'' (2001)
* * *


External links


Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament

BBC Wales
*
VisitWales.com
The official international guide to places to stay and things to do in Wales.
Gathering the Jewels – Welsh Heritage and Culture

Photographs of Wales
on Geograph Britain and Ireland
Further historical information and sources at GENUKI
{{Coord, 52.3, -3.8, type:country_region:GB-WLS, display=title Celtic nations Articles containing video clips Great Britain English-speaking countries and territories Island countries NUTS 1 statistical regions of the United Kingdom United Kingdom by country Autonomous regions Regions of Europe with multiple official languages