お茶の間留学

     The official name of the country is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. Let's break that down into digestible parts.

     The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK, for short) is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

     Great Britain is not the name of any country, rather it is the name of the island which is home to England, Scotland, and Wales. Therefore anyone who is from Edinburgh, Scotland could be called British, same applies to anyone from Cardiff in Wales, and of course London in England.

     Northern Ireland is on the island of Ireland, which is home to two countries: Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (an independent country which is not a part of the UK). The history of Ireland is complex but in summary the island is divided by passports, and religious and political views.

     One important note is that the countries which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is that they are exactly that: countries.

      They all have their own government, laws, and control of their own education and healthcare systems, as well as the police and other emergency services, and can have their own version of the state currency "the Pound Sterling".

     They also all have a very strong cultural identity and their own dialects, languages, traditions, and folklore. For example, men in Scotland wear kilts during ceremonies (a type of Highland dress, usually with a tartan design and resembles a skirt). The Welsh have their own language which is used in everyday life especially on road signs next to the English translation. (Note, a slang term in Wales for microwave is popty ping, however the real Welsh is actually microndon.) English folklore is very famous not only in the British Isles but worldwide. Names like "Robin Hood" and "King Arthur" are well known and are both great English legends.

 　 As Northern Ireland was once part of the Republic of Ireland (before Ireland became an independent country), it shares a great deal of heritage with its neighbour but one thing that the Northern Irish celebrate (which tends to be controversial) is "The Twelfth" – the celebration of the Battle of the Boyne which was on the 12th of July 1690. After the battle, Protestantism became the main religion of the north of the island.

     With that in mind each country is very patriotic about its identity, some more than others. For example, call an English person British and they will for the most part not think anything of it, now call a Scottish or Welsh person British (or worse English) and you may have a very different response.

     The UK's capital city is London, which is also the capital city of England, but of course the other countries in the union have their own capital cities too. Scotland has Edinburgh, Wales has Cardiff, and Northern Ireland has Belfast.

     Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland generally view England as the domineering force and have some reservations which stem from centuries of internal conflicts. English people generally have a positive view of the United Kingdom and like to keep past indiscretions in the past and prefer to focus on all the benefits which the country has gained thanks to the union. However, recent events such as the referendum for Scottish Independence from the UK in 2014, and the UK's referendum to leave the European Union in 2016, (as well as the most recent 2019 general election) have called into question the unity of the United Kingdom, and the results have caused more division between the countries. Only time will tell if the United Kingdom will stay as a country we all know.

confusion:混乱

clarify:明らかにする

digestible: 消化可能

divided by:～で割った

therefore:したがって

complex:複雑

in summary:要約すると

religious and political views:宗教的および政治的見解

dialects:方言

Republic of Ireland:アイルランド共和国

heritage:遺産

Protestantism:プロテスタント

Patriotic:愛国心の強い

the domineering force :支配的な勢力

internal conflicts:内紛

gain:得る

union:組合

referendum:国民投票

unity:団結