Pretty much anywhere you look, Wales and Scotland are listed as independent countries, except not really. Even the Isle of Man, which isn’t a part of the UK (somehow) reports to England in some capacity. And then there’s Northern Ireland; I don’t know what their deal is. Every google search just makes me more confused, so is there some Brit who can enlighten me?
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It’s complicated. There’s a lot of history and outdated terminology:
So to start with, you have the **United Kingdom** Which is a single, sovereign state. This is why the United Kingdom has a seat at the United Nations, but the individual countries that make up the United Kingdom don’t.
The United Kingdom consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland… and the easiest way to think of this is that it works a lot like the United States of America. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are basically the ‘States’ of the United Kingdom. They each have a certain amount of autonomy, self-govern local issues, but are all ultimately answerable to Parliament in London the same way that individual US States self-govern but are ultimately answerable to the Federal Government.
So why do we call them countries and not states? Well, because in the past they were completely separate, autonomous countries. The word ‘country’ can refer to a geographical area as well as a political entity, so the terminology just stuck…especially as each country, despite being part of the same political entity, each kept its own national identity in a cultural sense.
The other names are basically historical.
First you had the **Kingdom of England.**
England then Joined with Wales to become the **Kingdom of England and Wales.**
Then the Kingdom of England and Wales joined with Scotland to become **The Kingdom of Great Britain.**
(Why ‘Great Britain’? Well, ‘Britain’ comes from the Roman word ‘Britannia’, the Roman name for the actual mainland of Britain… and why ‘Great’ was added is up for debate. Some people think it was to differentiate from the very similar sounding French neighbour Brittany, and others think it was due to the ego for King James I…who wanted to make it clear he was King of *all* of Britain and not ‘Roman Britain’ which only consisted of England and Wales.)
Then, in 1801, Ireland joined the Union, forming the **United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland**
Finally, in 1922, The Republic of Ireland (southern Ireland) withdrew from the Union, which gave us **The United Kingdom of Great Britain** which is the same UK that exists today.
So what about the Isle of Mann, Guernsey and Jersey?
These make up part of the British Isles (of which Great Britain is the biggest). They’re not part of the UK, but are what’s known as ‘Crown Dependencies’…and this is where things get a bit wacky.
Legally they are ‘Territories for which the United Kingdom is responsible’. Basically, they’re self-governing, but aren’t Sovereign States, they’re ‘Possessions of the Crown’, which means they’re technically ruled by the Queen, not the British Government…. but as the Monarchy has no real power and is basically a figurehead (The Monarchy is now little more than a tourist attraction)…they’re technically independent states.
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