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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Great Britain itself is the landmass.
There’s also the island of Ireland which makes up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the U.K.)
The nearby Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the UK, but are known as Crown Dependencies where the British Government is responsible for defence and international representation.
Each of the 3 minority Nations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) has a devolved parliament, which have certain powers they can exercise, generally related to Health Care, Road Laws etc. There is also Westminster Parliament which is the parliament of Great Britain and is made up of a degree of representation from each of the 4 countries that make up the U.K.
Westminster has the overall say in the constitution of the United Kingdom. In 2014, Westminster temporarily ceded power to the Scottish government to hold a referendum asking the people of Scotland if they wanted to be an independent country. They voted to remain in the U.K.
Wales and Northern Island were previously conquered by England. Scotland became part of the union when the king of Scotland inherited the English throne and formed the union. The monarchy ‘rules’ over the whole of the U.K. (although this is now largely symbolic with the powers having been transferred to the elected government).
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