Everything about British People totally explained
British people, or
Britons, are the inhabitants of
Great Britain or
citizens of the
United Kingdom, of the
Isle of Man, one of the
Channel Islands, or of one of the
British overseas territories. In a historical context, the word is used to refer to the
ancient Britons, the
indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain south of the
Forth. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks, from those who settled there before the
11th century, to those born afterwards.
The British people are today regarded by some as a single
nation, and by others as a collection of separate nations -
English,
Scots,
Welsh, - who happen to share the island of Great Britain.
Origins
Greek and
Roman writers between the first century BC and the first century AD describe the inhabitants of
Great Britain and
Ireland as
Priteni, the origin of the Latin word
Britannic.
Etymologicum Genuinum and
Parthenius mention of
Bretannus (the
Latinized form of the
Ancient Greek Βρεττανός) as a Celt forefather of the Britons. It has been suggested that this name came from a
Gaullish description meaning "people of the forms" referring to their practice of tattooing or painting their bodies using blue
woad. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of
Prettanikē as a group name for the islands. However, with the
Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term
Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain. The name became associated with the Roman province of
Britannia and as the Romans failed to establish control of the
Scottish Highlands the frontier was effectively drawn at the
Antonine Wall, then around AD 200 at
Hadrian's Wall. The
post-Roman period brought a series of invasions, and in
medieval Britain control of territory by Britons became confined to
Wales,
Cornwall and
northern England. The term
Britannia remained in use as the Latin name for the island, and
Historia Britonum claimed legendary British origins as a prestigious
genealogy for Welsh kings, followed by the
Historia Regum Britanniae which popularised this pseudo-history to support the claims of the kings of
England.
The genetic record of the British people is still a matter for debate. It has been commonly supposed that today only the
Welsh and the genetic descendants of the
Cornish Britons remain in the same locations as their
Dark Age and
Medieval ancestors. However, recent research suggests that the majority of persons in all regions of Britain are the genetic descendants of settlers from the
Iberian peninsula who arrived in Britain between 7500 and 15000 years ago.
It is thought that ancient Iberia served as a refuge for palaeolithic humans during the last major glaciation when environments further north were too cold and dry for continuous habitation. When the climate warmed into the present interglacial, populations would have rapidly spread north along the west European coast. Genetically, in terms of Y-chromosomes and Mt-DNA, inhabitants of Britain and Ireland are closely related to the Basques,
(External Link
) reflecting their common origin in this refugial area. Basques, along with Irish, show the highest frequency of the Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup
R1b in
Western Europe; some 95% of native Basque men have this haplogroup. The rest is mainly
I and a minimal presence of
E3b.
}}
British Identity
Development of the idea of "Britishness"
In mediaeval times, the term "British" was used to refer to the pre Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of the island, in particular the
Welsh - that is, those we'd now call
"ancient" Britons - in contrast to the English. For example, references by
Giraldus Cambrensis to the "British" refer to what were later called the Welsh.
British only became synonymous with a national civic identity with the formation in 1707 of the united
Kingdom of Great Britain, which became the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and in turn, the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with the secession of what became the
Republic of Ireland. Historian
Linda Colley argues that following the 1707 Act of Union, it became common for the people of the
Kingdom of Great Britain to have a "layered" identity, that is, to think of themselves as simultaneously British and also Scottish, English, and Welsh. She also elaborates that at time of its development, the notion of Britishness was "closely bound up with
Protestantism". According to researcher Peter Borsay, the proliferation of neo-classical monuments at the end of the 18th century and start of the 19th, such as
The Kymin at
Monmouth, were attempts to solidify the concepts of "Great Britain" and "Britishness" at the time of the
Act of Union with
Ireland,
war with
France, and the expansion of the
Empire through military and commercial might. He wrote:
"Britishness" today
"Britishness" today is sometimes used as a political concept seeking to develop or more often to define what it's to be British. The term is often associated with the British
unionist tradition however the term
Unionist is often associated with
Northern Ireland and so
Britishness is more often used. It can be seen however that Britishness evokes a range of responses and attitudes that make an exact definition elusive.
Most recently this concept has been used by
Prime Minister Gordon Brown to initiate debate on British identity. Brown's speech to the
Fabian Society's Britishness Conference proposed that British values demand a new constitutional settlement and symbols to represent a modern patriotism, including a new youth community service scheme and a
British Day to celebrate. He suggested that one focus could be in terms of celebrating the best of the United Kingdom stressing the view that what unites the United Kingdom is stronger than the issues dividing it, such as support in
Scotland for
Scottish independence, international
football loyalties, or growing signs of
English revolt against distribution of funds to the
Scottish Parliament. One of the central issues identified at the Fabian Society conference was how the English identity fits within the framework of a
devolved United Kingdom. Does England require a new constitutional settlement for instance?
A tangible expression of the Government's initiative to promote Britishness was the inaugural
Veterans' Day which was first held on
27 June 2006. As well as celebrating the achievements of armed forces veterans, Browns' speech at the first event for the celebration said: "Scots and people from the rest of the
UK share the purpose – that Britain has something to say to the rest of the world about the values of freedom, democracy and the dignity of the people that you stand up for. So at a time when people can talk about football and devolution and money, it's important that we also remember the values that we share in common".
Demographics
| Identity |
Percent |
| British only |
31% |
| British + Home Nations Identity |
15% |
| Home Nations Identity |
49% |
| Other |
5% |
The UK is an ethnically diverse country with people from various stock. For most of the last millennium, the lands now constituting the United Kingdom were largely inhabited by indigenous peoples with small to medium-scale migration from Europe occurring between the
16th and
20th Century. In
1066, the
Normans successfully
took control of England and, in subsequent years, there was some migration from
France. In the
19th century, immigration by people outside Europe began on a small scale as people arrived from the
British colonies. This increased during the
20th century. Since
World War II, however, substantial immigration from the New Commonwealth and European countries has considerably altered the demographic make-up of many cities in Britain. The majority of Britons are
White (92%) with the remainder from various ethnic groups, mainly
Black/Afro-Caribbean,
Mixed Race and
Asian People.
Historically,
British was expounded as a meta-identity for all of the residents of
Britain. However, the number of people in Great Britain identifying themselves as British has been declining in recent times. For example, the percentage identifying as British fell in England from 63% in 1991-2 to 48% in 2003, in Scotland from 31% in 1974 to 20% in 2003, and in Wales from 34% in 1978-9 to 27% in 2003. The percentage describing themselves equally as both British and in terms of their national origin has also fallen.
The 2001 UK General Household Survey (GHS) contained an element measuring the number of people describing themselves as
British. The incidence of those willing to call themselves
British in any sense is highest in England, but nowhere commands a majority. Interestingly, it does command a majority of non-White respondents (57%), compared to 45% White respondents. Furthermore, 51% of non-White respondents consider themselves British-only, whereas only 29% of White respondents describe themselves so.
Further Information
Get more info on 'British People'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://british_people.totallyexplained.com">British people Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
