2:05 that sign is actually famous for being a failure. Someone sent the English text to a translator and got back the text in Welsh, so they made that sign. But what it actually says is "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated"
In addition, the most important food in England is the oatcake. But only in Staffordshire. And bits of Cheshire. There are wrong versions of oatcakes in Scotland.
Just to clear up the Commonwealth Realms thing, they're not technically ruled by the British monarch, instead, they have their own independent monarchies, like the King of Canada, King of Australia, King of the Bahamas etc. It's just the person who fills those positions happens to be the same guy, Charles III. This ensures that all the realms are completely independent of each other, politically and constitutionally. So, for example, if Britain abolished its monarchy, Charles III would still be King of 14 other countries.
Interesting never thought of it this way/knew it was like this. British Monarch = realm monarch. Also if Britain abolished the monarchy I very much doubt Australia or anywhere else for that matter would keep the monarchy in its current form (or at all) - Westminster system.
Interesting never thought of it this way/knew it was like this. British Monarch = realm monarch. Also if Britain abolished the monarchy I very much doubt Australia or anywhere else for that matter would keep the monarchy in its current form (or at all) - Westminster system.
For countries in the commonwealth realm, you could basically say that they're ruled by the british because the highest government rep in a commonwealth country is a governor general, who reports back to the king. Btw there is any king of Bahamas.
@@shamarharvey6117 No you couldn't. The Governor General reports each back to their own King , who is resident in the UK.The UK has no say on the politics of the Commonwealth realms.There is a King of Bahamas at the moment.
As I Brit if feels fitting to be the first comment. Although to clarify Barbs: 1. Northern Ireland is classed as the 4th constituent nation by the UK government and many Brits will refer to it as one. 2. The period between 1603 and 1707 is known as The Union of The Crowns. King James was king of England, Scotland and Ireland but all of the Kingdoms were still fully governed by their own parliaments. 3. The modern devolved administrations in the Celtic constituent nations have varying degrees of autonomy. Scotland has the most devolved power, Wales doesn’t have as much and Northern Ireland has a good amount but this is sometimes handed back to the UK government if the Storemont assembly breaks down and can’t meet, which happens frequently. As you’d expect I’m eagerly anticipating the UK episode Barbs, especially as to how you deal with the famous people section as there are so many!
Some good points here, but to clarify Northern Ireland is both a nation and a province, depending on who you ask. As it doesn't consider itself a nation, rather a province of the UK. It's gets further complicated by the sectarian stuff, but that's a whole video in itself...
I imagine most Northern Irish would see themselves as part of one of 6 counties rather than one of 11 districts or whatever it was that Barbie says it has now.
Good video, but there's one thing I'd like to correct. While Scottish Gaelic is only spoken by a very few number of people, Scots is still a fairly prominent minority language in Scotland. The exact numbers are disbuted, but about 30% of the population of Scotland are reported as being able to speak fluent Scots and most Scottish people will use a few Scots words in their regular vocabulary. It's a little complicated though because even though UNESCO and the UK government have recognised it as a minority language, some people still argue that it's a dialect of English and the history behind it all is fairly complicated. Plus since the language isn't really taught in schools and most of the population does regularly use some Scots words, it can be hard to differentiate between someone speaking full Scots and someone speaking English with a Scottish dialect. Overall, my point is that even though Gaelic is an endangered language (I think it's a bit harsh to say it's dying since it's decline has slowed massively over the past couple of decades), Scots is still fairly widely spoken. Also don't forget about Cornish in the actual episode, for such a small area the British isles has a lot of languages.
Is it fair to say that the various Gaelic tongues have introduced words into English, as well? After all, for better or for worse, European countries' languages are usually affected somewhat by their neighbors'.
@@darreljones8645 It's probably fair to say that, although it's not just the case for European languages. Exchanging words, phrases and ideas is pretty much how every language in the world came into being.
Plus there's also a few extinct languages like Cumbric, which was a language related to Welsh spoken in the lake District until the middle ages; Norn which was a Nordic language spoken in Orkeney and Shetland until a few hundred years ago, and Pictish which was spoken in Scotland until the dark ages but was unrelated to Gaelic or Scotts
@@darreljones8645Celtic languages have affected English but the majority has been Brittonic, not Gaelic as it's the Irish branch of Insular Celtic. Gaelic influences have affected English, but due to regional differences it's generally the Scottish and Irish parts of the UK.
Northern Ireland wasn’t added to the U.K. in 1921. All of Ireland was part of the U.K prior to that. The south decided to leave thus leaving the north as the only part of Ireland still in the U.K.
That’s like saying you shouldn’t call the Republic of Korea, South Korea because they didn’t fight for their independence just to be called South Korea
The funny thing about the Welsh sign seen at 2:00 is that the Welsh part translated into English says "I'm not in the office at this time. Send any work to be translated" :D
Hi, I am from Jersey and I thought I would add a few things if people are interested in know a bit more about what Barby’s explanation of the Channel Islands. Firstly, it is important to say that the Crown Dependencies are NOT a part of the UK, though we are under the sovereignty of the UK. This means that we are autonomous in all aspects except defence and foreign relations, though often Guernsey and Jersey do engage in their own foreign relations anyway. Also, despite being called ‘bailiwicks’ (pronounced as 'bay-lee-whick btw), Guernsey and Jersey are not ‘governed’ by the bailiff. Nowadays, each island is governed by a ‘Chief Minister’ that functions in the same was a prime minister, in that they are an elected official and govern the island through a council of ministers. The Baliff nowadays is just the head of the judiciary who also sits as the speaker of our government, hence why we are still called a ‘bailiwick’. Like, the Isle of Mann; Jersey and Guernsey also have a Lieutenant Governor, who is the King’s representative to the island and is who rubber-stamps all our laws. And yes we have our own languages of Jèrriais and Dgèrnésiais, which are dialects Norman. They are only slightly intelligible with French and only contain a handful of English loan-words (there are almost as many words from Old-Norse too). It is an endangered language so only a few thousand people speak the languages, though there is an initiative to teach the languages at schools and nurseries. There are also in-person and online courses for adults, as well as lots of material online if anyone is interested.
Hey! Slight correction, under the sovereignty of the British Crown, not under the UK - hence why our passports say British Islands and not United Kingdom :)
@@TheAlexDekker It's a bit of a null statement as both the UK and the Channel Islands are both under the sovereignty of the British Crown. With regards to international law the Channel Islands are sovereign under the 'sovereign state' of the UK (in that the UK government is ultimately responsible for our immigration, foreign affairs, defence and human rights). Though it should be said that there are various exceptions, challenges and grey areas that apply to this. So the extent to which the UK is truly sovereign over Jersey and Guernsey is highly debatable, though very seldom challenged legally. Of course, any ruling the UK government can legally make concerning the Channel Islands can also be vetoed by the monarch, as they are the sovereign of both polities (Even I'm getting a headache trying to understand this!)
Isn't the Lieutenant Governor actually representing the Duke of Normandy rather than the King? (like the same guy, but different title for Bailiwicks?)
Great to see but the emphasis on Argentinean claim to Falkland Islands without mentioning that the people who live there are all British heritage and voted in a referendum to stay British undermines balance of opinion. Also, Scotland didn’t join the UK so much as it was a union of countries which was formed.
Hey, Guernsey / Alderney resident of the Channel Islands here. Just thought I’d let you know the languages here really is mostly English with a few people that learn French. Each island had their own dialect of French that has pretty much completely died out.however they do live on in weird ways such as people from Alderney calling A Garbage dump an “ impot “ with a silent T. One last thing, Baliwick is pronounced as “ Bay-lee-Whick “.
Firstly, Jèrriais and Dgèrnésiais *are not dialects of French!* I don't know how many times this needs to be said, but they are dialects of the Norman language which is a separate d'Oil language from French. That would be like saying that English is a dialect of German. Also Jèrriais and Dgèrnésiais have not died out (Auregnais is extinct though). I have no idea where you got that from but there are around 3,000 speakers of Jèrriais and 1,327 speakers of Dgèrnésiais. They are very much endangered languages, but have not died out. I would disagree that "few" people in the Channel Islands learn French. I don't know what the situation in Guernsey is, but in Jersey French is mandatory from the ages of 8/9 to 16 (or 18 depending on the school) and 15% of the island is proficient in French (which is probably a higher percentage than the UK). My grandparents spoke Jèrriais, so my family still uses Norman words quite a lot in the house: "Foutu" - broken, "Vere dga!" - yes indeed! - "Oup-ti-tô" - children's game, "Sâbre dé bouais!" - quit messing around!, "Bah!" - no!, "Cocq" - lad, "Man vyi" - my man, "branquage" - hedge-trimming, "À bétôt" - goodbye (we use Norman greetings and farewells all the time), "Côtil" - steep hill, "Vraic" - seaweed and obviously we use the Jèrriais when talking about place names in Jersey (hougue, mielle, côtil etc). Though I understand that I many people in the Channel Islands do not have ancestry here and so probably do not use Norman words like my family does.
@@NorseNorman people in the Uk learn French too but the point is very few people use it on a day to day basis for normal conversation. Also that’s one of the funniest ott responses I’ve seen in a while so thanks for making me laugh.
This is exactly what I wanted to say. Jersey resident here :) Yes, there are a few errors in this video that you specified, however he got the main points right.
Bit of a random anecdote but a few months ago I stumbled across a Welsh paper on library science from Aberystwyth University and it's helped me A LOT with my thesis work despite my being an American. So I'm feeling pretty grateful for Welsh librarians right now
The welsh do take their language seriously. I lived in southern Argentina and there's a community of welsh people there and you can see signs in welsh, towns with welsh names, and of course many people speak the language.
Fun Fact: The Channel Islands was once part of the Duchy of Normandy. Because of the Channel Islands wasn't reconquered by the French in the Medieval Period, the British monarch is the Duke of Normandy according to the Island inhabitants.
I don't know if you knew about this Geography Now, but the Pitcairn Islands had a huge controversy a few years ago detailing abuse between the male and female residents of the island. Just wanted to inform you about it.
@@CatFish107 Yeah but there’s ways he could carefully acknowledge it As he’s said on this channel, they don’t gloss over things. He said that when mentioning the cartel wars in the Mexico episode I believe
The Falklands are not "in dispute" with Argentina. If your neighbour tries to take over your detached garage, it doesn't mean your garage is in dispute. It just that he has ambitions against it. If you are mugged, you are not "in dispute" with the mugger, you are victim of attempted robbery. If Argentina feels it has a dispute, then it should take it to the forum designated to resolve such matters, the International Court, but it consistently refuses to do so. Until it does so, there is no "dispute", just a unilateral claim.
@@demilembias2527 You want to find humour in the unnecessary deaths of a thousand Argentines and 250 Britons? As for the inhabitants of the "garage", they are the Falkland Islanders in this analogy. They want to be British, not Argentine.
@@Maymar173 If Argentina feels it has a dispute, then it should take it to the forum designated to resolve such matters, the International Court, but it consistently refuses to do so. Until it does so, there is no "dispute", just a unilateral claim.
You can see it clearly says “Pitcairn” in some of the pictures but his captions still say “Pitcarin”. I caught the mistake right away thanks to the geography quiz that makes you spell everything correctly haha
@@Nerdydolfin I noticed it because I wrote a high school paper on exactly the topic of remaining British overseas territories, so I had to read and watch quite a bit about Pitcairn.
I had a fun time reading about the history of Sark this week which is an island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey which abolished feudalism in 2008 seemingly in part due to influence from the Barclay Brothers.
Fun fact Malta was supposted to become the 5th member of the UK in the early 60's. A vote was even held with over 70%saying yes. However pressure from mant countries including the UK didn't want Malta to become aa member of the UK as it was 'an act of imperialism.' Kinda funny how America tried the same thing in the late 70s with the Panama canal. However still to this day there are people on Malta who wish for it to become either a 5th member of the UK or even a crown dependency (the crown dependency one is a little foggy so I may be wrong but feel free to tell me so.) After WW2 Winston Churchill wanted to annex the Danish territory the Faero Islands (into its own overseas territory) since the British did occupy them so the Zazis couldn't get them when denmark fell. However the old way of colonialism was long dead so it never happened but considering that the islands picked p a lot of british culture I wonder what would have happened if the islands were allowed to vote on the matter.
A couple errors: 1.) the crown dependencies (Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey) are NOT part of the UK. They are self-governing possessions of the British Crown. The UK is responsible for their protection and are not sovereign. 2.) It's Pitcairn, not Pitcarin.
Scots and Scottish Gaelic are two different languages from different languages families. Scots is a Germanic language and sister language to English and is mostly mutually intelligible (varies with different regional dialects of each) Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language though.
I say, as the Brits on holiday in Ibiza say, would you mind awfully passing me my pint! Excuse me referee, as the prim and proper Brits say on the football terraces, but it would appear, Sir, that you may be mistaken.
I like how the picture of the sign that you included in your bit about the welsh language translates to "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".
Loved this episode and thanks Paul. However you inverted the map of the Isle of Man (at the 3:45 mark) and St. Helena is pronounced [ hell - EE - na ]. Thanks for showing my second home, Tristan da Cunha.
Very interesting video. Worth noting that depending on who you consult, Scotland has two native languages Scots Gaelic and Scots, which is closely related to English. There is a fairly robust debate about whether Scots is a language or just a dialect of English. About 200,000 people still speak "braid scots" and almost all working class people still use a lot of Scots words mixed in with standard English.
Love the video! Being from Scotland all I would say is that Gaelic is not a dying language. It’s true, there is a minority of Scots who speak this these days. However, through Apps like Duolingo and Government funding Gaelic is enjoying a minor renaissance in past couple years and is slowly gaining in popularity. It is most definitely alive❤
@@markylon I wouldn’t call a language with 60,000 speakers that is increasing a dying language. I would call it a revival. Attitudes towards Gaelic are changing and I hope I’m here years down the line with this trend continuing👍
also important to mention that scots and scottish gaelic are completely different: gaelic is a goidelic celtic language like irish or manx whereas scots is a germanic language similar to and sometimes considered a dialect of english
Very well explained sir! Though honestly most Brits struggle to explain the UK and know next to nothing about the Overseas territories. Just a few corrections: . The bulk of Protestant settlers in the north of Ireland arrived in the 16th-17th centuries. . Isle of Man was upside down ☹️ . Typos for Pitcairn and Caymans. . The king/queen is head of state of some but not all Commonwealth members.
Also, the monarchies are all technically independent. The titles just happen to all be held by the same individual. i.e. There is a King of Canada, King of Australia, King of the UK and its overseas territories etc. This is precisely to ensure no political or other such undue influence be shared beyond the norm. If say, King Charles had just had a meeting with the PM of the UK (Rishi currently) and then went to some event in Australia and had a meeting with the Aussie PM (Anthony if I remember correctly) Charles has to put on a show of not knowing anything about the UKs plans that any general Australian wouldn't know if questioned and visa versa.
That photo you've used for the Welsh language is well known for being a mistake. The local council emailed the sign for translation and received an auto-generated Welsh response saying they were out of office. The local council just used that, printed it and put it out on the street not knowing their mistake.
As a resident of Jersey, I can debunk a few myths here. We are not in any way bilingual. Everyone here basically speaks English, and basically no one speaks French. We have more Portuguese and Polish culture over here than French, due to influx of immigration over the last couple of years. If you have any more questions about Jersey, just drop them down below :)
My only issue with this, as a former history student here in Scotland 🏴 is that the UK didn't exist when "Wales joined" England had taken over an subjugated Wales for centuries (there were Welsh bowmen at the battle of Bannockburn 1314) so they were by default part of Great Britain as a subjugated part of England.
So Wales being a constituent country of the UK only exist during the devolved government in recent years? I wonder whether the independence movement within Wales has been there or it is something new arising from the devolution.
@@EAlyahya In the post-Roman period, a number of Welsh kingdoms formed in present-day Wales, including Gwynedd, Powys, Deheubarth, Brycheiniog, Ergyng and Gwent. While the most powerful ruler was acknowledged as King of the Britons (later Tywysog Cymru: Leader or Prince of Wales), and some rulers extended their control over other Welsh territories and into western England, none were able to unite Wales for long. Internecine struggles and external pressure from the English and later, the Norman conquerors of England, led to the Welsh kingdoms coming gradually under the sway of the English crown. In 1282, the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd led to the conquest of the Principality of Wales by King Edward I of England; afterwards, the heir apparent to the English monarch has borne the title "Prince of Wales". The Welsh launched several revolts against English rule, the last significant one being that led by Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century. In the 16th century Henry VIII, himself of Welsh extraction as a great-grandson of Owen Tudor, passed the Laws in Wales Acts aiming to fully incorporate Wales into the Kingdom of England. Under England's authority, Wales became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801.
@@EAlyahya I believe it was in the 1950s or 60s that Wales was legally separated from England though for some purposes it had always been treated differently. The border issue as regards Monmouthshire was not settled until the Local Government Act of 1972
@@pedanticradiator1491 during Victorian era, how the Welsh people view themselves? Did they regard themselves as English or Welsh when it was part of England? I’m curious if Cornwall being part of England will be separated as a constituent country in the future.
Me thinks the UK will be the most in depth episode in this series as practically most modern day countries have historical links. Looking forward to it.....maybe consider doing 2 episodes?
I hope in the main UK video you bring up specifically that Scotland and England were specifically in a personal union - two systems under one king until the Acts of Union about a century later that made them into a single entity. Also, maybe bring up that Scots has Germanic roots, just like English, and that it's not a Celtic language like Irish, or Welsh, or Scottish Gaelic?
Aww Geography Now is in the U letters. Ever since moving out of LA and finishing Associate school, I haven’t been able to find you. But happy to see you and you’re channel grow. Wishing you many blessings to you and your mom and friends. ❤
Brit here. Loved the vid. In1707 the independent kingdoms of Scotland and England joined together to form the kingdom of Great Britain. Wales had been occupied by the English's since the 13th century. In 1536 Henry viii declared it part of England so it's not technically right to say Wales joined the UK in 1536. That's why there's no Welsh representation on the union flag as Wales didn't exist in a legal sense. In 1974 local government was reorganised and I believe that is when Wales was reaffirmed as an actual country in a legal sense. Of course Wales was always Wales to the people there. The United Kingdom came into existence in 1801 when Ireland United with great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Then in 1921 most of Ireland left the Union but the North opted to stay part. So we renamed ourselves the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It's not really that complicated it's just a lot.
@@gothicgolem2947 I see what you're getting at but the flag is a union of St George's Cross for England and St Andrews Cross for Scotland. Come 1801 we got St Patrick's Cross for Ireland. I think it would look pretty good having a dragon right in the middle of the flag. But the way things are going makes one wonder how long that flag will be around.
@@mr.caretaker6086 yeahand i fully get that but by accident th flag represents colours of every county in the Uk. And yes a dragon would be so cool on it if Scotland leave we should design a new flag maybe with a lion for England a Dragon for Wales and idk sadly Ni don’t have a a animal according to google so maybe have there cross there idk but yeah. Also the flag may be around for a bit Ni is slowly moving towards Indy and in Scotland it is extremely close so ho knows
@@gothicgolem2947 if Scotland and England went their separate ways, it would be interesting to see to which NI unionists would want to remain united to.
Pretty much Britain's entire Chagos Islander community now lives in the otherwise unremarkable town of Crawley, West Sussex. After the plane on which the Chagos Islanders were exiled landed in Gatwick Airport, they just settled in the nearest town, and they and their descendants are still mostly there today over fifty years later.
That's basically correct. I lived in Crawley for years and it's actually quite nice, but it's a big town with well in excess of 100k residents (something many don't realize), so has the same problems that any large town can bring.
I feel calling this a filler episode , or in line with the flag friday ones where you says "no one wathches these" would be taking something away from these. This is a video covering something i always wanted. I've been confused about the isles and the carribean territories and have done my own research on them, but this video contextulizes it all, and most importantly puts it all in a good format which adds alot to the learning value. For the first time i feel i understand this subject matter
1:35 not to be “that guy”, but saying Scotland joined the UK in 1707 is very misleading as there wasn’t even a UK to join at the time. Rather, Scotland and England formed the UK in 1707. Also, it’s “Pitcairn” not “Pitcarin”.
Little detail, the official 'capital' of South Georgia is actually King Edward Point, a scientific base just a few meters away from Grytviken, the old Norwegian settlement where Shackleton is buried. P.S. I still regret having been to Tristan da Cunha, Falkland and South Georgia and not having sent a postcard to Geography Now 😭
One think to note about overseas territories & crown dependencies is they are not technically sovereign UK territory. They essentially operate as micro-states of which the UK controls foreign policy & defence. This differs from other examples of overseas land, such as in the case of France, of which they are actually part of the country.
Thanks Barbs 👍 As a Brit, this was a smart move you made, as I guess you already know, there's THAT MUCH to cover in the 🇬🇧 episode. Despite that, it'll probably be the longest country episode anyway 🤔 Suggestion: invite Bald and Bankrupt to be your guest host. I think that would be awesome 👌 By the way, two things I spotted: 1. It's Pitcairn, not Pitcarin; 2. (St.) Helena is pronounced "Heleena" - I discovered this myself only a few years ago.
@@Ccccc-mi3tr The UK isn't a "political partnership", it's a unitary state that was created in 1707 and its constituent parts have less autonomy than New Jersey does in the USA (with the exception of NI which can leave unilaterally if it wants to per the GFA). The only people who don't believe the UK is a country are nationalists who want independence, and who are still in the minority in their respective bits of the UK.
Well explained video as always Barbs. Though at 4:01 Lieutenant Governor, you call it a call it a Loo-ten-ant Governor whereas over here it is a Leff-ten-ant Governor.
1:18 That is not true. England does not have it's own parliament. 6:43 St. Helena alone has more than 6,100 people. All three together has about 7,100 people.
At 2:00 the "bilingual" sign in English and Welsh made the news. Apparently the Welsh text says, "I'm sorry but I'm not in at the moment. Send all translation requests to".
Scotland didn't join the UK in 1707, it united into Great Britain. Which is a country but also a geographical island. Also monarch doesn't have to be head of state of commonwealth countries. India, South Africa, Nigeria are republics and are commonwealth members.
@@matthewmccallion3311 Ceremonial is the most widely used now but its worth mentioning the historical ones. Don't talk about postal, postal is unnecessary and stupid
@@matthewmccallion3311 Would definitely like the ceremonial, with mentions of the historical ones. Postal ones can be ignored. It's been a while since Barbs did country subdivisions and England was a big one he didn't do. Hoping he listens! 😁
Happy to see my home of Guernsey mentioned. Looking forward to the UK episode. BTW bailiwick is pronounced beh-lee-wihk. If you have any questions about the channel Islands, I'd he happy to answer. Not as good with Jersey but (much to friends annoyance) I know a lot about guernsey.
@@nico.malerba why is it if you immigrate to Argentina and in a year or so, (however long it takes) get citizenship, you're an Argentinian, yet if you are descended from the original British settles 200 years ago your still not a Faulklander? Argentina claim the islands on the basis that the Spanish king who didn't own them nor had the ability to give them to Argentina, gave them to Argentina. Faulklanders have lived there before Argentina existed as a country. Britain didn't take them off Argentina. The Dutch took them of Spain. Argentina has always complained that it's problem are the Faulkands but I think the international community rather thinks having several Fascist dictators and going bankrupt several times is more important.
@@jackdubz4247 The UK is one of those fairly weird countries that went through a melting pot situation hundreds of years ago, it was also the largest Empire in human history while still having at least 7 distinct cultures in a tiny amount of space, add to this music and the industrial revolution/invention then yes, it's going to be a fairly interesting episode for many people.
Excellent stuff! The confusion that folks have over this is incredible. However, to add to the confusion, it's constituent country, not constituencies. That's something else entirely.
Northern Ireland results from the 2021 census released showed that 45.7% of inhabitants are Catholic or from a Catholic background compared with 43.48% from Protestant or other Christian backgrounds.
I'm from the UK and wrote my Master's thesis and a subsequent book on UK overseas territories so this was cool to see! Glad to see the information here was more or less accurate! I even learned a few things myself e.g. about the previous Union of Saint Kitts & Montserrat! Funnily enough the main errors i see are in the spelling and pronunciation of some of the territories. One could easily talk a lot about them all too but maybe we'll get a full episode one day 😁
At 2:05 the sign in Welsh is incorrect, translated it is an automatic out-of-office email reply, and the people who made the sign used it because none of them spoke Welsh and assumed that was the correct translation sent back
I'm glad that Barbs has cleared up the misconception (even amongst my fellow Brits), that Gibraltar is part of the UK. Unlike the Spanish Territories across the Strait at Ceuta, Melilla etc, Gibraltar is not nor has it ever been a part of the UK. One complication that wasn't mentioned with the amount of Autonomy the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have, when the UK joined the EU in 1975, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories had a choice of whether they wanted to join as well. Because of them sharing a land border with Spain, Gibraltar was the only one that joined with the UK back then. Even in 2016, with the infamous vote on whether or not to leave the EU, the result in Gibraltar was amongst the most one sided, over 90% voted in favour of remaining. This wasn't a surprise as 4000 Spaniards cross the border everyday to work in Gibraltar and putting in a harder border would be disastrous for Gibraltar's economy. Because of this, Gibraltar has been pushing to keep the border with Spain as low key as possible (indeed, there are some suggestions that they hope to join the Schengen Area)
Thanks to Pitcairn, the sun still never sets on the British “Empire”. Also it’s like a 2 week ride on a semi-cargo ship just to get there, there is zero way to arrive by air (St. Helena used to have this same problem, but they actually built an airport in a somewhat remote part of the island (guess to mitigate the noise.)
Growing up in England, I'd never realised that the whole overseas possessions thing, let alone the counties even, or indeed the Commonwealth, could be a bit overwhelming. I s'pose that I just assimilated it all by osmosis. In our defence, if it's needed, I would simply state that we've been around for a while now. It's history.
Filler weeks are more fun than main episodes for me! Especially the ones breaking down a country’s regions as it makes them feel so so much more unique. We’ve got to see Mexico or (if you can handle the number of regions) China someday!
I really enjoy your videos.. they are so informative. I’ve learned a lot. I love Geography and travel.. What are you going to do when you run out of countries to talk about?😃
1:27 Actually you're wrong in 1707 England and Scotland joined to create the Kingdom of Great Britain United Kingdom wasn't created until 1801 when Great Britain and Ireland joined together
TBH im not trying to cause offence as I’m a half English half Irish person who lives in another politically complicated area, I.E. Northern Ireland, But the Falkland Islanders want to be British, Unless Argentina wants to Forcibly occupy or Evict them I really don’t see what can be done, maybe at some point in the past it was feasible, but they identify as British more than half the people in my country and we are literally next door to Great Britain.