One of the first things that are taught when studying geography are names, boundaries, and gentilices. Although, after time and with the evolution of popular belief or simply with confusion in the face of regional similarity or proximity Errors can occur, although they usually do not have a decisive effect on everyday conversation, they can cause Relevant specific failure if we’re going to write about it or have a more formal meeting. This can happen with England.

On many occasions, when we talk about England, Great Britain and Great Britain We tend to think that they are something like synonyms, so we use this term in no different way to refer to things that are related to them. Popularly, it is quite common to call every English person British, whether he is from England or not, which is a mistake, because there are geographical and political differences about these concepts.

Geographic division

Between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea are several islands, the largest and best known to all Great Britain Island and ireland island. These, together with others with lesser extensions (some with political independence such as the Isle of Man) form an archipelago known as the British Isles. Here is the first clarification on the confusion of the terms, United Kingdom definition.

When we talk about britain we’re referring to the region consisting of the island that bears his name, so this is a geographical term, which includes some of the political entities that will be placed within the organization which are described below. Like this one, the island of Ireland includes two other countries to be distinguished in terms of political organization.

Political division

As mentioned, it is usually extended to think about English as a synonym for other concepts, but it is really just the name of one of the four political entities that make up Great Britain, along with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This error, in part, may be due to Britain’s importance on the international scene, as well as its influence on an economic and cultural level throughout history, in addition to the fact that it has a large proportion of the population of the United States. Kingdom and therein is the capital, London.

It can be seen that on the island of Great Britain is located three of the four countries that make up English (England, Scotland and Wales), while the fourth, Northern Ireland, is located on the island of Ireland, separate from the independent Republic of Ireland. If this is a bit confusing, to make it clearer, just remember the official name of the United Kingdom (as this definition is an abbreviation), which is none other than United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

England or England?

After all this clarification, it is logical to think that, if we ever call anyone from the two islands English, we are partly wrong. Genilicio ‘English’ is correct to refer to British people, accepted the ‘English’ denomination for all, for those living in the British Isles, although if you don’t want to speculate, it’s best to call each one by the official name of their country: Scottish, Welsh, Irish, etc. So you know, if they ever talk about Gareth Bale (or meet him, who knows) better call him Welsh and there’s no confusion at all.