15 Facts About Great Britain

Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe.

Term "Great Britain" is often used to refer to England, Scotland and Wales, including their component adjoining islands.

The single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the 1707 Acts of Union between the kingdoms of England and Scotland.

The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol.

Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Great Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland.

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Term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily, daughter of Edward IV of England, and James, son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee".

Politically, Great Britain refers to the whole of England, Scotland and Wales in combination, but not Northern Ireland; it includes islands, such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland, that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland.

Great Britain was probably first inhabited by those who crossed on the land bridge from the European mainland.

Great Britain became an island at the end of the last glacial period when sea levels rose due to the combination of melting glaciers and the subsequent isostatic rebound of the crust.

At about the same time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Great Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century.

Ultimately, the population of south-east Great Britain came to be referred to as the English people, so-named after the Angles.

The Treaty of Union specified the name of the new all-island state as "Great Britain", while describing it as "One Kingdom" and "the United Kingdom".

Great Britain has been subject to a variety of plate tectonic processes over a very extended period of time.

Great Britain experienced early industrialisation and is subject to continuing urbanisation, which have contributed towards the overall loss of species.

Great Britain was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and sacrificed to the pagan gods.