Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronin4hire
... as I've said before... I still don't understand how Scotland qualifies as a country.
I mean I do... it has its own government which handles internal matters however defers to London for its foreign relations. But to me that's just like a state government - federal government relationship.
|
I guess it depends how you define "country". I personally use it to mean an independent sovereign state, which Scotland obviously is not. However, the use of "country" to denote the separate entities of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland is apparently
common practice in the United Kingdom. I do get the impression that these components of the United Kingdom have more autonomy than U.S. states do, though I can't confirm that.
However, you have to admit that the various parts of the U.K. do have a long history in which they were quite independent. Wales was an independent realm well into the Middle Ages until its conquest by Edward I of England in 1282. It and Cornwall were the last remnants of the old Roman province of Britannia to remain free from the Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain. The Welsh language is completely separate from English; it's a Celtic language most closely related to Cornish and Breton, and somewhat more distantly related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
Scotland, despite English attempts to conquer it, remained as a completely independent monarchy until 1603, when its king James VI inherited England's crown, as James I of England, after the death of Elizabeth I. He continued to reign as king of both Scotland and England, as well as becoming king of Ireland. All three of these realms had separate governments and even separate kingships which just happened to be held by the same person. These kingships did not begin to be unified until a century later, with the 1707 Acts of Union which united the English and Scottish kingships, a process which led eventually to today's United Kingdom.
And of course, Scotland also has its own languages: Scots, a close relative of English but a distinct language nonetheless, and Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic language closest to Irish Gaelic.
Compared to the situation in the U.K., the only real analogue among the U.S. states is Hawaii, which was an independent kingdom for about a century until it fell under U.S. rule during the 1890s. There's also the Republic of Texas, but that only lasted for about ten years from 1836 to 1846. So apart from Hawaii there's really not much room for comparison.
Not to sound like an American 'tard but what's the reason behind the the two different groups of countries? That is, why isn't N. Ireland part of Britain? I've read there's a good bit of ill feelings for Britain by the Irish, and that the Irish think the North Irish are traitors for staying part of the UK, right? Sorry if this info is off. I learned this stuff in high school so it's vague now.
illiteracy -
05-02-2011, 09:18 AM
Sorry Brits.
Thanks for humoring the stupid people.
