Satellite photo: Ireland is the island on the left and Great Britain is on the right

The toponym "British Isles" refers to a European archipelago comprising Great Britain, Ireland and the smaller, adjacent islands.[1] The word "British" has also become an adjective and demonym referring to the United Kingdom[2] and more historically associated with the British Empire. For this reason, the name British Isles is avoided by some, as such usage could be misrepresented to imply continued territorial claims or political overlordship of the Republic of Ireland by the United Kingdom.[3][4][5][6][7]

Alternatives for the British Isles include "Britain and Ireland",[3][8][9] the "Atlantic Archipelago",[10] the "Anglo-Celtic Isles",[11][12] the "British-Irish Isles",[13] and the Islands of the North Atlantic.[14] In documents drawn up jointly between the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is referred to simply as "these islands".[15]

To some, the reasons to use an alternate name is partly semantic, as the term is a value-free geographic one, while, to others, it is a value-laden political one.[16] The Channel Islands are normally included in the British Isles by tradition, though they are physically a separate archipelago from the rest of the isles.[17][18] United Kingdom law uses the term British Islands to refer to the UK, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man as a single collective entity.

An early variant of the term British Isles dates back to Ancient Greek times, when they were known as the Pretanic or Britannic Islands. It was translated as the British Isles into English in the late 16th or early 17th centuries by English and Welsh writers, whose writings have been described as propaganda and politicised.[19][20][21]

The term became controversial after the breakup of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1922. The names of the archipelago's two sovereign states were themselves the subject of a long dispute between the Irish and British governments.

Perspectives in Great Britain

In general, the use of the term British Isles to refer to the archipelago is common and uncontroversial within Great Britain,[22] at least since the concept of "Britishness" was gradually accepted in Britain after the 1707 Act of Union. In Britain it is commonly understood as being a politically neutral geographical term, although it is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom or Great Britain alone.[23][24][25] In the 2016 Oxford Dictionary Plus Social Sciences, Howard Sargeant describes the British Isles as "A geographical rather than a political designation".[26]

In 2003, Irish newspapers reported a British Government internal briefing that advised against the use of "British Isles".[27][28] There is evidence that its use has been increasingly avoided in recent years in fields like cartography and in some academic work, such as Norman Davies's history of Britain and Ireland The Isles: A History. As a purely geographical term in technical contexts (such as geology and natural history), there is less evidence of alternative terms being chosen. Recent histories of Great Britain and Ireland (published by major British academic publishers such as the Oxford and Cambridge University presses) have discussed the acceptability of the term "British Isles" in Ireland.

According to Jane Dawson, "Finding an acceptable shorthand geographical description for the countries which formed the UK before the creation of Eire has proved difficult" and in her 2002 work on Mary, Queen of Scots (r. 1542–1567) and Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll, she wrote: "for convenience, I have used the following as virtual synonyms: the islands of Britain; these islands; the British Isles, and the adjective, British. Without intending to imply any hidden imperial or other agenda, they describe the kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales as they existed in the sixteenth century".[29]

In the 2005 Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names, John Everett-Heath's defined the British Isles as "Until 1949 a collective title … In 1949 the Republic of Ireland left the British Commonwealth and so could no longer be included in the title".[30][31] Everett-Heath used the name in a "general note" and in the introduction to the same work.[30][32][33]

In the 2005 preface to the second edition of Hugh Kearney's The British Isles: A History of Four Nations, published in 2006, the historian noted that "The title of this book is 'The British Isles', not 'Britain', in order to emphasise the multi-ethnic character of our intertwined histories. Almost inevitably many within the Irish Republic find it objectionable, much as Basques or Catalans resent the use of the term 'Spain'."[34] and illustrated this by quoting the objection of Irish poet Seamus Heaney to being included in an anthology of British poems. Kearney also wrote: "But what is the alternative to 'The British Isles?' Attempts to encourage the use of such terms as 'The Atlantic Archipelago' and 'The Isles' have met with criticism because of their vagueness. Perhaps one solution is to use 'the British Isles' in inverted commas".[34]

Recognition of issues with the term (as well as problems over definitions and terminology) was discussed by the columnist Marcel Berlins, writing in The Guardian in 2006. Beginning with "At last, someone has had the sense to abolish the British Isles", he opines that "although purely a geographical definition, it is frequently mixed up with the political entities Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. Even when used geographically, its exact scope is widely misunderstood". He also acknowledges that some view the term as representing Britain's imperial past, when it ruled the whole of Ireland.[35]

Perspectives in Ireland

Republic of Ireland

From the Irish perspective, some consider "The British Isles" as a political term rather than a geographical name for the archipelago because of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, the subsequent Cromwellian activities in Ireland, the Williamite accession in Britain and the Williamite War in Ireland—all of which resulted in severe impact on the Irish people, landowners and native aristocracy. From that perspective, the term "British Isles" is not a neutral geographical term but an unavoidably political one. Use of the name "British Isles" is often rejected in the Republic of Ireland, because some claim its use implies a primacy of British identity over all the islands outside the United Kingdom, including the Irish state and the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.[36][37][38][39]

J. G. A. Pocock, in a lecture at the University of Canterbury in 1973 and published in 1974: "the term 'British Isles' is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously".[40][41] Nicholas Canny, professor of history at the National University of Ireland, Galway between 1979 and 2009, in 2001 described the term as "politically loaded" and stated that he avoided the term in discussion of the reigns following the Union of the Crowns under James VI and I (r. 1603–1625) and Charles I (r. 1625–1649) "not least because this was not a normal usage in the political discourse of the time".[42][43][44] Steven G. Ellis, however, Canny's successor as professor of history at the same university from 2009, wrote in 1996: "with regard to terminology, 'the British Isles', as any perusal of contemporary maps will show, was a widely accepted description of the archipelago long before the Union of the Crowns and the completion of the Tudor conquest of Ireland".[45][46] In the 2004 Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable, Seán McMahon described "British Isles" as "A geographer's collective description of the islands of Britain and Ireland, but one that is no longer acceptable in the latter country" and "once acceptable" but "seen as politically inflammatory as well as historically inaccurate".[47][48] The same work describes Powerscourt Waterfall as "the highest in Ireland, and the second highest in the British Isles after Eas a' Chual Aluinn".[47]

Many political bodies, including the Irish government, avoid describing Ireland as being part of the British Isles. The journalist John Gunther, recollecting a meeting in 1936 or 1937 with Éamon de Valera, the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, wrote that the Irish statesman queried his use of the term:[49]

My use of the term "British Isles" was an unconscious little slip. Mr. de Valera did not allow it to go uncorrected. Quite soberly he smiled and said that if I had meant to include Ireland in the British Isles, he trusted that I did so only as a "geographical expression." I explained that my chief duty to my newspaper was to gain knowledge, background, education. "Very well," Mr. de Valera said. "Let your instruction begin at once." And he set out to explain the difference between Ireland and the "British Isles." Some moments later, having again necessity to describe my field of operations, I sought a phrase and said, after a slight pause, "a group of islands in the northern part of Europe." Mr. de Valera sat back and laughed heartily. I hope he will not mind my telling this little story.

— John Gunther, Inside Europe, pp. 373–374

However, the term "British Isles" has been used by individual ministers, as did cabinet minister Síle de Valera when delivering a speech including the term at the opening of a drama festival in 2002,[50] and is used by government departments in relation to geographic topics.[51] In September 2005, Dermot Ahern, minister for foreign affairs, stated in a written answer to a parliamentary question from Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in the Dáil Éireann: "The British Isles is not an officially recognised term in any legal or inter-governmental sense. It is without any official status. The Government, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, does not use this term."[52][53] Ahern himself continued to use the term, at a conference in April 2015 calling the 2004 Northern Bank robbery "The biggest bank raid in history of the British Isles".[54]

"British Isles" has been used in a geographical sense in Irish parliamentary debates by government ministers,[55][56] although it is often used in a way that defines the British Isles as excluding the Republic of Ireland.[57][58][59][60]

In October 2006, Irish educational publisher Folens announced that it was removing the term from its popular school atlas effective in January 2007. The decision was made after the issue was raised by a geography teacher. Folens stated that no parent had complained directly to them over the use of "British Isles" and that they had a policy of acting proactively, upon the appearance of a "potential problem".[61][62] This attracted press attention in the UK and Ireland, during which a spokesman for the Irish Embassy in London said, "'The British Isles' has a dated ring to it, as if we are still part of the Empire".[63] Writing in The Irish Times in 2016, Donald Clarke described the term as "anachronistically named".[64]

A bilingual dictionary website maintained by Foras na Gaeilge translates "British Isles" into Irish as Éire agus an Bhreatain Mhór "Ireland and Great Britain".[65][66] As the Irish translation of "British Isles", the Collins Gem Irish Dictionary edited by Séamus Mac Mathúna and Ailbhe Ó Corráin lists Na hOileáin Bhriotanacha, 'British islands'.[67]

Northern Ireland

Different views on terminology are probably most clearly seen in Northern Ireland (which covers six of the thirty-two counties in Ireland), where the political situation is difficult and national identity contested. A survey in Northern Ireland found that Unionists generally considered the British Isles to be a natural geographical entity, considering themselves British and are mainly descendants of British settlers in Ireland. Another survey highlighted the British and Irish identity of the Protestant community, showing that 51% of Protestants felt "not at all Irish" and 41% only "weakly Irish".[68][69] In contrast, Nationalists considered their community to be that of the Irish nation—a distinct cultural and political community extending across the whole of Ireland. Identities were diverse and multi-layered, and Irishness was a highly contested identity; Nationalists expressed difficulty in understanding Unionist descriptions of Britishness.[70]

The overall opinion of the Northern Irish people about the term (like the opinion of those in the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain) has never been formally gauged. Politicians from the Irish Unionist tradition readily use the term "British Isles";[71][72] the contrast between Unionist and Nationalist approaches to the term was shown in December 1999 at a meeting of the Irish cabinet and Northern Ireland Executive in Armagh. The first minister of Northern Ireland, David Trimble, told the meeting:

This represents the Irish government coming back into a relationship with the rest of the British Isles. We are ending the cold war that has divided not just Ireland but the British Isles. That division is now going to be transformed into a situation where all parts work together again in a way that respects each other.[73]

In contrast, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, did not use the term in his address to the meeting.[73]

At a gathering of the British–Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body in 1998, sensitivity about the term became an issue. Referring to plans for the proposed British–Irish Council (supported by both Nationalists and Unionists), the British member of parliament (MP) Dennis Canavan, was paraphrased by official note-takers as having said in a caveat:

He understood that the concept of a Council of the Isles had been put forward by the Ulster Unionists and was referred to as a "Council for the British Isles" by David Trimble. This would cause offence to Irish colleagues; he suggested as an acronym IONA-Islands of the North Atlantic.[74]

In a series of documents issued by the United Kingdom and Ireland, from the Downing Street Declaration to the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Agreement), relations in the British Isles were referred to as the "East–West strand" of the tripartite relationship.[75]

Alternative terms

There is no single accepted replacement of the term British Isles. However, the terms Great Britain and Ireland, British Isles and Ireland, Islands of the North Atlantic etc. are suggested.

British Isles and Ireland

The term British Isles and Ireland has been used in a variety of contexts—among others religious,[76] medical,[77] zoologic,[78] academic[79] and others. This form is also used in some book titles[80] and legal publications.[81]

Islands of the North Atlantic (or IONA)

In the context of the Northern Ireland peace process, the term "Islands of the North Atlantic" (and its acronym, IONA) was a term created by the British MP John Biggs-Davison.[82] It has been used as a term to denote either all the islands, or the two main islands, without referring to the two states.

IONA has been used by (among others) the former Irish Taoiseach (prime minister), Bertie Ahern:

The Government are, of course, conscious of the emphasis that is laid on the East-West dimension by Unionists, and we are, ourselves, very mindful of the unique relationships that exist within these islands – islands of the North Atlantic or IONA as some have termed them.[83]

Others have interpreted the term more narrowly to mean the "Council of the Isles" or "British-Irish Council". British MP Peter Luff told the House of Commons in 1998 that

In the same context, there will be a council of the isles. I think that some people are calling it IONA – the islands of the north Atlantic, from which England, by definition, will be excluded.[84]

His interpretation is not widely shared, particularly in Ireland. In 1997 the leader of the Irish Green Party Trevor Sargent, discussing the Strand Three (or East–West) talks between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, commented in the Dáil Éireann:

I noted with interest the naming of the islands of the north Atlantic under the acronym IONA which the Green Party felt was extremely appropriate.[85]

His comments were echoed by Proinsias De Rossa, then leader of the Democratic Left and later President of the Irish Labour Party, who told the Dáil, "The acronym IONA is a useful way of addressing the coming together of these two islands."[85]

Criticism

The neologism has been criticised on the grounds that it excludes most of the islands in the North Atlantic.[14]

The name is also ambiguous, because of the other islands in the North Atlantic which have never been considered part of the British Isles.[86]

West European Isles

The name "West European Isles" is one translation of the islands' name in the Gaelic languages of Irish[87] and Manx,[88] with equivalent terms for "British Isle".[89][90]

In Old Icelandic, the name of the British Isles was Vestrlönd, 'the Western lands'. The name of a person from the British Isles was a Vestmaðr, 'a man from the West'.[1][2]

Other terms

these islands

Common among Irish public officials, although as a deictic label it cannot be used outside the islands in question.[91][92] Charles Haughey referred to his 1980 discussions with Margaret Thatcher on "the totality of relationships in these islands";[93] the 1998 Good Friday Agreement also uses "these islands" and not "British Isles".[92][94] In Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable, McMahon writes that this is "cumbersome but neutral" and "the phrase in most frequent use" but that it is "cute and unsatisfactory".[47][48]

Insular

An adjective, meaning "island based", used as a qualifier in cultural history up to the early medieval period, as for example insular art, insular script, Insular Celtic, Insular Christianity.

Atlantic Archipelago

J. G. A. Pocock, in his lecture of 1973 entitled "British history: a Plea for a new subject" and published in 1974, introduced the historiographical concept of the "Atlantic archipelago – since the term 'British Isles' is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously".[40][41][95] It has been adopted by some historians.[95][96] According to Steven G. Ellis, in 1996 professor of history at the National University of Ireland, Galway, "to rename the British Isles as 'the Atlantic archipelago' in deference to Irish nationalist sensibilities seems an extraordinary price to pay, particularly when many Irish historians have no difficulty with the more historical term."[45] According to Jane Dawson in 2002, "Whilst accurate, the term 'Atlantic archipelago' is rather cumbersome".[29]

Hibernian Archipelago

Another suggestion is "Hibernian Archipelago". In Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable, McMahon calls this title "cumbersome and inaccurate".[47][48]

Names of the islands through the ages

Pretanic Islands and Britanniae

The earliest known names for the islands come from Greco-Roman writings. Sources included the Massaliote Periplus (a merchants' handbook from around 500 BC describing sea routes) and the travel writings of the Greek, Pytheas, from around 320 BC.[97][98] Although the earliest texts have been lost, excerpts were quoted or paraphrased by later authors. The main islands were called "Ierne", equal to the term Ériu for Ireland,[99] and "Albion" for present-day Great Britain. The island group had long been known collectively as the Pretanic or Britanic isles.

There is considerable confusion about early use of these terms and the extent to which similar terms were used as self-description by the inhabitants.[100] Cognates of these terms are still in use.[101]

According to T. F. O'Rahilly in 1946 "Early Greek geographers style Britain and Ireland 'the Pretanic (or Brettanic) islands', i.e. the islands of the Pritani or Priteni" and that "From this one may reasonably infer that the Priteni were the ruling population of Britain and Ireland at the time when these islands first became known to the Greeks".[102] O'Rahilly identified the Preteni with the Irish: Cruthin and the Latin: Picti, whom he stated were the earliest of the "four groups of Celtic invaders of Ireland" and "after whom these islands were known to the Greeks as 'the Pretanic Islands'".[103]

According to Christopher Snyder in 2003, the collective name "Brittanic Isles" (Greek: αἱ Βρεττανίαι, romanized: hai Brettaníai, lit. 'the Britains') was "a geographic rather than a cultural or political designation" including Ireland.[104] According to Snyder, "Preteni", a word related to the Latin: Britanni, lit. 'Britons' and to the Welsh: Prydein, lit. 'Britain', was used by southern Britons to refer to the people north of the Antonine Wall, also known as the Picts (Latin: Picti, lit. 'painted ones').[105] According to Snyder, "Preteni" was a probably from a Celtic term meaning "people of the forms", whereas the Latin name Picti was probably derived from the Celtic practice of tattooing or painting the body before battle.[105] According to Kenneth H. Jackson, the Pictish language was a Celtic language related to modern Welsh and to ancient Gaulish with influences from earlier non-Indo-European languages.[105]

According to Barry Cunliffe in 2002, "The earliest reasonably comprehensive description of the British Isles to survive from the classical authors is the account given by the Greek writer Diodorus Siculus in the first century B.C. Diodorus uses the word Pretannia, which is probably the earliest Greek form of the name".[100] Cunliffe argued that "the original inhabitants would probably have called themselves Pretani or Preteni", citing Jackson's argument that the form Pretani was used in the south of Britain and the form Preteni was used in the north.[106] This form then remained in use in the Roman period to describe the Picts beyond the Antonine Wall.[106] In Ireland, where Qu took the place of P, the form Quriteni was used.[106] Cunliffe argued that "Since it is highly probable that Diodorus was basing his description on a text of Pytheas's (though he nowhere acknowledges the fact), it would most likely have been Pytheas who first transliterated the local word for the islands into the Greek Prettanikē.[106] Pytheas may have taken his name for the inhabitants from the name Pretani when he made landfall on the peninsula of Belerion, though in Cunliffe's view, because it is unusual for a self-description (an endonym) to describe appearance, this name may have been used by Armoricans, from whom Pytheas would have learnt what the inhabitants of Albion were called.[106] According to Snyder, the Greek: Πρεττανοί, romanized: Prettanoí derives from "a Gallo-Brittonic word which may have been introduced to Britain during the P-Celtic linguistic innovations of the sixth century BC".[107]

According to Cunliffe, Diodorus Siculus used the spelling Prettanía, while Strabo used both Brettanía and Prettanía. Cunliffe argues the B spelling appears only in the first book of Strabo's Geography, so the P spelling reflects Strabo's original spelling and the changes to Book I are the result of a scribal error.[108] In classical texts, the word Britain (Greek: Pρεττανία, romanized: Prettanía or Bρεττανία, Brettanía; Latin: Britannia) replaced the word Albion. An inhabitant was therefore called a "Briton" (Bρεττανός, Brettanós; Britannus), with the adjective becoming "British" (Bρεττανικός, Brettanikós; Britannicus).[107]

The Pseudo-Aristotelian text On the Universe (Ancient Greek: Περὶ Κόσμου, romanized: Perì Kósmou; Latin: De Mundo) mentions the British Isles, identifying the two largest islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and stating that they are "called British" (Βρεττανικαὶ λεγόμεναι, Brettanikaì legómenai) when describing the ocean beyond the Mediterranean Basin:

ἐν τούτῳ γε μὴν νῆσοι μέγισται τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι δύο, Βρεττανικαὶ λεγόμεναι, Ἀλβίων καὶ Ἰέρνη, τῶν προϊστορημένων μείζους, ὑπὲρ τοὺς Κελτοὺς κείμεναι.
There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne; they are larger than those already mentioned, and lie beyond the land of the Celts.

—Pseudo-Aristotle, On the Universe, 393b[109]

As explained by Pliny the Elder, this included the Orcades (Orkney), the Hæbudes (Hebrides), Mona (Anglesey), Monopia (Isle of Man), and a number of other islands less certainly identifiable from his names. The deduced Celtic name for Ireland – Iverio – from which its present name was derived, was known to the Greeks by the 4th century BC at least, possibly as early as the 6th century BC. The name meant "the fertile land". It was Latinised to Hiernia or Hibernia. Its people were the Iverni.

Around AD 70, Pliny the Elder, in Book 4 of his Naturalis Historia, describes the islands he considers to be "Britanniae" as including Great Britain, Ireland, Orkney, smaller islands such as the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, Anglesey, possibly one of the Frisian Islands, and islands which have been identified as Ushant and Sian. He refers to Great Britain as the island called "Britannia", noting that its former name was "Albion". The list also includes the island of Thule, most often identified as Iceland—although some express the view that it may have been the Faroe Islands—the coast of Norway or Denmark, or possibly Shetland.[110] After describing the Rhine delta, Pliny begins his chapter on the British Isles, which he calls "the Britains" (Britanniae):

Great Britain opposite the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, photographed from across the North Sea by the astronaut Alexander Gerst.
Ex adverso huius situs Britannia insula clara Graecis nostrisque monimentis inter septentrionem et occidentem iacet, Germaniae, Galliae, Hispaniae, multo maximis Europae partibus magno intervallo adversa. Albion ipsi nomen fuit, cum Britanniae vocarentur omnes de quibus mox paulo dicemus.
Opposite to this region lies the island of Britain, famous in the Greek records and in our own; it lies to the north-west, facing, across a wide channel, Germany, Gaul and Spain, countries which constitute by far the greater part of Europe. It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britains.

—Pliny the Elder, Natural History, IV.16[111]

The classical writer Claudius Ptolemy, referred to the larger island as great Britain (megale Bretannia) and to Ireland as little Britain (Μικρὰ Βρεττανία / mikra Brettania) in his work, Almagest (147–148 AD).[112] In his later work, Geography (c. 150 AD), he gave these islands the names[113] Alwion[sic], Iwernia, and Mona (the Isle of Man), suggesting these may have been native names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest.[114] The name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Great Britain, after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island called Great Britain.

The Geography of Claudius Ptolemy, written in Greek c. 150 AD, included the British Isles. Ptolemy included essentially the same main islands in the Britannias. He wrote around AD 150, although he used the now-lost work of Marinus of Tyre from about fifty years earlier.[115] Book II, Chapters 1 and 2 of his Geography are respectively titled in Greek: Κεφ. βʹ Ἰουερνίας νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις, romanized: Iouernías nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis, lit. 'Ch. 2, position of Hibernia, British island' and Κεφ. γʹ Ἀλβουίωνος νήσου Βρεττανικῆς θέσις, Albouíōnos nḗsou Brettanikê̄s thésis, 'Ch. 3, position of Albion, British island'.[116]: 143, 146  Ptolemy included Thule in the chapter on Albion; the coordinates he gives correlate with the location of Shetland, though the location given for Thule by Pytheas may have been further north, in Iceland or Norway.[117] Geography generally reflects the situation c. 100 AD. He retained the names used for the islands by Pliny the Elder: Albion for Great Britain, and Ierne (Latinised as Hibernia) for Ireland.

The westernmost portion of Ptolemy's "first European map" from a Greek manuscript edition of Geography, dated c. 1400, once owned by Charles Burney and now in the British Library, depicting Ireland. The island is labelled in Ancient Greek: Ἰουερνία νῆσος Βρεττανική, romanized: Iouernía nê̄sos Brettanikḗ, lit. 'Hibernia, British island'.

Following the conquest of AD 43 the Roman province of Britannia was established,[118] and Roman Britain expanded to cover much of the island of Great Britain. An invasion of Ireland was considered but never undertaken, and Ireland remained outside the Roman Empire.[119] The Romans failed to consolidate their hold on the Scottish Highlands; the northern extent of the area under their control (defined by the Antonine Wall across central Scotland) stabilised at Hadrian's Wall across the north of England by about AD 210.[120] Inhabitants of the province continued to refer to themselves as "Brittannus" or "Britto", and gave their patria (homeland) as "Britannia" or as their tribe.[121] The vernacular term "Priteni" came to be used for the barbarians north of the Antonine Wall, with the Romans using the tribal name "Caledonii" more generally for these peoples who (after AD 300) they called Picts.[122]

The post-conquest Romans used Britannia or Britannia Magna (Large Britain) for Britain, and Hibernia or Britannia Parva (Small Britain) for Ireland. The post-Roman era saw Brythonic kingdoms established in all areas of Great Britain except the Scottish Highlands, but coming under increasing attacks from Picts, Scotti and Anglo-Saxons. At this time Ireland was dominated by the Gaels or Scotti, who subsequently gave their names to Ireland and Scotland.

In the Cosmography of Aethicus Ister, the British Isles are mentioned as having been visited by the protagonist (Dein insolas Brittanicas et Tylen navigavit, quas ille Brutanicas appellavit, …, 'Then to the British islands and Thule he sailed, which are called the Brutanics').[123] In 1993, the editor Otto Prinz connected this name with the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville,[123] in which it is stated: "Some suspect that the Britons were so named in Latin because they are brutes"[124] (Brittones quidam Latine nominatos suspicantur eo, quod bruti sint).[123]

In the 9th century, the Irish monk Dicuil mentioned the British Isles together with Gallia Comata: "Gallia Comata, together with the Brittanic islands, is bounded on the east by the Rhine, ..." (Latin: Gallia Comata cum insulis Brittanicis finitur ab oriente flumine Rheno, ...).[125][126] He also describes the Faroe Islands as being two days' sailing from "the northernmost British Isles"[127] (a septentrionalibus Brittaniae insulis duorum dierum ac noctium recta navigatione, 'from the northern islands of Britain in a direct voyage of two days and nights').[125][126][128]

According to Irmeli Valtonen in 2008, on the so-called Cotton mappa mundi, an Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi based on the Old English Orosius, "The largest feature is the British Isles, which is indicated by the inscription Brittannia".[129]

Andronikos Noukios, a Greek writing under the pen name Nikandros Noukios (Latin: Nicander Nucius), visited Great Britain in the reign of Henry VIII (r. 1509–1547) as part of an embassy. In his account, he describes the British Isles as having taken their name from colonists from Brittany, rather than the other way around.[130] He wrote:

Oceani insulae

In the late 7th century, Adomnán, an Irish abbot on the island of Iona, describes the islands in his Life of Columba as "the islands of the Ocean" (Latin: ociani insulae), naming Ireland (Scotia) and Great Britain (Brittannia) among them:

In the 17th century, Peter Heylin, in his Microcosmus, described the classical conception of the Ocean and included in the "Iles of the Ocean" all the classically known offshore islands—Zealand, the British Isles, and those in the "Northerne Sea".[134]

British Isles

According to the University of Michigan's Middle English Dictionary, the Middle English word Britlond, Brutlond or Brutlonde (from the Old English: Brytland) could mean either "ancient Britain" or "the British Isles".[135] The noun Britoun (variously spelled Britton, Briton, Bryton, Brytoun, Bruton, Brutun, Brutin, Breton, Bretonn, or Britaygne) meant "a native of the British Isles".[136] The same word was also an adjective meaning "Brittonic, British" or "Breton".[136]

The term "British Isles" entered the English language in the late 16th century to refer to Great Britain, Ireland and the surrounding islands. In general, the modern notion of "Britishness" evolved after the 1707 Act of Union.[137]

Simplified German version of Ptolemy's "first map of Europe", representing the British Isles (Britannische Inseln), from Sebastian Münster's 1550 German edition of his Cosmographia published in Basel.

By the middle of the 16th century the term appears on maps made by geographers including George Lily[138] and Sebastian Münster.[139] The Latin equivalents of terms equating to "British Isles" were used by mapmakers in the mid-16th; Lily published a map in 1548 entitled Britannicæ insulæ quæ nunc Angliæ et Scotiæ regna continent cum Hibernia adiacente nova descriptio, 'the Britannic islands, which now contain the kingdoms of England and Scotland with Ireland nearby: a new description'.[140] Münster in Geographia Universalis, 'Universal Geography' (a 1550 reissue of Ptolemy's Geography) uses the heading De insulis Britannicis, Albione, quæ est Anglia & Hibernia, & de ciuitatibus earum in genere, 'Of the Britannic islands, Albion, which is England, and Ireland, and of their cities in general'.[141] Gerardus Mercator produced much more accurate maps, including one of the Insulæ Britannicæ, 'British islands' in 1564.[141][142]

Abraham Ortelius, in his atlas of 1570 (Theatrum Orbis Terrarum), uses the title Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, sive Britannicar. insularum descriptio, 'A description of England, of Scotland, and of Ireland, or of the Britannic islands'.[143]: 605  According to Philip Schwyzer, "This is among the very first early modern references to the 'British Isles', a term used anciently by Pliny but rarely in the medieval period or earlier in the sixteenth century".[143]: 605 

A copy of Abraham Ortelius's map of the British Isles, published by Christophe Plantin at Antwerp c. 1588 (National Library of Israel).

John Stow, citing Aethicus Ister, Mandeville's Travels, and Geoffrey of Monmouth, described the naming of Great Britain and the British Isles by Brutus of Troy (Early Modern English: Brute) in his 1575 work A Summarie of the Chronicles of England.[144] According to Stow's second chapter, Brutus:[145]

... aryved in this Ilande, whyche was called Albion, at a place now called Totnes in Devonshire, the yere of the world. 2855. the yeare before Christs nativitie. 1108. wherein he first began to raigne, and named it Britaine, (as some write) or rather after his owne name Brutaine, as Æthicus that wonderfull Philosopher (a Scithian by race, but an Istrian by countrey) translated by saint Hierome above a thousand yeares past, termeth both it and the Iles adiacent Insulas Britanicas. And for more proufe of this restored name, not only the sayde Philosopher (who travelled through many lands, and in this lande taught the knowledge of minerall works) maye be alledged, but sundrie other: & some English wryters above an hundred yeares since, usually do so name it, and not otherwise, through a large historie of this land, translated out of Frenche.

— John Stow, A Summarie of the Chronicles of England, 1575, page 17–18

The 1580 edition of Stow's work spelled the Latin name Inſulas Brutannicas and the English names Brutan and the Brytaines, and additionally cited the authority of the Sibylline Oracles for the conflation of the Latin letter Y with the Greek: υ or Υ (upsilon):[146]

... the Sybils Oracles, who in the name of the Brytaines is written with y. that is the Greekes little u. whyche Oracles althoughe they were not the Sibils owne worke, as some suspecte, yet are they very antient indeede, and that they might seeme more auntient, use the moste auntient name of Countreys and peoples

— John Stow, A Summarie of the Chronicles of England, 1580, page 17–18

Schwyzer states that Raphael Holinshed's 1577 Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland is the first work of historiography to deal with the British Isles in particular; "To the best of my knowledge, no book published in England before 1577 specified in its title a scope at once inclusive of and restricted to England, Scotland, and Ireland".[143]: 594  According to Holinshed himself in the second chapter (Of the auncient names of this Islande) of the first book (An Historicall Description of the Islande of Britayne, with a briefe rehearsall of the nature and qualities of the people of Englande, and of all such commodities as are to be founde in the same) of the first volume of the Chronicles, Brutus had both renamed Albion after himself and given his name to the British Isles as a whole:

… Brute, who arriving here in the 1127, before Christ, and 2840. after the creation, not onely chaunged it into Britayne (after it had bene called Albion, by the space of 595. yeares) but to declare his sovereigntie over the reast of the Islandes also that are about the same, he called them all after the same maner, so that Albion was sayde in tyme to be Britanniarum insula maxima, that is, the greatest of those Isles that bare the name of Britayne.

— Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume I, chapter 2, page 2
Abraham Ortelius's map of Ireland, published at Antwerp, 1575, labelled with various names of the island, which is described as a "Britannic island":
Eryn:
Hiberniae,
Britannicae
Insulæ, Nova
Descriptio
Irlandt

The geographer and occultist John Dee (of Welsh ancestry)[147] was an adviser to Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603) and prepared maps for several explorers. He helped to develop legal justifications for colonisation by Protestant England, breaking the duopoly the Pope had granted to the Spanish and Portuguese Empires. Dee coined the term "British Empire" and built his case, in part, on the claim of a "British Ocean"; including Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland and (possibly) North America, he used alleged Saxon precedent to claim territorial and trading rights.[148] According to Ken MacMillan, "his imperial vision was simply propaganda and antiquarianism, without much practical value and of limited interest to the English crown and state."[148] The Lordship of Ireland had come under tighter English control as the Kingdom of Ireland, and diplomatic efforts (interspersed with warfare) tried to bring Scotland under the English monarch as well.[148]

Dee used the term "Brytish Iles" in his General and Rare Memorials Pertaining to Perfecte Arte of Navigation of 1577.[149] Dee also referred to the Imperiall Crown of these Brytish Ilandes, which he called an Ilandish Monarchy, and to the Brytish Ilandish Monarchy.[149] According to Frances Yates, Dee argued that the advice given by the Byzantine Neoplatonist philosopher Gemistos Plethon in two orations addressed to the emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (r. 1373–1425) and his son Theodore II Palaiologos (r. 1407–1448) "on the affairs of the Peloponnesus and on ways and means both of improving the economy of the Greek islands and of defending them" should inform Elizabeth I's claims to territorial waters and adjacent territories.[150]: 47  Dee described these orations as "now published" – they had been translated into Latin by Willem Canter from a manuscript owned by János Zsámboky and published at Antwerp in 1575 by Christophe Plantin.[151][152] Dee wrote:

Moreover, (Sayd he) if it should not be taken in worse parte, of our soveraign, than, of the Emperour of Constantinople, Emanuel, the syncere Intent, and faythfull Advise, of Georgius Gemistus Pletho, was, I could (proportionally, for the occasion of the Tyme, and place,) frame and shape very much of Gemistus those his two Greek Orations, (the first, to the Emperor, and the Second to his Sonne, Prince Theodore:) for our brytish iles, and in better and more allowable manner, at this Day, for our People, than that his Plat (for Reformation of the State, at those Dayes, (could be found, for Peloponnesus, avaylable. But, Seeing those Orations, are now published: both in Greek and Latin, I need not Dowbt, but they, to whom, the chief Care of such causes is committed, have Diligently selected the Hony of those Flowres, already, for the Common-Wealths great Benefit.

— John Dee, General and Rare Memorials Pertaining to Perfecte Arte of Navigation

According to Yates, "In spite of the difficulties of Dee's style and punctuation his meaning is clear" – Dee argued "that the advice given to the Byzantine Emperor by Pletho is good advice for Elizabeth, the Empress of Britain".[150]: 47  Dee believed that the British Isles had originally been called the "Brutish Isles", a name he had read in Aethicus Ister's Cosmography, which he thought was written in Classical Antiquity.[153]: 85–86  In his copy of John Bale's Scriptorum illustrium maioris Brytanniae catalogus (later in Christ Church Library), at Bale's passage on Gildas, Dee had added an annotation on Brutus, stating: "Note this authority of Gildas concerning Brutus and Brytus, and remember that from the most ancient authority of the astronomer Aethicus, they were called the Brutish Islands" (Nota hanc Gildae authoritatem de Bruto et Bryto, et memor esto de Ethici astronomi authoritate antiquissima, insulas Brutanicas dictas esse)". He underlined Bale's words: "up to the entrance of Brutus, or rather Brytus" (usque ad Bruti, potius Bryti introitum).[153]: 97, note 48 

According to John Morrill, at the time of the Union of the Crowns under the Stuart dynasty in the early 17th century, the historic and mythological relationship of Ireland and Great Britain was conceptualised differently to the relationship between the kingdoms of England and Scotland. While the British Isles was considered a geographic unit, the political debate on the Union involved the English and Scottish kingdoms, but not Ireland. James VI and I promoted political unity between Scotland ("North Britain") and England ("South Britain"), introducing the Union Flag and the title "King of Great Britain", but the same was not true of Ireland. Since the Middle Ages, Britain had been understood to be a historical unit once ruled by the legendary kings of Britain, of whom the first had been Brutus of Troy – as described in the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Unlike Wales, England, and Scotland, Ireland did not form part of this mythological concept, which was itself in decline by 1600.[154] Nevertheless, the Latin expression rex Britanniarum, 'king of the Britains' or 'king of the British Isles' was used by some panegyrists of James VI and I after his accession to the Anglo-Irish throne and his proclamation as "king of Great Britain".[155]: 199  Andrew Melville used the title for his 1603 Latin poem Votum pro Iacobo sexto Britanniarum rege, 'Vow for James the Sixth, king of the Britains'.[156]: 17 [157]: 22  Isaac Wake used the same title in his Latin poem on the king's August 1605 visit to Oxford: Rex platonicus: sive, De potentissimi principis Iacobi Britanniarum Regis, ad illustrissimam Academiam Oxoniensem, 'The Platonic king, or: On the most potent prince James, king of the Britians, to the most illustrious University of Oxford'.[155]: 199  For James's assumption of the triune British monarchy, Hugo Grotius composed his Inauguratio regis Brittaniarum anno MDCIII, 'Inauguration of the king of the Britains in the year 1603',[158] which extolled the historic naval powers of English kings and which was cited approvingly by John Selden in his 1635 work Mare Clausum: Of the Dominion, or, Ownership of the Sea.[159] Stanley Bindoff noted that the same title Rex Britanniarum was formally adopted in 1801.[155]: 199 

In John Speed's 1611 Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, the cartographer refers to the islands as Britannish.[160] Before the first chapter, Speed introduces his map of the British Isles as "The British Ilands, proposed in one view in the ensuing map".

John Speed's map of the British Isles, labelled The Kingdome of Great Britaine and Ireland

Speed describes the position of "the Iland of Great Britaine" as being north and east of Brittany, Normandy, and the other parts of the coast of Continental Europe:[161]

It hath Britaine, Normandy, and other parts of France upon the South, the Lower Germany, Denmarke, and Norway upon the East; the Isles of Orkney and the Deucaledonian Sea, upon the North; the Hebrides upon the West, and from it all other Ilands, and Ilets, which doe scatteredly environ it, and shelter themselves (as it were) under the shadow of Great Albion (another name of this famous Iland) are also accounted Britannish, & are therefore here described altogether

— John Speed, Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine

One of the Oxford English Dictionary citations of "British Isles" was in 1621 (before the civil wars) by Peter Heylin (or Heylyn) in his Microcosmus: a little description of the great world[162] (a collection of his lectures on historical geography). Writing from his English political perspective, he grouped Ireland with Great Britain and the minor islands with these three arguments:[163]

  • The inhabitants of Ireland must have come from Britain as it was the nearest land
  • He notes that ancient writers (such as Ptolemy) called Ireland a Brttish Iland
  • He cites the observation of the first-century Roman writer Tacitus that the habits and disposition of the people in Ireland were not much unlike the Brittaines[164]

Modern scholarly opinion[20][21] is that Heylyn "politicised his geographical books Microcosmus ... and, still more, Cosmographie" in the context of what geography meant at that time. Heylyn's geographical work must be seen as political expressions concerned with proving (or disproving) constitutional matters, and "demonstrated their authors' specific political identities by the languages and arguments they deployed." In an era when "politics referred to discussions of dynastic legitimacy, of representation, and of the Constitution ... [Heylyn's] geography was not to be conceived separately from politics."

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 "British Isles". Encyclopedia Britannica. 4 February 2020. British Isles, group of islands off the northwestern coast of Europe. The group consists of two main islands, Great Britain and Ireland, and numerous smaller islands and island groups,
  2. 1 2 Walter, Bronwen (2000). Outsiders Inside: Whiteness, Place, and Irish Women. New York: Routledge. p. 107. A refusal to sever ties incorporating the whole island of Ireland into the British state is unthinkingly demonstrated in naming and mapping behaviour. This is most obvious in continued reference to 'the British Isles'.
  3. 1 2 Hazlett, Ian (2003). The Reformation in Britain and Ireland: an introduction. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-567-08280-0. At the outset, it should be stated that while the expression 'The British Isles' is evidently still commonly employed, its intermittent use throughout this work is only in the geographic sense, in so far as that is acceptable. Since the early twentieth century, that nomenclature has been regarded by some as increasingly less usable. It has been perceived as cloaking the idea of a 'greater England', or an extended south-eastern English imperium, under a common Crown since 1603 onwards. … Nowadays, however, 'Britain and Ireland' is the more favoured expression, though there are problems with that too. … There is no consensus on the matter, inevitably. It is unlikely that the ultimate in non-partisanship that has recently appeared the (East) 'Atlantic Archipelago' will have any appeal beyond captious scholars.
  4. ↑ Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology by Judith Jesch 2003
  5. ↑ Myers, Kevin (9 March 2000). "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. millions of people from these islands – oh how angry we get when people call them the British Isles
  6. ↑ "Geographical terms also cause problems and we know that some will find certain of our terms offensive. Many Irish object to the term the 'British Isles';..." The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland: Power, Conflict and emancipation. Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd. Cambridge University Press. 1996
    Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700. (London: Penguin/Allen Lane, 2003): "the collection of islands which embraces England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales has commonly been known as the British Isles. This title no longer pleases all the inhabitants of the islands, and a more neutral description is 'the Atlantic Isles'" (p. xxvi). On 18 July 2004, The Sunday Business Post Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine questioned the use of British Isles as a purely geographic expression, noting:
    [The] "Last Post has redoubled its efforts to re-educate those labouring under the misconception that Ireland is really just British. When British Retail Week magazine last week reported that a retailer was to make its British Isles debut in Dublin, we were puzzled. Is not Dublin the capital of the Republic of Ireland?. When Last Post suggested the magazine might see its way clear to correcting the error, an educative e-mail to the publication...:
    Retrieved 17 July 2006 "... (which) I have called the Atlantic archipelago – since the term 'British Isles' is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously." Pocock, J. G. A. [1974] (2005). "British History: A plea for a new subject". The Discovery of Islands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 29. OCLC 60611042.
    "... what used to be called the "British Isles", although that is now a politically incorrect term." Finnegan, Richard B.; Edward T. McCarron (2000). Ireland: Historical Echoes, Contemporary Politics. Boulder: Westview Press, p. 358. "In an attempt to coin a term that avoided the 'British Isles' – a term often offensive to Irish sensibilities – Pocock suggested a neutral geographical term for the collection of islands located off the northwest coast of continental Europe which included Britain and Ireland: the Atlantic archipelago..." Lambert, Peter; Phillipp Schofield (2004). Making History: An Introduction to the History and Practices of a Discipline. New York: Routledge, p. 217. "..the term is increasingly unacceptable to Irish historians in particular, for whom the Irish Sea is or ought to be a separating rather than a linking element. Sensitive to such susceptibilities, proponents of the idea of a genuine British history, a theme which has come to the fore during the last couple of decades, are plumping for a more neutral term to label the scattered islands peripheral to the two major ones of Great Britain and Ireland." Roots, Ivan (1997). "Union or Devolution in Cromwell's Britain". History Review.
  7. ↑ The A to Z of Britain and Ireland by Trevor Montague "...although it is traditional to refer to the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the British Isles, when considered as a single archipelago, this nomenclature implies a proprietary title which has long since ceased to exist, if indeed it ever really did exist. Despite the very close affinity between the British and Irish people I have no doubt that my title is both expedient and correct".
  8. ↑ Davies, Alistair; Sinfield, Alan (2000), British Culture of the Postwar: An Introduction to Literature and Society, 1945–1999, Routledge, p. 9, ISBN 0-415-12811-0, Many of the Irish dislike the 'British' in 'British Isles', while the Welsh and Scottish are not keen on 'Great Britain'. … In response to these difficulties, 'Britain and Ireland' is becoming preferred usage although there is a growing trend amounts some critics to refer to Britain and Ireland as 'the archipelago'.
  9. ↑ "Guardian Style Guide". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 June 2014. British Isles: A geographical term taken to mean Great Britain, Ireland and some or all of the adjacent islands such as Orkney, Shetland and the Isle of Man. The phrase is best avoided, given its (understandable) unpopularity in the Irish Republic. Alternatives adopted by some publications are British and Irish Isles or simply Britain and Ireland
  10. ↑ "...(which) I have called the Atlantic archipelago – since the term 'British Isles' is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously." Pocock, J. G. A. (2006). The Discovery of Islands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 29. ISBN 978-0-521-85095-7.
  11. ↑ D. A. Coleman (1982), Demography of immigrants and minority groups in the United Kingdom: proceedings of the eighteenth annual symposium of the Eugenics Society, London 1981, vol. 1981, Academic Press, p. 213, ISBN 0-12-179780-5, The geographical term British Isles is not generally acceptable in Ireland, the term these islands being widely used instead. I prefer the Anglo-Celtic Isles, or the North-West European Archipelago.
  12. ↑ Irish historical studies: Joint Journal of the Irish Historical Society and the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies, Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1990, p. 98, There is much to be said for considering the archipelago as a whole, for a history of the British or Anglo-Celtic isles or 'these islands'.
  13. ↑ John Oakland, 2003, British Civilization: A Student's Dictionary, Routledge: London
    British-Irish Isles, the (geography) see BRITISH ISLES
    British Isles, the (geography) A geographical (not political or CONSTITUTIONAL) term for ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES, and IRELAND (including the REPUBLIC OF IRELAND), together with all offshore islands. A more accurate (and politically acceptable) term today is the British-Irish Isles.
  14. 1 2 Ahern, Bertie (29 October 1998). "Address at 'The Lothian European Lecture' – Edinburgh". Department of the Taoiseach, Taoiseach's Speeches Archive 1998. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2006. [The Island of] Iona is a powerful symbol of relationships between these islands, with its ethos of service not dominion. Iona also radiated out towards the Europe of the Dark Ages, not to mention Pagan England at Lindisfarne. The British-Irish Council is the expression of a relationship that at the origin of the Anglo-Irish process in 1981 was sometimes given the name Iona, islands of the North Atlantic, and sometimes Council of the Isles, with its evocation of the Lords of the Isles of the 14th and 15th centuries who spanned the North Channel. In the 17th century, Highland warriors and persecuted Presbyterian Ministers criss-crossed the North Channel.
  15. ↑ World and its Peoples: Ireland and United Kingdom, London: Marshall Cavendish, 2010, p. 8, The nomenclature of Great Britain and Ireland and the status of the different parts of the archipelago are often confused by people in other parts of the world. The name British Isles is commonly used by geographers for the archipelago; in the Republic of Ireland, however, this name is considered to be exclusionary. In the Republic of Ireland, the name British-Irish Isles is occasionally used. However, the term British-Irish Isles is not recognized by international geographers. In all documents jointly drawn up by the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is simply referred to as "these islands." The name British Isles remains the only generally accepted terms for the archipelago off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe.
  16. ↑ Marsh, David (11 May 2010). "Snooker and the geography of the British Isles". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  17. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary: "British Isles: a geographical term for the islands comprising Great Britain and Ireland with all their offshore islands including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands."
  18. ↑ Alan Lew; Colin Hall; Dallen Timothy (2008). World Geography of Travel and Tourism: A Regional Approach. Oxford: Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-7506-7978-7. The British Isles comprise more than 6,000 islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe, including the countries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland. The group also includes the United Kingdom crown dependencies of the Isle of Man, and by tradition, the Channel Islands (the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey), even though these islands are strictly speaking an archipelago immediately off the coast of Normandy (France) rather than part of the British Isles.
  19. ↑ Ken MacMillan, 2001, "Discourse on history, geography, and law: John Dee and the limits of the British empire", in Canadian Journal of History, April 2001.
  20. 1 2 R. J. Mayhew, 2000, "Geography is Twinned with Divinity: The Laudian Geography of Peter Heylyn" in Geographical Review, Vol. 90, No. 1 (January 2000), pp. 18–34: "In the period between 1600 and 1800, politics meant what we might now term 'high politics', excluding the cultural and social elements that modern analyses of ideology seek to uncover. Politics referred to discussions of dynastic legitimacy, of representation, and of the Constitution. ... Geography books spanning the period from the Reformation to the Reform Act ... demonstrated their authors' specific political identities by the languages and arguments they deployed. This cannot be seen as any deviation from the classical geographical tradition, or as a tainting of geography by politics, because geography was not to be conceived separately from politics."
  21. 1 2 Robert Mayhew, 2005, "Mayhew, Robert (March 2005). "Mapping science's imagined community: geography as a Republic of Letters". The British Journal for the History of Science. 38 (1): 73–92. doi:10.1017/S0007087404006478. S2CID 145452323." in the British Journal of the History of Science, 38(1): 73–92, March 2005.
  22. ↑ For example, its use can be seen at A Reading University Meteorological Study, and regularly in The Guardian: 9 November 2006, 16 November 2006, 23 November 2006.
  23. ↑ "GENUKI – The UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service on the Internet Archived 5 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine: The website uses the term "British Isles" in various ways, including ways that use Ireland as all of Ireland, while simultaneously using the term "The British Isles and Ireland", e.g. "Anyone using GENUKI should remember that its name is somewhat misleading – the website actually covers the British Isles and Ireland, rather than just the United Kingdom, and therefore includes information about the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland."
  24. ↑ "British Weather (Part One)". Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2007.. This BBC article referred to "a small country such as the British Isles" between at least April 2004 and January 2007. It was changed in February 2007 and now reads "a small area such as the British Isles".
  25. ↑ For example, see Google searches of the BBC website.
  26. ↑ Sargeant, Howard (2016), "British Isles", Oxford Dictionary Plus Social Sciences, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780191823534.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-182353-4, retrieved 6 October 2023
  27. ↑ "Herr ambassador Pauls, with these comments, you are really spoiling us..." Sunday Tribune. 23 September 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  28. ↑ Revealed: What the British really think of us, Irish Examiner, 13 December 2003 Archived 5 March 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  29. 1 2 Dawson, Jane E. A. (2002). "Prologue: 1560: British policies and the British context". The Politics of Religion in the Age of Mary, Queen of Scots: The Earl of Argyll and the Struggle for Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press. p. 2, note 5. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511495793.001. ISBN 978-0-521-80996-2. Finding an acceptable shorthand geographical description for the countries which formed the UK before the creation of Eire has proved difficult. Whilst accurate, the term 'Atlantic archipelago' is rather cumbersome so, for convenience, I have used the following as virtual synonyms: the islands of Britain; these islands; the British Isles, and the adjective, British. Without intending to imply any hidden imperial or other agenda, they describe the kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland, and England and Wales as they existed in the sixteenth century, following the definition of the British Isles in the Oxford English Dictionary: 'a geographical term for the islands comprising Great Britain and Ireland with all their offshore islands including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands'.
  30. 1 2 Everett-Heath, John (2005). The Concise Dictionary of World Place Names. Internet Archive (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. v, vii–viii, 79. ISBN 978-0-19-860537-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  31. ↑ Everett-Heath, John (2020) [2005], "British Isles", Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names (6th ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-190563-6, retrieved 6 October 2023
  32. ↑ Everett-Heath, John (2020) [2005], "General Note", Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names (6th ed.), ISBN 978-0-19-190563-6, retrieved 6 October 2023, British Isles: from 1536 these have included the following states: …
  33. ↑ Everett-Heath, John (2020) [2005], "Introduction", Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names, ISBN 978-0-19-190563-6, retrieved 6 October 2023, The majority of place-names in the British Isles are of Old English (Anglo-Saxon) and Old Scandinavian (Old Norse and Old Danish) origin, and from the Celtic group of languages (Brithonic, Irish and Scottish Gaelic etc) employed earlier" … "The British Isles have experienced five major invasions by foreigners who spoke a different language: Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and Normans
  34. 1 2 Kearney, Hugh, ed. (2012) [2006], "Preface to the second edition", The British Isles: A History of Four Nations, Canto Classics (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. xvi, ISBN 978-1-139-19701-4, retrieved 10 October 2023
  35. ↑ Berlins, Marcel (3 October 2006). "Is it really so morally objectionable for the father of a murder victim to accept £450,000 'blood money'?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  36. ↑ Mayes, Ian (10 August 2001). "Where are we?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  37. ↑ On 18 July 2004 The Sunday Business Post Archived 10 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine questioned the use of British Isles as a purely geographic expression, noting:
    [The] "Last Post has redoubled its efforts to re-educate those labouring under the misconception that Ireland is really just British. When British Retail Week magazine last week reported that a retailer was to make its British Isles debut in Dublin, we were puzzled. Is not Dublin the capital of the Republic of Ireland? ... Archipelago of islands lying off the north-western coast of Europe?
    Retrieved 17 July 2006
  38. ↑ Norman Davies, op. cit., p. xxii.
  39. ↑ "Irish Genealogical Sources No. 25 – History of the Royal Hibernian Military School, Dublin" uses the term "then British Isles" to refer to Ireland's relationship association with it prior to 1922.
  40. 1 2 Pocock, J. G. A. (1975). "British History: A Plea for a New Subject". The Journal of Modern History. 47 (4): 601–621. ISSN 0022-2801. JSTOR 1877393.
  41. 1 2 Pocock, J. G. A. (2005) [1973/1974]. "British history: a plea for a new subject". Discovery of Islands: Essays in British History. Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-521-61645-4. We should start with what I have called the Atlantic archipelago – since the term 'British Isles' is one which Irishmen reject and Englishmen decline to take quite seriously
  42. ↑ Canny, Nicholas (2001). "Preface". Making Ireland British, 1580–1650. Oxford University Press. pp. viii. ISBN 978-0-19-820091-8. When I refer to the composite monarchy ruled over by James VI and I and by King Charles I, it is always described as Britain and Ireland, and I deliberately avoid the politically loaded phrase 'the British Isles' not least because this was not a normal usage in the political discourse of the time
  43. ↑ "When I refer to the composite Monarchy ruled over by James VI and I and by King Charles I, it is always described as Britain and Ireland, and I deliberately avoid the politically loaded phrase 'the British Isles' not least because this was not a normal usage in the political discourse of the time". Canny, Nicholas (2001). Making Ireland British 1580–1650. New York: Oxford University Press, p. viii. ISBN 978-0-19-925905-2.
  44. ↑ "Prof. Nicholas Canny, Biography". University of Galway. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
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  75. ↑ Three sets of relationships were defined. (i) Within Northern Ireland. (ii) North–South for the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and (iii) East–West for relationships on the islands.
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  81. ↑ See Law Society Gazette, Law Society of Ireland, July 2001.
  82. ↑ Open Republic. Retrieved 5 July 2006. Archived 15 April 2013 at archive.today
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  86. ↑ "Introduction to the three Northatlantic Islands". Northatlantic-islands.com. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  87. ↑ Oileáin Iarthair Eorpa seems rather appropriate, in Patrick Dinneen. 1927. Irish–English Dictionary. Dublin: Irish Texts Society
  88. ↑ Ellanyn Sheear ny hOarpey in Douglas C. Fargher. 1979. Fargher's English-Manx dictionary. Douglas: Shearwater Press.
  89. ↑ Na hOileáin Bhreatanacha, in T. J. Dunne, tr. Toirdhealbhach Ó Raithbheartaigh. 1937. Tír-Eóluíocht na h-Éireann. Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig Díolta Foillseacháin Rialtais
  90. ↑ Ny hEllanyn Goaldagh s.v. British-Isles, in Douglas C. Fargher. 1979. Fargher's English-Manx dictionary. Douglas: Shearwater Press.
  91. ↑ Guelke, Adrian (2001). "Northern Ireland and Island Status". In John McGarry (ed.). Northern Ireland and the Divided World: The Northern Ireland Conflict and the Good Friday Agreement in Comparative Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 231.|
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  95. 1 2 Tompson, Richard S. (1986). "Introduction; The Atlantic Archipelago". The Atlantic Archipelago: A Political History of the British Isles. Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press. p. 1 note 1. ISBN 978-0-88946-455-1 – via Internet Archive.
  96. ↑
    • Fitzpatrick, Joan (2004). "A note on nomenclature". Shakespeare, Spenser and the Contours of Britain: Reshaping the Atlantic Archipelago. Univ of Hertfordshire Press. p. ix. ISBN 978-1-902806-37-2.
    • Brett, Caroline; Edmonds, Fiona; Russell, Paul (30 November 2021). Brittany and the Atlantic Archipelago, 450–1200: Contact, Myth and History. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108760102. ISBN 978-1-108-76010-2. S2CID 239524447.
  97. ↑ Snyder 2003, p. 12,Ó Corráin 1989, p. 1
  98. ↑ Cunliffe 2002, pp. 38–45, 94 The Massaliote Periplus describes a sea route south round the west coast of Spain from the promontory of Oestriminis (Cape Finisterre) back to the Mediterranean. The poem by Avienius makes used of it in describing the voyage of Himilco the Navigator, also incorporating fragments from 11 ancient writers including Pytheas. When Avienus says it's two days sailing from Oestriminis to the Holy Isle, inhabited by the Hierni, near Albion, this differs from the sailing directions of the Periplus and implies that Oestriminis is Brittany, a conflict explained if it had been taken by Avienus from one of his other sources.
  99. ↑ Ó Corráin 1989, p. 1
  100. 1 2 Cunliffe 2002, p. 94
  101. ↑ Cognates of Albion (normally referring only to Scotland) – Albion (archæic); Cornish: Alban; Irish: Alba; Manx: Albey; Scots: Albiane; Scottish Gaelic: Alba; Welsh: Yr Alban. Cognates of Ierne – Ireland; Cornish: Iwerdhon; Irish: Éire; Manx: Nerin; Scots: Irland; Scottish Gaelic: Éirinn; Welsh: Iwerddon though in English Albion is deliberately archæic or poetical. Cognates of Priteni – Welsh: Prydain; Briton and 'British'.
  102. ↑ O'Rahilly 1946, p. 84
  103. ↑ O'Rahilly 1946, pp. 15, 84
  104. ↑ Snyder 2003, p. 12
  105. 1 2 3 Snyder 2003, p. 68
  106. 1 2 3 4 5 Cunliffe 2002, p. 95
  107. 1 2 Snyder 2003, p. 12
  108. ↑ Cunliffe 2002, p. 94–95
  109. ↑ Aristotle or Pseudo-Aristotle (1955). "On the Cosmos, 393b12". On Sophistical Refutations. On Coming-to-be and Passing Away. On the Cosmos. Translated by Forster, Edward Seymour; Furley, David J. William Heinemann, Harvard University Press. pp. 360–361. at the Open Library Project.DjVu
  110. ↑ "The opinions as to the identity of ancient Thule have been numerous in the extreme. We may here mention six:
    1. The common, and apparently the best founded opinion, that Thule is the island of Iceland.
    2. That it is either the Ferroe group, or one of those islands.
    3. The notion of Ortelius, Farnaby, and Schœnning, that it is identical with Thylemark in Norway.
    4. The opinion of Malte Brun, that the continental portion of Denmark is meant thereby, a part of which is to the present day called Thy or Thyland.
    5. The opinion of Rudbeck and of Calstron, borrowed originally from Procopius, that this is a general name for the whole of Scandinavia.
    6. That of Gosselin, who thinks that under this name Mainland, the principal of the Shetland Islands, is meant.
    It is by no means impossible that under the name of Thule two or more of these localities may have been meant, by different authors writing at distant periods and under different states of geographical knowledge. It is also pretty generally acknowledged, as Parisot remarks, that the Thule mentioned by Ptolemy is identical with Thylemark in Norway."John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley, ed. (1855). "Britannia". The Natural History of Pliny. footnote No. 16. OCLC 615995.
  111. ↑ Pliny the Elder (1942). "Book IV, chapter XVI". Naturalis historia [Natural History]. Vol. II. Translated by Rackham, Harris. Harvard University Press. pp. 195–196.
  112. ↑ Claudius Ptolemy (1898). "Ἕκθεσις τῶν κατὰ παράλληλον ἰδιωμάτων: κβ',κε'" (PDF). In Heiberg, J.L. (ed.). Claudii Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant omnia. Vol. 1 Syntaxis Mathematica. Leipzig: in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. pp. 112–113.
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  118. ↑ Snyder 2003, p. 34
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  154. ↑ Morrill, John (1996). "Three Stuart Kingdoms 1600–1689". In Morrill, John (ed.). The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor & Stuart Britain. Oxford University Press. pp. 86–87. ISBN 978-0-19-820325-4. Geographers may have formed the habit of referring to the archipelago consisting of Britain and Ireland as the Britannic isles, but there never had been a historical myth linking the islands. Medieval historians, such as the twelfth-century Geoffrey of Monmouth, had developed the idea that Britain (i.e. England, Scotland, and Wales) had first been settled by Trojan refugees fleeing after the capture and destruction of their city by the Greeks. The founding monarch – Brutus – had then divided up the island between his three sons, the eldest (Albion) inheriting England and the younger sons Scotland and Wales. This permitted English antiquarians to claim a superiority for the English nation and the English Crown. In the fourteenth century the Scots developed their own counter-myth which acknowledged that Trojans had first occupied England and Wales, but asserted that Scotland had been occupied by colonists from Greece – the conquerors of Troy. Faced by such Scottish counter-myths and by the scepticism bred of humanist scholarship, few people took any of these historical claims seriously by 1600. English claims that kings of Scotland had regularly recognised the feudal suzerainty of the English Crown had to be abandoned in 1603 when the Scottish royal house inherited the English Crown. But the fact is that many of the inhabitants of Britain – especially intellectuals around the royal Courts – had for centuries conceptualised a relationship which bound them together into a common history. There was no historical myths binding Ireland into the story. The term 'Britain' was widely understood and it excluded Ireland; there was no geopolitical term binding together the archipelago.
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References

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