Wales

Wales
/waylz/, n.
a division of the United Kingdom, in SW Great Britain. 2,766,800; 8016 sq. mi. (20,760 sq. km). Medieval, Cambria.

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I

Principality, constituting an integral part of the United Kingdom.

It occupies a peninsula on the western side of the island of Great Britain. Area: 8,015 sq mi (20,758 sq km). Population (2001): 2,903,085. Capital: Cardiff. The population is of Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Anglo-Norman ancestry. Languages: English, Welsh. Religion: Methodism. Wales is almost entirely an upland area the core of which is the Cambrian Mountains. The highest peak in England and Wales, Mount Snowdon, is found in Snowdonia National Park. The Severn, Wye, and Dee are the longest rivers. Economic activities include mining coal (though coal mining suffered a sharp decline in the late 20th century), slate, and lead; importing and refining petroleum; and manufacturing consumer electronics. Tourism is an important industry. In prehistoric times, tribal divisions of the British Celtic speakers who dominated all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde inhabited the region. The Romans ruled from the 1st century AD until the 4th–5th century. Welsh Celts fought off incursions from the Anglo-Saxons. A number of kingdoms arose there, but none was successful in uniting the area. The Norman conquerors of England brought all of southern Wales under their rule in 1093. English King Edward I conquered northern Wales and made it a principality in 1284. Since 1301 the heir to the English throne has carried the title Prince of Wales. Wales was incorporated with England in the reign of Henry VIII. It became a leading international coal-mining centre during the 19th century. The Plaid Cymru, or Welsh Nationalist Party, was founded in 1925, but its influence did not gather force until the 1960s, when Welsh nationalist aspirations rose. In 1997 a referendum approved the devolution of power to an elected assembly, which first convened in 1999.
II
(as used in expressions)
Charles Philip Arthur George prince of Wales
Diana princess of Wales
Gerald of Wales
Wales Prince of

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▪ constituent unit, United Kingdom
Introduction
Wales, flag of   constituent unit of the United Kingdom that forms a westward extension of the island of Great Britain. The capital and main commercial and financial centre is Cardiff.

      Famed for its strikingly rugged landscape, the small nation of Wales—which comprises six distinctive regions—was one of Celtic Europe's most prominent political and cultural centres, and it retains aspects of culture that are markedly different from those of its English neighbours.

      The medieval chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) had topography, history, and current events alike in mind when he observed that Wales is a “country very strongly defended by high mountains, deep valleys, extensive woods, rivers, and marshes; insomuch that from the time the Saxons took possession of the island the remnants of the Britons, retiring into these regions, could never be entirely subdued either by the English or by the Normans.” In time, however, Wales was in fact subdued and, by the Act of Union of 1536, formally joined to the kingdom of England. Welsh engineers, linguists, musicians, writers, and soldiers went on to make significant contributions to the development of the larger British Empire even as many of their compatriots laboured at home to preserve cultural traditions and even the Welsh language itself, which enjoyed a revival in the late 20th century. In 1997 the British government, with the support of the Welsh electorate, provided Wales with a measure of autonomy through the creation of the Welsh Assembly, which assumed decision-making authority for most local matters.

      Although Wales was shaken by the decline of its industrial mainstay, coal mining, by the end of the 20th century the country had developed a diversified economy, particularly in the cities of Cardiff and Swansea, while the countryside, once reliant on small farming, drew many retirees from England. Tourism became an economic staple, with visitors—including many descendants of Welsh expatriates—drawn to Wales's stately parks and castles as well as to cultural events highlighting the country's celebrated musical and literary traditions. In the face of constant change, Wales continues to seek both greater independence and a distinct place in an integrated Europe. Area 8,005 square miles (20,733 square km). Pop. (2005 est.) 2,958,600.

Land
      Wales is bounded by the Dee estuary and Liverpool Bay to the north, the Irish Sea to the west, the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel to the south, and England to the east. Anglesey (Anglesey, Isle of) (Môn), the largest island in England and Wales, lies off the northwestern coast and is linked to the mainland by road and rail bridges. The varied coastline of Wales measures about 600 miles (970 km). The country stretches some 130 miles (210 km) from north to south, and its east-west width varies, reaching 90 miles (145 km) across in the north, narrowing to about 40 miles (65 km) in the centre, and widening again to more than 100 miles (160 km) across the southern portion.

Relief (Wales)
 Glaciers during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago) carved much of the Welsh landscape into deeply dissected mountains, plateaus, and hills, including the north-south–trending Cambrian Mountains, a region of plateaus and hills that are themselves fragmented by rivers. Protruding from that backbone are two main mountain areas—the Brecon Beacons (Brecon Beacons National Park) in the south, rising to 2,906 feet (886 metres) at Pen y Fan, and Snowdonia (Snowdonia National Park) in the northwest, reaching 3,560 feet (1,085 metres) at Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. Snowdonia's magnificent scenery is accentuated by stark and rugged rock formations, many of volcanic origin, whereas the Beacons generally have softer outlines. The uplands are girdled on the seaward side by a series of steep-sided coastal plateaus ranging in elevation from about 100 to 700 feet (30 to 210 metres). Many of them have been pounded by the sea into spectacular steplike cliffs. Other plateaus give way to coastal flats that are estuarine in origin.

 Wales consists of six traditional regions—the rugged central heartland, the North Wales lowlands and Isle of Anglesey county, the Cardigan coast (Ceredigion county), the southwestern lowlands, industrial South Wales, and the Welsh borderland. The heartland, which coincides partly with the counties Powys, Denbighshire, and Gwynedd, extends from the Brecon Beacons in the south to Snowdonia in the north and includes the two national parks based on those mountain areas. To the north and northwest lie the coastal lowlands, together with the Lleyn Peninsula (Penrhyn Llŷn) in Gwynedd and the island of Anglesey. To the west of the heartland, and coinciding with the county of Ceredigion, lies the coastline of Cardigan Bay, with numerous cliffs and coves and pebble- and sand-filled beaches. Southwest of the heartland are the counties of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. There the land rises eastward from St. David's Head, through moorlands and uplands, to 1,760 feet (536 metres) in the Preseli Hills. South Wales stretches south of the heartland on an immense but largely exhausted coalfield (coal). To the east of the heartland, the Welsh border region with England is largely agricultural and is characterized by rolling countryside and occasional wooded hills and mountainous moorland.

Drainage
      The main watershed of Wales runs approximately north-south along the central highlands. The larger river valleys all originate there and broaden westward near the sea or eastward as they merge into lowland plains along the English border. The Severn (Severn, River) and Wye (Wye, River), two of Britain's longest rivers, lie partly within central and eastern Wales and drain into the Bristol Channel via the Severn estuary. The main river in northern Wales is the Dee (Dee, River), which empties into Liverpool Bay. Among the lesser rivers and estuaries are the Clwyd (Clwyd, River) and Conwy in the northeast, the Tywi in the south, and the Rheidol in the west, draining into Cardigan Bay (Bae Ceredigion). The country's natural lakes are limited in area and almost entirely glacial in origin. Several reservoirs in the central uplands supply water to South Wales and to Merseyside and the Midlands in England.

Soils
      The parent rock of Wales is dominated by strata ranging from Precambrian time (more than 543 million years ago) to representatives of the Jurassic Period (206 million to 144 million years ago). However, glaciers during the Pleistocene blanketed most of the landscape with till (boulder clay), scraped up and carried along by the underside of the great ice sheets, so that few soils can now be directly related to their parent rock. Acidic, leached podzol soils and brown earths predominate throughout Wales.

Climate
      Wales has a maritime climate dominated by highly unpredictable shifts in Atlantic air masses, which, combined with the diverse range of elevations, often cause local conditions to vary considerably from day to day. Precipitation is frequent and often more than adequate, with annual totals averaging 55 inches (1,385 mm) for the country as a whole. There is no markedly wet or dry season; roughly 4 inches (88 mm) of precipitation are recorded in April, whereas 6 inches (142 mm) are typical in January. Winter snowfall can be significant in the uplands, where snow or sleet falls some 10 days of each year. The mean diurnal temperature is 50 °F (10 °C), ranging from 40 °F (4 °C) in January to 61 °F (16 °C) in July and August.

Plant and animal life
      The combination of physical conditions and centuries of human activity in Wales has brought about a predominance of grasslands, varying from mountain grasses and heather to lowland pastures of bent grass (Agrostis) and ryegrass. Planted woodlands are also common, including mixed parkland, boundary woods, and commercial plantations.

 The remoter parts of Wales shelter some mammals and birds that are extinct or rarely found elsewhere in Britain, including European polecats (polecat) and pine martens (marten), red kites (kite), and choughs (chough) (crowlike birds that breed inland as well as at some coastal sites). Seabirds and shorebirds occur in large numbers, and bottlenose dolphins inhabit Cardigan Bay. There are three designated national parks in Wales—Snowdonia, Pembrokeshire Coast, and Brecon Beacons—and five areas of outstanding natural beauty—Gower (Gŵyr), Lleyn (Llŷn), the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn), the Clwydian Range, and the Wye valley.

People (Wales)

Ethnic groups and languages
      Some coastal caves in Wales were occupied about 200,000 years ago, during the Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age). Additional waves of settlers arrived from continental Europe and lowland Britain during the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age) and Bronze Age, and iron-wielding Celtic peoples (Celt) invaded after 2000 BC. The basic culture of these peoples survived the Roman occupation and was later strengthened and broadened by Celtic immigrations from other parts of Britain. Their language, a Brythonic branch of Celtic speech, formed the basis of modern Welsh (Welsh language), while their heroic poetry, dating from the 6th century AD, became the basis of one of the oldest literary traditions of Europe. There were limited Norse incursions during the early Middle Ages, commemorated today mainly in place-names along the coastal fringes. Large Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman groups subsequently entered Wales from the English border and began to dominate the ethnic and linguistic makeup of the country.

      Welsh and English are the two major linguistic and ethnic traditions in Wales. The Welsh border region, known historically as the Marches (a patrolled frontier region), in particular is characterized by an amalgam of the Welsh and English cultures. Welsh was still spoken by about half of the population in 1900, but its use thereafter began steadily to decline, and its survival became one of the main cultural and political themes in national life. It is now spoken by about one-fifth of the population, notably in the heartland—the so-called Y Fro Gymraeg (“Welsh-Speaking Region”)—where more than four-fifths of the inhabitants of some localities speak Welsh. The proportion is much diminished in South Wales, falling below one-tenth in the extreme southeast. The Welsh Language Act of 1967 placed it on the same legal standing as English. In 1993 the Welsh Language Act was passed; it established in principle the equality of Welsh and English in Wales. It further established the Welsh Language Board “to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh language” and set minimum standards for the use of Welsh by public bodies, including councils, police, fire, and health authorities, and schools.

Religion
      The people of Wales have become increasingly secular in outlook, but many are at least nominally adherents to Protestant and Nonconformist churches, Calvinistic Methodism (Presbyterian Church of Wales) being perhaps the most widespread denomination, especially in Welsh-speaking areas. The Church in Wales (Wales, Church in), which is widely and evenly distributed throughout the country, has maintained an autonomous clerical hierarchy, including its own archbishop, since being disestablished from the Anglican church in 1920. Roman Catholicism accounts for a small but growing minority, notably in the northeast.

Settlement patterns
      The people of Wales are unevenly distributed in a largely concentric settlement pattern: sparsely populated uplands are at the core, surrounded by bands of gradually increasing population density that culminate on the coasts and the English border. The pattern largely reflects the country's traditional agricultural regions and its more recent urban and industrial developments. Although the central heartland region has lost considerable population, it retains much of its traditional culture and serves as a hearth for the Welsh language.

Rural settlement
      The Welsh tribal economy, of seminomadic pastoral origin, produced mainly dispersed, isolated farmsteads, with only limited nucleation (clustering of buildings) on some of the larger tribal domains. Missionaries known as the Celtic saints established individual monastic or cell habitations in rural areas following the collapse of the Roman Empire, and some of their dwellings attracted additional settlers because of their favourable sites or positioning. The Anglo-Norman manorial system was introduced into Wales after the conquest of 1282, but nucleated villages became significant only in the eastern and southern peripheries of the country, where physical and political conditions favoured their development. As a result, large numbers of isolated, whitewashed stone cottages and farm buildings still dot the rural landscape, forming a strong underlying element within the Welsh social fabric.

Urban settlement
      Some four-fifths of the Welsh population live in urban areas; two-thirds of the total reside in the South Wales industrial zone, and many others live in the northeast. Prior to the Norman Conquest there was scarcely any urban development in Wales, but the Normans (Norman) introduced castle towns (walled towns) that still dominate the contemporary urban landscape—at least in number if not in size. These towns remain and serve commercial, administrative, and social functions; however, their physical appearance often betrays their military and colonial origins. Superimposed on this earlier urban pattern was that generated by the Industrial Revolution—notably in the south and northeast, where unplanned, overcrowded urban settlements sprang up in zones where coal deposits were being rapidly exploited. The coalfields of South Wales were developed in the 19th century as one of the premier mining regions of Britain, and such urban settlements as Rhondda, with tightly packed rows of terraced housing strung out along narrow valleys, are perhaps among the most widely known characteristics of Wales. The region declined markedly during the Great Depression of the 1930s and with the collapse of the coal and steel industries in the late 20th century. However, South Wales remains the most densely populated and industrialized region in Wales. It is divided into several essentially urban administrative areas including Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Port Talbot, Neath, Bridgend, Barry, and Caerphilly.

      Developments in the 20th century included ferry ports (packet stations) for traffic to Ireland, resort towns in some of the coastal areas, and two designated “new towns (new town)”— Cwmbrân in the southeast and Newtown in the middle borderland—which were promoted in an attempt to stem depopulation. Aberystwyth, with its university and the National Library of Wales, is the largest town west of the central heartland region. The region preserves many essentially Welsh elements in its social life because of its somewhat isolated, west-facing location. The middle borderland region, traditionally agricultural, has diversified its economy in an attempt to stem long-standing trends of emigration and depopulation. Settlement in the region's southern half is oriented toward the highly trafficked Severn estuary.

Demographic trends
      The Industrial Revolution dramatically increased the Welsh population from around 500,000 people in the mid 18th century to some 2,600,000 by 1921. In the 1890s alone roughly 130,000 migrants were drawn into the coalfields of South Wales from England, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere; many people from rural areas in Wales also migrated to industrial centres. Although new manufacturers and mines provided employment for many Welsh workers, others emigrated, particularly to the northeastern United States.

      Heavy industry declined during the 20th century, and agriculture became increasingly commercialized and capital-intensive, producing further emigration from Wales, mainly of younger workers, and leaving behind a disproportionately aged population. In the late 20th century new industrial growth stemmed the population loss, except in South Wales and other coalfield regions. There is now a rough balance between inward and outward migration; however, many of the more recent arrivals have been seasonal vacationers or rural retreaters from metropolitan England, which has produced considerable tensions in traditionally Welsh-speaking areas where up to half the population was born outside Wales. In contrast, nonnatives account for less than one-tenth of the residents of some southern districts. Many African seamen were attracted to South Wales during the industrial boom of the late 19th century, but people of African ancestry now account for only a tiny fraction of Wales's total population. Cardiff is home to one of the oldest black communities in Britain.

Economy
      The Welsh economy generally reflects the national trends and patterns of the United Kingdom; however, Wales has higher proportions of employment in agriculture and forestry, manufacturing, and government, and it provides concomitantly fewer jobs in financial and business services. There is active foreign investment in Welsh manufacturing, particularly in its high-technology industries, but Wales's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and employment rates are far below average for the United Kingdom. The European Union has awarded significant developmental aid to parts of western and southern Wales in order to improve conditions there.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
      Agriculture, forestry, and fishing account for less than 2 percent of the GDP of Wales. Agricultural production mainly centres on the raising of sheep, cattle, pigs, and poultry. Major crops include barley, wheat, potatoes, and oats. Wales's highly variable relief and climate are obstacles to the development of other commercial crops. The Forestry Commission (a government department) owns and operates large estates for the commercial exploitation of timber. Wales has several small ports and hundreds of small fishing vessels, but the overall fishing catch is limited. Major catches include clams, cod, lobsters, and skate.

      Sheep and cattle raising dominate the economy of the central heartland. The Lleyn Peninsula and Anglesey have rich farming areas. Along the Ceredigion coast, fishing and dairying are important, and in Pembrokeshire and part of Carmarthenshire there are numerous low-lying pastures, dairy farms, and fishing ports. Milford Haven, which has a vast natural harbour, is the main fishing port.

Resources and power
      Wales has few natural resources beyond coal, agricultural lands, water, and woodlands. coal is the only significant mineral resource of Wales, but the local coal-mining industry is now precipitously diminished from its previous level. The coal deposits of South Wales are far more extensive and contain higher-grade anthracite than those of the northeast. Nonferrous ores occur in small quantities and are not economically viable. Iron ore deposits, which were important during the early development of the industrial regions, are now exhausted.

      There are several hydroelectric projects and reservoirs in Wales for domestic and industrial purposes. About half of the hydroelectric power produced in Wales serves areas in England. Several commercial windmill electricity-generation installations, including some of Europe's largest, were established in the late 20th century in the Welsh highlands. A nuclear power station is located at Wylfa.

Manufacturing
      Manufacturing accounts for nearly one-third of the GDP of Wales, although most heavy industries had declined by the late 20th century. Improvements in the Welsh transportation infrastructure have helped bring diversified manufacturing into the southeast and northeast, including foreign-owned companies specializing in electrical, automotive, and chemical products. Foodstuffs, metals and metal products, beverages, and optical equipment are also important.

Services
      Financial and business services, government (including education and health services), hotels, restaurants, and trade account for more than half of the GDP and nearly two-thirds of employment in Wales. Most services are concentrated in Cardiff and other urban areas. Wales does not have its own national currency nor its own central bank; instead it uses the pound sterling and relies on the Bank of England (England, Bank of) for currency and other financial matters. A large number of commercial banks and insurance companies operate in Wales.

      Another important source of income is tourism, particularly around the upland national parks and in the coastal region. The heartland, with its uplands, moorlands, and rivers, provides numerous attractions for tourists. The scenery and accessibility from English population centres make the central lowlands a popular tourist area as well.

Transportation
      Wales lacks a fully integrated system of transportation, and travel into or out of the country is much easier than internal movement. The main lines of transport in Wales have always been lateral, between west and east—that is, along the respective northern and southern coastal belts and across the centre, where the Severn valley links the borderlands to the English Midlands. Subsidiary lines of communication have also developed from north to south, along the west coast and the border. Cross-country links in the highlands have always been problematic, even following improvements to the road system. Wales has an extensive network of paved roads, particularly along its northern and southern coasts, but the only limited-access motorways link South Wales with the English Midlands and the Bristol area, the latter via bridges over the Severn estuary.

      Several railroad lines closed during the 1950s and '60s because of cutbacks in British Rail service. The rail network now follows a pattern similar to that of the roads, with main routes following the north and south coasts. Wales also has several picturesque narrow-gauge railways, which operate largely during the summer tourist season.

      Milford Haven, the main ocean port, has become one of the major oil-importing and refining centres in western Europe. Holyhead, on Holy Island off the coast of Anglesey, also has a busy deepwater port. Together with the ferry port of Fishguard, Holyhead links the main rail and road lines with Ireland across the Irish Sea. Various South Wales ports, which formerly handled coal exports, now import iron ore, petroleum, and general cargo; Swansea also provides ferry service to Ireland. Wales has no commercial inland waterways.

      Cardiff International Airport handles domestic flights to other parts of the United Kingdom and international flights to several other countries.

      For further discussion of the economy of Wales, see the economy sections of the article United Kingdom.

Government and society

Constitutional framework
 Because Wales is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom, foreign relations and many domestic matters for Wales are determined in London by the British government and Parliament's House of Commons, which includes many Welsh members. Thus, the British prime minister is the head of state and chief executive. However, the National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru), established in Cardiff in 1999, has assumed several responsibilities, including urban and rural development, economic planning, health and welfare, culture, education, transportation, tourism, and environmental matters. Unlike the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly does not have the power to levy taxes or frame primary legislation, yet it can amend some acts of Parliament and allocate the spending of national funds within Wales. The 60-seat National Assembly comprises 40 members who are directly elected from the 40 parliamentary constituencies and an additional 20 members elected through proportional representation. The National Assembly elects a first minister (formerly known as first secretary), who leads the government with the aid of a cabinet of departmental secretaries.

Local government
      The functions of local government in Wales were long divided among 13 historic counties, which now retain only historic and cultural relevance. Parliamentary reforms redrew the administrative boundaries in 1974 and again in the 1990s. Since 1996 Wales has consisted of 22 local governmental units (12 counties and 10 county boroughs). The counties and county boroughs are responsible for all major local governmental functions, including local planning, fire fighting, schools, libraries, social services, public health and sanitation, recreation, the environment, and voter registration.

      Community councils form the lowest tier of local government in Wales and consist of localities (cities, towns, and villages) within the counties and county boroughs. They have a range of other rights and duties, including assessing surcharges (precepts) on property taxes, participating in local planning, and maintaining commons and recreational facilities.

Justice and security
      Unlike Scotland, Wales has no separate justice system. Criminal and civil cases are heard by magistrates' courts (magistrates' court) and by a circuit of the Crown Court. The Home Office in Whitehall, London, is responsible for police services in Wales, which are administered through local police headquarters or constabularies. The country has no independent defense forces, although three British army regiments are historically associated with Wales—the Welsh Guards, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and the Royal Regiment of Wales (the latter two were merged into a single unit and dubbed the Royal Welsh in 2006).

Political process
      The Welsh people historically have tended to support liberal and radical governments and have done so in large numbers—Wales has a consistently higher turnout at the polls than does Britain as a whole. The Labour Party is the largest single political party in Wales; Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrat Party (Liberal Democrats), and the Conservative Party have more limited electoral support.

      During the 19th and early 20th centuries the Liberal Party promoted the policy of Home Rule and produced such figures as Prime Minister David Lloyd George (Lloyd George, David). The electorate in Wales's industrial regions then began to support socialist Labourites such as Keir Hardie, the British Labour leader and the first independent Labour member of Parliament, who (although Scottish) represented the South Wales constituency of Merthyr Tydfil. Other prominent Labour members of Parliament for South Wales have included Aneurin Bevan (Bevan, Aneurin), Michael Foot (Foot, Michael), James Callaghan (Callaghan, James Callaghan, Baron), and Neil Kinnock (Kinnock, Neil, Baron Kinnock of Bedwellty).

       Plaid Cymru, renamed bilingually as Plaid Cymru–The Party of Wales, was founded in 1925 to promote a full parliament for Wales and direct international representation. The party first won a parliamentary seat in a by-election in 1966 and then captured additional seats at local, national, and European elections. Support for the party is concentrated in areas where Welsh is widely spoken. More radical organizations, such as Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society), exist on the fringe of the broader nationalist and separatist movement and are disassociated from Plaid Cymru. Some such groups have engaged in civil disobedience to further their ends, while the more extreme factions have carried out attacks on property, most notably on English-owned holiday homes in rural Wales in the 1980s.

Health and welfare
      There are great variations in rates of death and illness in Wales, with the highest rates in the southern industrial valleys and poorer inner-city areas. Life expectancy has reached about 75 years for men and 80 for women. Deaths from cancer and heart disease are significantly higher than in England; other leading causes of death include respiratory and cerebrovascular diseases. Social security benefits make up a higher proportion of income in Wales than elsewhere in the United Kingdom, partly because the country traditionally has had higher unemployment rates and because there are pockets of persistently high unemployment within urban South Wales. The highest rates of social deprivation are in such urban and industrialized areas as Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda, Swansea, and Newport.

Housing
      As in most areas of the United Kingdom, home ownership significantly increased in the last half of the 20th century. Whereas fewer than half the homes were owner-occupied in the 1950s, by the beginning of the 21st century nearly three-fourths of homes were. Much of that increase occurred in the 1980s, when the government of Margaret Thatcher (Thatcher, Margaret) implemented policies to encourage the tenants of council houses (public houses) to purchase their units. The country's housing stock is relatively modern, with more than one-fourth of all units built since 1970. The Welsh Office of the British government traditionally provided funds for rural housing and other improvements. With the creation of a devolved assembly, however, much of the responsibility for housing was transferred to the Welsh government.

Education
      With its rich cultural heritage, Wales has maintained a tradition of, and respect for, quality education at all levels. The Welsh school curriculum varies considerably from that pursued in England, notably in its stringent requirement for Welsh-language education. Furthermore, approximately one-third of Welsh primary-school pupils and one-fifth of those in secondary school receive all their instruction in Welsh. The demand for Welsh-language schooling has grown rapidly, particularly in Anglicized parts of South Wales. The University of Wales was formed in 1893 by uniting three constituent institutions at Aberystwyth (1872), Cardiff (1883), and Bangor (1884); it later expanded by adding Swansea (1920), the College of Medicine (1931) in Cardiff, and Lampeter (1971). It also has university colleges at Cardiff and Newport. The University of Glamorgan was created in 1992 from the former Polytechnic of Wales (1913).

Cultural life
      Although united politically, administratively, and economically with England since the Act of Union of 1536, Wales has preserved, maintained, and developed a somewhat independent cultural identity. It is the interplay between English and Welsh elements—sometimes united, sometimes independent, and sometimes in conflict—that characterizes contemporary cultural life in Wales. A more distinctive perception of Welsh identity emerged in the final decades of the 20th century, arguably underpinning support for creation of the National Assembly for Wales, which was approved by referendum in 1997.

      Wales may be described as possessing a Welsh-speaking, rural north and west and an English-speaking, urban, and industrial south and east. The Welsh-speaking areas long considered themselves culturally Welsh rather than British, and during the 20th century many Welsh thus sought connections to a wider pan-Celtic network of minority groups such as Bretons, Basques, and Galicians. The English-speaking areas, on the other hand, largely rejected definitions of Welsh identity that they believed were too closely allied to the Welsh language, and some promoted an alternative cosmopolitanism. By the early 21st century the divide between the two groups had begun to break down as a wider sense of inclusive Welshness took hold. The process was reinforced by the revival of the Welsh language in South Wales and its widespread presence in the media and classroom.

Daily life and social customs
      Daily life in Wales varies markedly by region. Social advantage and deprivation can exist side by side, particularly in parts of South Wales. The population also varies in terms of its cultural diversity, from the cosmopolitanism of Cardiff to the traditionally monolithic industrial communities. Although rural Wales has often been described as a cultural heartland, many of its small towns have lost a measure of their cultural, and especially linguistic, distinctiveness. Nonetheless, many parts of northern and western Wales remain predominantly Welsh-speaking, and people there may live their daily lives largely through the medium of Welsh, perhaps including their places of employment. Children receive Welsh-language instruction at preschool, primary, and secondary levels, and some courses at the University of Wales are taught in Welsh in addition to those focusing on the Welsh language and literature.

      Wales celebrates the national holidays of Great Britain. In addition, many institutions have effectively made St. David's Day (March 1), the feast day of the patron saint of Wales, into a Welsh holiday. All Hallow's Eve (Nos Galan Gaeaf) has significance for Welsh nationalists as the beginning of the Celtic new year, though it is popularly celebrated as the American-style Halloween. The country's cuisine exhibits the universalizing tendencies of Western culture (with fast food restaurants and processed foods), though some traditional dishes remain popular, including cawl (a light soup containing lamb), Welsh cakes (small fruit scones cooked on a griddle), bara brith (a rich fruit bread), and laver bread (a red seaweed typically fried with oatmeal and cockles). The Welsh have enjoyed a revival of traditional foods and of organic farming, with notable contributions from migrants to rural Wales, many of them English. The long heritage of some groups with Italian ancestry, particularly in South Wales, is manifest in the large number of family-owned ice cream producers as well as in a few cafés known locally as Bracchis.

The arts
 Wales has been popularly called “the land of song,” and its traditional culture has been rooted in oral (and aural) art forms, including the spoken and written word and vocal music, particularly choral singing involving multiple parts and complex harmonies. The singing of penillion, simple vernacular songs, to the accompaniment of the triple harp was a feature of Welsh folk culture until the early 18th century, and efforts have been mounted to revive the form. The cymanfa ganu (“singing festival”) has been a popular expression of religious Nonconformism since the mid 19th century. Some of the most renowned Welsh composers, such as William Williams Pantycelyn, almost exclusively composed hymns, although Walford Davies established himself as a classical composer in the 20th century. The Welsh National Opera (1946) is highly regarded, with soloists of international renown, including Sir Geraint Evans, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Dame Margaret Price, and Bryn Terfel. The Welsh Guards Band, a unit of the British Army, is also a familiar presence at festivals and parades and has released several recordings. Popular and rock music enjoyed a resurgence in Wales in the late 20th century and contributed to a movement playfully dubbed “Cool Cymru.” Welsh-language recordings by pop groups are a mainstay of contemporary radio programming and enjoy popularity throughout Britain and abroad. However, the country's most popular recording artist, singer Tom Jones, has recorded his music only in English.

 The Welsh literary tradition (Welsh literature) extends at least to the 6th century AD, flowering with such medieval works as the Y Gododdin, a long poem by Aneirin, and the work of Taliesin, available only in a reconstructed version known as the Book of Taliesin; with a the great body of Arthurian legend collected by Geoffrey Of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (1135–38; History of the Kings of Britain); and with the Mabinogion, a collection of tales dating to the 11th century. The translation of the Bible into Welsh in 1588 by the Anglican bishop William Morgan (Morgan, William) inspired a renaissance of Welsh writing, but by the early 18th century most Welsh literature was being written in English. Even with the revival of the eisteddfod, an assembly of bards and minstrels, in the late 18th century, Welsh continued to lose ground as a literary language. The nationalist movement of the 20th century, however, brought about a resurgence in Welsh literature, though much of it was confined to universities or small journals. Welsh literature, as with so much else in Wales, has been divided between Welsh- and English-language camps. The former has not gained a widespread international reputation, although translations have been published of the plays of Saunders Lewis (a leading figure in the nationalist movement) and the novels and short stories of Gwyn Thomas (Thomas, Gwyn), Kate Roberts (Roberts, Kate), T. Rowland Hughes, and Caradog Prichard. The Anglo-Welsh literary tradition—writing on Wales and Welshness but through the medium of English—has produced the poets R.S. Thomas (Thomas, R.S.) and Glyn Jones and the poet and playwright Dylan Thomas (Thomas, Dylan). A large number of novelists and poets also chronicled the shifting fortunes of industrial South Wales, particularly during the depression years, as exemplified in Richard Llewellyn (Llewellyn, Richard)'s How Green Was My Valley (1939) and Rhys Davies's The Black Venus (1944). The power of the spoken word in Wales is also embodied in the figures of Welsh actors, most notably Richard Burton (Burton, Richard), Sir Anthony Hopkins (Hopkins, Sir Anthony), and Emlyn Williams (also a playwright); and more recently, John Rhys-Davies, Rhys Ifans, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. A small Welsh-language film industry was initiated with the release of Coming Up Roses (Rhosyn a Rhith) in 1985.

 Traditional histories of Wales often suggested that Welsh culture was essentially rural, domestic, and noncommercial and was made more austere by the spread of Puritan Nonconformism and its associated 19th-century religious revivals. Several historians blamed these factors for the apparent failure to develop a “visual culture” in Wales. However, Wales has produced such renowned artists as the 18th-century landscape painter Richard Wilson (Wilson, Richard) and the 20th-century modernists David Jones and Ceri Richards. Revised histories of Welsh visual culture point to a vibrant aesthetic sense, particularly in folk art of various kinds. There are few architectural landmarks in Wales, although a rich and intensely varied tradition of vernacular architecture exists. Many such buildings have been preserved and reconstructed at the Museum of Welsh Life at St. Fagans, near Cardiff. Tintern Abbey, made famous by William Wordsworth (Wordsworth, William)'s poem, is one of many (mostly ruined) abbeys, priories, and castles scattered across the Welsh countryside. Wales's Nonconformist chapels, seen as exemplifying an artistically “sober dignity,” were stylistically countered by the architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in the 1920s, when he began creating Portmeirion, an exuberant Italianate village in North Wales.

Cultural institutions
      Large numbers of Welsh-speaking artists converge annually in August at the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales, a competitive and highly individualized festival held alternately in North and South Wales. The Eisteddfod consists of competitions in all aspects of music, literature, drama, and art, together with a series of dramatic performances and concerts, all in the Welsh language; it also boasts a series of fringe activities, including a weeklong rock festival organized by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, a cultural association formed in the 1960s, and attracts a series of broadly political spectacles. The Gorsedd (Bardic Circle), a pseudo-Druidic organization composed of poets and musicians, also conducts its ceremonies at the national Eisteddfod. Founded in 1947, the International Musical Eisteddfod is held in Llangolen each July and highlights dancers and singers from many countries. Local Eisteddfodau are held in towns and villages throughout the year, and the Eisteddfod organized by Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Welsh League of Youth) is one of the largest youth festivals in Europe.

      The Welsh Arts Council provides government assistance for literature, art, music, film, and drama. The council helps arrange tours of Wales by British and foreign orchestras and supports art exhibitions, Welsh- and English-language theatre companies and theatres, regional arts associations, and music societies and festivals, particularly those concerned with commissioning new works.

      The National Library of Wales (1907) at Aberystwyth, like the British Library, receives copies of virtually all books published in the United Kingdom. It is also the main Welsh reference library and a repository of documents and manuscripts relating to Wales from the earliest times. The National Museum of Wales (1907) is situated in Cardiff; the Museum of Welsh Life, in the castle and grounds of nearby St. Fagans, embraces the antiquities and natural history of Wales along with a comprehensive Welsh art collection; and the Segontium Roman Museum in Caernarfon preserves one of Roman Britain's major forts.

Sports and recreation
  rugby dominates competitive sporting culture in Wales, especially among males, and the sport plays a major role in Welsh national identity. Although Welsh athletes compete as members of the United Kingdom's Olympic team, the country fields national teams for other sports (e.g., football [soccer] and rugby). Wales hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1999, and the position of the sport at the heart of national and sporting life was symbolized at that time by the opening of the 72,500-seat Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Swansea, Cardiff, and Wrexham play football in the English league system, and Wales also has its own league. The national parks are popular locations for outdoor pursuits of all kinds, and Snowdonia is particularly renowned among rock climbers.

Media and publishing
      The media in Wales has increasingly highlighted a sense of national identity. BBC Wales, which has always had considerable independence from the British Broadcasting Corporation, provides television and radio services in both English and Welsh. ITV Wales, a commercial company, covers Wales and the western part of England. A Welsh-language television channel, S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru, or Channel Four Wales), began broadcasting in 1982 after a long campaign against the homogenizing tendencies of English-language television. The Western Mail is the national newspaper for Wales, although parts of North Wales remain loyal to the Liverpool Daily Post, which contains Welsh-language columns and markets itself as a Welsh daily. In addition to a lively periodical press, there are several other regional and local newspapers and dozens of Welsh-language papurau bro (“community papers”) produced by volunteers. The Internet has reduced the costs of, and expanded the possibilities for, Welsh-language publishing.

Harold Carter Pyrs Gruffudd Ed.

History

Wales before the Norman Conquest
The prehistory of Wales
      Meaningful study of prehistoric Wales has to be pursued against the broader background of British prehistory, for the material remains of the period 3500–1000 BC, especially funerary monuments, provide regional manifestations of features characteristic of Britain as a whole. The Celtic (Celt) origins of Britain, probably to be sought in a gradual process within the last millennium BC, are a matter of continuing scholarly debate. Traditional archaeological and linguistic interpretation emphasizes an influx, from the late Bronze Age onward, of Celtic-speaking peoples, though not perhaps in vast numbers, and a dynamic relationship between continental and insular communities. Modern views emphasize that the ethnogenesis of the Celts must be seen as a complex process of social change and not entirely the result of migrations. As regards their social structure, the metalwork associated with feasting and military prowess, such as that found at Llyn Fawr and Llyn Cerrig Bach, coupled with the broad distribution of fortified sites, typifies the highly stratified but politically fragmented and warlike society which prevailed in Wales down to the Roman period.

Roman (ancient Rome) Wales (1st–4th centuries)
      Wales in the Roman period shared broadly the experience of other parts of highland Britain, but modern archaeological study has tended to moderate the traditional contrast drawn between military and civil zones. Mediterranean culture is best exemplified in southern Wales, where there were important Roman towns at Caerwent and Carmarthen and villas at a number of other sites. Remains elsewhere consist mainly of the roads and forts of a phase of military occupation that lasted to about AD 200. But at Caernarfon (Segontium) there was a continuous well-ordered settlement to about AD 400, and it is likely that civil influences were exerted much more widely than was once thought. Linguistic study suggests that the native language, known to scholars as Brittonic or Brythonic, was infused with Latin (Latin language) terms, though distinction needs to be made between borrowings of the period of Roman rule and the scholarly borrowings of subsequent periods. Early Welsh consciousness of a Roman heritage may owe a great deal to the Latinity sustained in later centuries by the Christian church.

The founding of the kingdoms
      The origin of early Welsh political organization must be sought in the period following the cessation of Roman rule in about AD 400. Native leaders, unable to sustain Roman methods of governance, initiated the processes that were to lead to the founding of a number of kingdoms. The Historia Brittonum, an antiquarian compilation dating from the early 9th century, explains the origin of the kingdom of Gwynedd by relating a tradition that Cunedda Wledig migrated from northern Britain to northwestern Wales to expel the Irish who had occupied the area. This may be an example of the origin stories that were current in early medieval Europe, and the Historia also contains an early reference to the Welsh claim to Trojan origin, which was to prove an enduring theme in Welsh historical consciousness. Tradition attributes the names of the various parts of Gwynedd, such as Dunoding and Rhufoniog, to a division of the kingdom said to have been made among Cunedda's sons after his death, but these may be the names of territories that were gradually incorporated into the kingdom during a long period of growth. Cunedda's descendants were to rule as kings; a 7th-century representative of the dynasty is commemorated upon an inscribed stone in Anglesey as Catamanus Rex (Cadfan the King).

      In southwestern Wales the Irish presence led to the founding of the Irish kingdom of Dyfed, and some Irish influence was felt further afield in the neighbouring lands of Ceredigion, Ystrad Tywi, and Brycheiniog. In the southeast Glywysig and Gwent emerged, to be united, though impermanently, to form Morgannwg. In north-central Wales the kingdom of Powys, originally centred at Pengwern (a place not identified with certainty), was established, and it embraced at least part of the Roman province of the Cornovii, centred at Wroxeter in Shropshire.

      There are indications of a Romano-British Christian church in southeastern Wales, but Christian influence may also have penetrated much deeper into Wales in the Roman period. Inscribed stones, though themselves belonging to the 5th or 6th century, carry terms such as sacerdos (probably meaning bishop) and presbyter (priest), which may reflect a well-established Christian church of early origin. Stones with Irish (or Ogham) inscriptions and Christian symbols in southwestern Wales suggest that the immigrants, if not already Christian upon arrival, were Christianized soon afterward. The extent of the continuity of the early Romano-British church, however, has become the subject of scholarly debate. From the mid-20th century onward historians have argued in favour of discontinuity by stressing the importance of what they considered to be new Gallo-Roman influences exerted on western Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries. According to this view Celtic “saints” coming from the Continent reestablished Christianity by their missionary activities along the western seaways. More recently, however, the view held by an earlier generation of historians that the Christian church had a continuous existence from the Romano-British period has regained support. Scholars defending this position argue that much of the evidence for the missionary activity of Celtic saints was derived from the saints' lives and church dedications of a later date. Basing their arguments on the De excidio et conquestu Britanniae, a work by the 6th-century British monk Gildas that suggests a long-established Christian tradition of Romano-British derivation, they postulate that the trade and cultural contacts along the western seaways may have served not to introduce Christianity or to revitalize a lingering faith but to bring to an existing church a form of monasticism that had proved to be an important influence in the development of the Gallic church.

      Support for the argument of a “Celtic church” rests upon the church's monastic character. A major church (clas, plural clasau) was headed by an abbot and bishop who was responsible for daughter houses. The clas was not a cloistered community, and its head was responsible for the ordination of priests and the pastoral care of the laity in neighbouring areas. But the hereditary succession to office and to ecclesiastical property that developed with time was among traditional practices, and, even though at places like Llanbadarn Fawr there were ecclesiastical families who maintained a Christian learning of a high order, these practices were considered to be contrary to the teaching of the reformed church.

Political development
      The settlement of Anglo-Saxon peoples along the Welsh borderland separated the Brythonic peoples of Wales from those of northern and southwestern Britain. Whereas to the English they were “Welsh” (foreigners), they identified themselves as “Cymry” (compatriots). Offa's Dyke, the great linear earthwork built in the times of King Offa (died 796) of Mercia, represents the demarcation line of English penetration into Wales.

      Attempts during the next two centuries to bring the Welsh kingdoms west of the dike into a political unity proved to be only partially successful and impermanent. Rhodri Mawr (“the Great”; died 878), the king of Gwynedd who provided stern resistance to the Viking attacks, brought Powys within his dominion and then briefly extended his sway over two areas in the southwest (lying north and east of Dyfed), namely Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi, which had previously been united to form the kingdom of Seisyllwg. The period following Rhodri's death proved to be of far-reaching significance. The outlying kingdoms of Wales—Dyfed, Brycheiniog, Glywysing, and Gwent—being subjected to pressure by Rhodri's sons or by Mercia, turned to the kingdom of Wessex and by a formal commendation entered into that allegiance, ultimately expressed in homage and fealty, which each of the kings of Wales owed, individually and directly, to the English monarchy. Anarawd (died 916), a son of Rhodri, subsequently submitted to Alfred (died 899) and completed the formal subjection of the Welsh kingdoms to the English sovereign. Rhodri's grandson, Hywel ap Cadell (Hywel Dda) (Hywel Dda, “the Good”; died 950), starting from a patrimony in Seisyllwg, secured Dyfed by marriage, thereby creating the kingdom of Deheubarth. Eventually Gwynedd and Powys also came under his rule. Hywel, possibly inspired by admiration for the Wessex court but more probably constrained by the power of King Athelstan (died 939), accepted the status of a sub-regulus, or under-king, of the king of Wessex. But, whatever its compulsions, Hywel's policy provoked a reaction (expressed in the poem Armes Prydein) that envisaged the formation of a great alliance to withstand the Anglo-Saxon suzerain.

      Before the close of the 10th century Maredudd ap Owain (died 999), a grandson of Hywel Dda, brought the northern and western kingdoms once more into a transitory unity. But his death opened a period of prolonged turmoil in which internal conflicts were complicated and intensified by Anglo-Saxon and Norse intervention. The established dynasties were challenged by men who asserted themselves within the kingdoms and exercised ephemeral supremacies. Of these, the most successful was Gruffudd ap Llywelyn (died 1063), who brought Gwynedd, then Deheubarth, and finally (though briefly) the whole of Wales under his dominion. The devastation wrought upon the English borderland, still not erased at the time of the making of Domesday Book (1086), was probably in large measure due to him. His death in 1063 meant that the most powerful ruler of independent Wales was destroyed only a few years before the Norman forces came to the Anglo-Welsh frontier.

Early Welsh society
      The endeavours of the dynasties in the 9th and 10th centuries, though only partially successful with regard to the problem of Welsh unification, had important and lasting consequences. Scholarly activity such as that represented in the Historia Brittonum and in annals and genealogies, material relating both to northern Britain and to Wales, may well reflect the attempt of the descendants of Rhodri Mawr to consolidate their position and enhance their prestige. With regard to creative literature, it is likely that the origins of some texts preserved in medieval manuscripts, including some material in triad form (triple groupings of legal, literary, historical, and other materials), may be traced back to this period. The earliest Welsh law texts, though they date from the 13th century onward, attribute the original codification of law to Hywel Dda; and it is possible that a significant development in Welsh jurisprudence took place under the aegis of that ruler. These texts, along with other materials, reveal a society of relatively settled kingdoms ruled by kings (brenhinoedd, singular brenin) who were endowed with an extensive range of powers, notably the public enforcement of legal obligations.

      The kingdoms were normally divided (land reform) for purposes of royal administration into cantrefs. These in turn consisted of groups of maenors occupied by the bond or free elements of which Welsh society was composed. The bond population, which was probably larger than once thought and which was concentrated in fairly compact maenors in lowland areas that were favourable to an agrarian economy, was organized on conventional manorial principles. In the economy of the upland areas the emphasis was upon a pastoral economy practiced by free communities, which were accorded more extensive maenors. As a result of changes that quickened considerably in the 12th century, the maenor organization of Welsh society was superseded by new forms designed to ensure a more intensive exploitation of the soil. A smaller unit, the tref, or township, then replaced the maenor. In the sphere of royal administration the cantref, by a process probably already well advanced on the eve of the first Norman invasions, was largely replaced by a small unit, the commote, which was to remain, under Welsh and alien lords, the basic unit of administration and jurisdiction throughout the medieval period.

Wales in the Middle Ages
Norman infiltration
      The Norman Conquest of England saw the establishment upon the Welsh border of the three earldoms of Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford, and from each of these strongpoints advances were made into Wales. Norman progress in southern Wales in the reign of William I (1066–87) was limited to the colonization of Gwent in the southeast. Domesday Book contains evidence suggesting that King William and Rhys ap Tewdwr, king of Deheubarth (died 1093), made a compact that recognized the Welsh ruler's authority in his own kingdom and perhaps also his influence in those other areas of southern Wales outside Deheubarth, particularly Morgannwg and Brycheiniog, that still lay outside Norman control. Meanwhile, from Chester and Shrewsbury, the Normans had penetrated more deeply into Wales, so that at Domesday, though the area colonized was limited, Norman lordship had been asserted over numerous cantrefs and commotes that had previously formed portions of the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys. The political situations in the northern and southern parts of the country were reversed during a period of renewed conflict in the reign of William II (1087–1100). Soon after Rhys ap Tewdwr's death in 1093 while opposing the Norman advance into Brycheiniog, the Normans invaded virtually the whole of southern Wales. Advances from several bases along the Welsh border enabled Norman lords to establish the major lordships of Cardigan, Pembroke, Brecon, and Glamorgan. This advance constituted the decisive stage in the creation of the March of Wales; in this land, consisting of lordships, Norman lords and their successors exercised rights founded on the powers previously enjoyed by the Welsh kings but greatly expanded so as to give the lords, under “the custom of the March,” extensive powers in their lordships and a large measure of autonomy in their relations with the king of England.

Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth
      The crucial years after 1093 saw also the initiation in northern Wales of a period of conflict by which the area was gradually recovered from Norman rule and the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys reconstituted as major political entities. Gwynedd, first under Gruffudd ap Cynan (died 1137) and then under his son Owain Gwynedd (died 1170), gained a firm governance that enabled the younger ruler, controlling a kingdom extending from the Dyfi to the Dee, to withstand foreign pressure, which was particularly severe during the reign of Henry II (1154–89). In Powys the rule of Madog ap Maredudd (died 1160) likewise proved to be a period of stability and of expansion eastward beyond Offa's Dyke into lands that had been subjected to alien settlement in both the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods. In southwestern Wales, too, representatives of the dynasty of Deheubarth for more than 30 years waged a campaign that finally enabled Rhys ap Gruffudd (died 1197), a grandson of Rhys ap Tewdwr, to win from Henry II a recognition of his position. Rhys ruled a land that was not as extensive as the ancient kingdom, for Norman control of the lordship of Pembroke and of other lordships along the southern coastline was conceded, but it nevertheless constituted a considerable dominion.

      The three kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth formed by the third quarter of the 12th century a well-defined sphere of Welsh political influence (Wallia, or Pura Wallia) in contradistinction to the sphere of Norman influence (Marchia Wallie). Throughout the remainder of the period of Welsh independence there remained a memory that Wales, outside the March, had consisted historically of three kingdoms ruled from the three principal seats of Aberffraw in Gwynedd, Mathrafal in Powys, and Dinefwr in Deheubarth. The rulers of these three kingdoms formulated a concept of Welsh kingship in which indigenous elements were blended with the new influences at work in the feudal monarchies. Each ruler, still known as a king (rex, brenin) but later to be styled prince (princeps, tywysog) or lord (dominus, arglwydd), governed an autonomous territory for which he did homage and fealty to the king of England.

      Political stability enabled these territories to recover from the depredations of the Norman period, and the rulers sought to increase the resources of their demesne lands both by exploiting the labour services of bondmen and by providing some bondmen with more favourable tenurial conditions as an incentive to the colonization of marginal lands. With regard to lands held by freemen, a trend toward more intensive agricultural exploitation and a more precise definition of fiscal obligations may explain the description in late medieval land surveys of territorial assets vested in lineages that often traced their descent from a 12th-century ancestor. The endowment of some privileged proprietors with extensive estates facilitated, despite continued adherence to partible succession, the growth of a class of landowners who were linked with the rulers by ties of service and provided the personnel of their administration.

      A renewed cultural vitality is noticeable in the Latin scholarship of this period and in a flowering of the literary tradition, exemplified in prose and in eulogistic poetry. The History of Gruffydd ap Cynan, probably written in the reign of his son Owain Gwynedd, provides a classic statement of the political and cultural values of independent Wales. Emphasizing the stability and prosperity of an ordered society, it provides an indigenous counterpoint to the more critical view of Welsh society embodied most notably, despite his subsequent identification with the cause of an independent Welsh church, in the works of the Welsh historian Giraldus Cambrensis.

      In ecclesiastical affairs, the early Norman period saw the inauguration of a process by which the clas organization was replaced by arrangements consonant with the practice of the reformed church. The four territorial dioceses of Bangor, St. David's (Saint David's), Llandaff, and St. Asaph were created, and a parochial organization was gradually established. The church structure was a creation of the Normans, and the bishops appointed to Welsh sees owed a profession of obedience to Canterbury. Even so, Bernard, bishop of St. David's in 1115–48, claimed the status of an archbishop and, in furthering his campaign, appealed to the historical legacy of an early independent Welsh church. His bid was revived at the end of the century by Giraldus Cambrensis. But no less significant than Giraldus' endeavour was the resistance of the clergy of Bangor, who, acting under the protection of Owain Gwynedd at a time of national resistance toward the end of his reign, steadfastly refused to meet the demands of Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, that the newly elected bishop should swear fealty to Canterbury. The lay powers found adherents in the Cistercian Order; houses such as Margam and Tintern, situated in the March, had close associations with their marcher patrons. The offshoots of the Cistercian monastery of Whitland, notably Strata Florida and Aberconway, were handsomely endowed by the Welsh rulers, who in return were supported in their political endeavours.

      In each of the three kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth, the death of its powerful ruler was followed by a contested succession. In Powys and Deheubarth the unity of the kingdom was never restored; but with the emergence to power in the late 12th century of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (died 1240), a grandson of Owain Gwynedd, Gwynedd was united once more under the strong hand of a single ruler. Llywelyn's aggression against neighbouring territories incurred resistance, which King John turned to his advantage in a campaign in 1211 whereby the prince of Gwynedd was subjected to humiliating terms. But availing himself of a general Welsh reaction to John's measures for the permanent subjugation of the country, Llywelyn directed a sustained campaign in which his former adversaries participated. Llywelyn achieved a dominant position among the princes, which, while the contest with John persisted, augured the forging of a Welsh polity by bonds of homage and fealty to himself. But, though he remained a powerful influence over the other Welsh princes and thereby minimized the crown's involvement in the affairs of Wales, Llywelyn was unable to secure a formal royal recognition of the territorial and conceptual achievements of the period of conflict. Llywelyn's aspirations for a wider Welsh principality based upon the supremacy of Gwynedd then centred upon David Ap Llywelyn, his son by Joan, daughter of King John. David was designated as Llywelyn's heir in preference to his elder but bastard son, Gruffudd (David ap Gruffudd), and the Welsh dynasty looked to the English monarchy to ensure an unchallenged succession. In the event, the crown was able to use the dissension between the two sons and the disparate ambitions of the other Welsh princes to restrict David's power to Gwynedd alone. During the war of 1244–46 David contended for a broader influence, but his promising endeavour was cut short by his early death in 1246, without heir.

      In the following year his nephews Owain and Llywelyn (Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd), two of the four sons of Gruffudd, entered into a treaty obligation by which the crown decreed the partition of a truncated Gwynedd into two parts, with the prospect of further division to provide for the younger brothers. But between 1255 and 1258 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (died 1282), one of the four brothers, asserted his supremacy first in Gwynedd and then farther afield. In this he was helped by the preoccupation of the English crown with the baronial conflict that led to the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. The prince secured a hegemony that was formally acknowledged by Henry III in 1267 by the Treaty of Montgomery, in which Llywelyn's style, “prince of Wales,” first assumed in 1258, and his right to the homage and fealty of the Welsh lords of Wales were recognized. Llywelyn had thereby brought into being a Principality of Wales composed of the lands that had formed the 12th-century kingdoms of Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth as well as parts of the March. Historically, this meant the reversal of a situation, for which there were several centuries of precedent, whereby the increasingly fragmented territories under Welsh rule had been fiefs held directly from the king of England. The opportunity to consolidate the governance of the principality proved to be brief. Friction between Llywelyn and Edward I led in 1277 to a war in which the prince, isolated by the withdrawal of his vassals' fealty and confronted with the great resources and superior organization of England, was forced to accept terms that restricted his power to Gwynedd west of the Conwy. By 1282 a deterioration in relations between Edward and a number of Welsh princes resulted in renewed conflict. Although Llywelyn may not have been the instigator of the rebellion, he placed himself at its head. In his negotiations with Archbishop Pecham late in 1282 he forcefully expressed the aspirations that had inspired his great endeavour to secure the internal unity of Wales and to stabilize its relationship with England. Shortly afterward, on December 11, Llywelyn was slain in combat, and the resistance, though sustained by his brother David ap Gruffydd (died 1283) for several months, finally collapsed in the summer of 1283.

The Edwardian settlement
       Edward I provided for the security of his conquests by means of a program of castle building, initiated after the war of 1277 and subsequently extended to include the great structures of Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech, and, later, Beaumaris. Each castle sheltered a borough where English colonists were settled. The king's arrangements for the governance of Llywelyn's former lands in northwestern Wales were embodied in the Statute of Wales (1284). Three counties (shires)—Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, and Merioneth—were created and placed under the custody of a justice of North Wales. In northeastern Wales a fourth county, Flintshire, was attached to the earldom of Chester. In southwestern Wales the counties of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire (Carmarthen), under the custody of the justice of West Wales, were formed out of lands over which royal power had been gradually extended by a process completed upon the failure, in 1287, of the revolt of Rhys ap Maredudd, the last of the princes of the dynasty of Deheubarth. Structurally, the shires that formed the Principality of Wales were similar to those of England, and certain common-law procedures were introduced into their courts, but the shires remained outside the jurisdiction of the central courts of Westminster and they did not elect representatives to Parliament. The March of Wales was extended through the creation by royal charters, out of parts of Gwynedd and Powys, of the lordships of Denbigh, Ruthin, Bromfield and Yale, and Chirk. In his relations with two of the major barons of the older March, Gilbert de Clare of Glamorgan and Humphrey de Bohun of Brecon, Edward showed a determination to assert the sovereignty of the crown over the March and to eradicate abuses of the Custom of the March such as the claim, defiantly expressed by Gilbert, to the right to wage war in the March. But neither Edward nor his successors attempted any far-reaching changes in the organization of the March, and political fractionization persisted over the next two centuries.

Rebellion and annexation
      Both the crown and the marcher lords employed in the administration of their lands Welshmen drawn from an administrative class that had been fostered by the princes themselves. Those of the principality revealed a particular loyalty to Edward II in the political crises of his reign, and their continued attachment to his cause even after his deposition created a tense situation in 1327. During the 14th century there were occasional variances, but the identity of interest established between the crown and the leading Welshmen proved durable. Even so, the community endured both the economic difficulties encountered over wide areas of Europe at this time and the specifically Welsh problems created by the fact that an important phase in the transition from early medieval social arrangements coincided with the pressures exerted by an alien and fiscally extractive administration. At the very end of the century the deposition of Richard II, who had influential Welshmen among his partisans, released from allegiance to the monarchy a group that, associated with Owain Glyndwr (Owen Glendower (Glendower, Owen)), raised a great rebellion which drew its strength from the community as a whole. In the period 1400–07 the royal government lost control of the greater part of Wales, and in some areas the insurrection remained unextinguished several years later.

      The rebellion, however, quickened certain processes that were to lead ultimately to the enfranchisement provided by Tudor legislation. In northern Wales particularly, the availability of civil actions by English law led to an early but unrequited demand for English land law. After the rebellion the disabilities incurred by reason of Welsh nationality were underlined. Although often expressed in literature in militant terms and, during the years of dynastic conflict, manipulated by the protagonists of York and Lancaster, the aspirations of the community were focused in a demand for English denizenship. First individual petitioners looked for enfranchisement, and then whole communities in northern Wales secured from Henry VII, by negotiation and payment, charters conferring upon them English land law and other advantages. A realization by the crown of its inability to reverse a decline in the financial yield of its Welsh lands, an experience shared by the marcher lords, contributed to Henry VII's policy.

Wales from the 16th to the 20th century
Union with England
      In 1536 Henry VIII's (Henry VIII) government enacted a measure that made important changes in the government of Wales. Whereas the Statute of Wales (1284) had annexed Wales to the crown of England, the new act declared the king's wish to incorporate Wales within the realm. One of its main effects was to secure “the shiring of the Marches,” bringing the numerous marcher lordships within a comprehensive system of counties. For the first time in its history Wales was to have uniformity in the administration of justice. Welshmen were to enjoy the same political status as Englishmen, and the common law of England, rather than Welsh law, was to be used in the courts. Wales also secured parliamentary representation by the election of members for shires and boroughs. The implementation of the act was set aside until more detailed provision was made by a second act in 1543. Statutory recognition was now given to the Council of Wales and the Marches, which exercised a jurisdiction over both Wales and four border counties of England. But the council fell into abeyance during the Civil Wars and was finally abolished after the Glorious Revolution (1688–89).

      In 1543 the Courts of Great Sessions were also created, modeled on the practice already used in the three counties that, since 1284, had formed the principality of North Wales (Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, and Merioneth), but with 12 counties now grouped into four judicial circuits and the 13th, Monmouthshire, linked with the Oxford circuit. The Great Sessions remained the higher courts of Wales until 1830 when, despite considerable opposition, they were abolished. Finally the Courts of quarter sessions were instituted in the manner in which they were already held in England, with the administration of the law vested in justices of the peace (justice of the peace). Besides their judicial functions, the justices undertook a wide range of administrative duties, which they continued to fulfill until, with the reform of local government by the Local Government Act of 1888, the county councils were established.

      Enacted in the wake of Henry VIII's break with Rome, the union legislation, stressing the need for uniformity with the realm, required those who participated in administration under the crown to use the English language. The need to secure the Protestant (Protestantism) faith, however, was to lead to an acknowledgement that the Welsh language had to be used in public worship. William Salesbury (Salesbury, William) and Richard Davies were among a group of distinguished scholars, motivated both by Protestant conviction and passionate concern for the nation's cultural heritage, who realized that the provision of the Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer in Welsh was essential for the promotion of the faith and the vitality of the language. A petition to the Privy Council led to an act of Parliament in 1563 that required the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh by 1567. Translations of the New Testament and the Book of Common Prayer were indeed published in 1567. The New Testament included an introductory essay by Davies that interpreted the establishment of the Protestant faith as a restoration of the true religion, which had flourished in Wales before the corrupt faith of Rome had been imposed upon its inhabitants. The demands of the Elizabethan government and the aspirations of the Welsh Protestant humanists were met in full when William Morgan (Morgan, William)'s translation (biblical translation) of the entire Bible appeared in 1588. Alone among the Celtic nations in securing the Scriptures in the vernacular within half a century of the Reformation, the Welsh people had scored a success of profound significance for the future of the language and the sense of nationhood. Scholarly devotion to the language, also shown by Catholic exiles such as Gruffydd Robert, was accompanied by new interest in Welsh antiquities, and the work of the 16th-century historians Humphrey Llwyd, David Powel, George Owen, and their successors conserved the heritage of the Middle Ages and laid the foundations of modern historical scholarship.

      Wales in the mid-16th century probably had a population not much above 250,000, though it was by then growing once more after a period of prolonged stagnation. Towns, though often prosperous, remained small, and Wales possessed no major urban and commercial focus. Although industrial enterprises had an effect upon the economy of certain localities and some Welshmen were enriched by entrepreneurial ventures outside Wales, income was largely derived, directly and indirectly, from pastoral and arable farming. During the 16th and 17th centuries gentry estates were enlarged and consolidated, and the holdings of innumerable proprietors were absorbed into the larger estates (land reform). Consequent changes in tenurial status, the growth in population, and inflation created intense problems that were only partially relieved by the enclosure of waste areas and the cultivation of marginal lands. While more and more land was concentrated in fewer hands, smaller proprietors who retained their stake in the soil were often forced to divide their holdings and convert summer dwellings, hitherto used by shepherds in summer months, into permanent homesteads. Many were forced off the land altogether, and it was not until the late 18th century that industry became a major outlet for a rural population which the land could not sustain.

      Social trends and the interplay of indigenous and foreign influences were reflected in domestic architecture. The timber-framed hall house, already characteristic of the eastern borderland and of the northern parts of Wales in the late Middle Ages, continued to represent a strong vernacular tradition. But the varying scale and refinement of the houses told of a growing disparity in wealth. In some areas, notably in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, where a tradition in masonry houses had long existed, vernacular characteristics were increasingly set aside in favour of a new type of Renaissance house. Some houses were built on a scale that indicated the emergence of a class of great landowners who were to stand apart from Welsh society at large on account not only of their wealth but also of their intermarriage with English (English Civil Wars) and Scottish families.

Politics and religion, 1640–1800
      On the eve of the Civil War in 1642 there was much sympathy for the royalist cause in Wales. But the parliamentarians also found adherents among some landowners, such as Robert Devereux (Essex, Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of, Viscount Hereford Lord Ferrers, Lord Bourchier), 3rd earl of Essex, and Thomas Myddelton, as well as among individuals committed to the Puritan cause, such as the writer Morgan Llwyd and the zealous soldier John Jones of Maesygarnedd. It was mainly in the border counties and in Pembrokeshire, however, that Puritan influence and commercial contacts served to win support for the parliamentary cause. The imposition of parliamentary power on Wales and the sequestration of royalists' property incurred resentment, and Puritan missionaries found themselves labouring in what they believed to be a dark corner of the land. The Act for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales (1650) set up a coercive authority encompassing both political and religious life, but state intervention remained largely unproductive.

      Nonetheless, the Interregnum saw the formation of Dissenting (Nonconformist) congregations, which were to lay the foundations for some of the abiding influences of modern Welsh life. The most radical were the Quakers (Friends, Society of) who, making particular headway in Montgomeryshire and Merioneth, penetrated not only Anglicized border territory but also the heart of the Welsh-speaking areas. Incurring the animosity of churchmen and other Dissenters alike, they were repressed with a severity experienced only by Roman Catholics and forced into emigration to Pennsylvania, in large numbers. On the other hand, small gathered churches of Congregationalists (Congregationalism) and Baptists (Baptist), whose theology was Calvinist and whose belief and personal conduct were governed by a strict code expounded in their church covenant, established the Dissenting tradition within rural communities and small towns.

      In the 18th century Methodism became a new and potent influence. Launched by a revival movement of great intensity in the years after 1735, Methodism was sustained within the established church by means of local societies and a central association. The combined influences of the old Dissent and the new Methodism, however, eventually transformed the religious adherence of the Welsh people at the expense of the established church. Although served by innumerable men of learning and devotion, among them Griffith Jones, whose circulating schools contributed immeasurably to the growth in literacy, the church was racked by poverty and inadequate leadership. Thus the Methodist secession from the Anglican church made the ultimate triumph of Nonconformity inevitable.

      Methodism and Dissent were not the only influences at work in 18th-century Wales. The resilience of a native culture no longer able to depend upon traditional sources of patronage showed itself in a patriotic fervour to preserve a cultural heritage threatened by progressive Anglicization. Although its proponents drew upon Welsh scholarly achievements, notably those of Edward Lhuyd, Wales had no academic institutions capable of appraising critically the work of romantic antiquarians who looked back to Celtic myth and British druidism. Yet despite its shortcomings, the 18th-century cultural movement was an important expression of a preindustrial society's resourcefulness in protecting its heritage. One of its key figures was Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg), whose endeavours encompassed a vast range of literary and historical studies and who also represented the political radicalism inspired by the French Revolution. Radical convictions were held only by a small minority, some of them eccentrics and others distinguished expatriates, but their endeavours marked a significant stage in the emergence of a distinctively Welsh political consciousness.

The growth of industrial society
      By 1800 Wales was rapidly ceasing to be a land whose people were almost entirely dependent upon a rural economy. Industrial development, already present in certain localities, now took place on a larger scale. There was considerable development in the coalfield of northeastern Wales; in the southwest, in Swansea, copper smelting, in particular, served to make the town an important metallurgical centre, and for a period it also could count fine porcelain among its range of manufactures. The main industrial expansion occurred, however, with the growth of substantial ironworks on the northern rim of the South Wales coalfield in Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Not hitherto served by any major urban centres, the area now became densely populated, largely as a result of immigration from other areas of Wales. A natural increase in population accelerated considerably by the late 18th century, with an estimated population for Wales of 450,000 in 1750 rising to 587,245 by 1801. The population continued to grow, again mainly by natural increase, to 1,163,139 by 1851 and to 2,012,875 by 1901. It was only in the following decade that immigration into Wales occurred on a massive scale. In this period 126,529 persons, the majority of whom came from outside Wales, migrated into Glamorgan and Monmouthshire alone, further enlarging the population of the counties that had benefited most from the internal migration of the earlier decades.

      Industrial growth made it possible for large numbers of people whom the rural economy could not sustain to find a livelihood within Wales, and the industrial communities of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire contained a substantial Welsh-speaking element throughout the 19th century. Merthyr Tydfil grew rapidly to become the main urban centre of a new industrial society, but it sadly lacked the facilities normally associated with settlements of a more gradual growth. Conditions in the mining areas were harsh; workers were subjected to long hours and low wages, their children were often forced to work at the mines from a young age, and their families lived in wretched and overcrowded circumstances. It was in Merthyr Tydfil that industrial and social unrest, first expressed in wage-related disputes and sporadic rioting in several areas, erupted into a serious rising in 1831. In the following years the workers' main channel for expressing their aspirations was Chartism, which found its most forceful manifestation in the insurrection at Newport in 1839. Rural Wales, too, was subject to social unrest, and between 1839 and 1843 the Rebecca Riots, ostensibly directed against the exaction of road tolls, gave expression to the underlying difficulties of the tenant farmers of southwestern Wales.

      Improved economic conditions from the middle years of the century onward ushered in a period of comparative quietude in industrial Wales. A new phase in industrial growth, brought about by the exploitation of the steam-coal reserves of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire during the last decades of the century, created new valley communities that drew immigrants both from rural and industrial settlements in Wales and from elsewhere. The growth in coal exports led to the building of docks on the coast between Newport and Swansea, notably at Cardiff, while increasing dependence on imported ore led to the relocation of the growing steel industry to areas in close proximity to the coast.

Political radicalism
      Wales only gradually embraced the radicalism that came to be regarded as its traditional political allegiance. The political exigencies of the years of the French wars of the Napoleonic period forced the Methodists, in particular, into a passivity that was underlined by a sterner interpretation of Calvinist theology. Political passions were aroused, however, by the moral indictment of the Welsh nation, and especially its Nonconformity, carried in the Report of the Commissioners for Education in 1847. The Welsh, especially the women, were portrayed as depraved and immoral, backward and ignorant. Even the more able ones among them were thought to be impeded by their theological wrangling and often by their lack of English. The growth of a Welsh-language periodical press from its largely denominational origins into a distinctively radical force proved an important influence in rural and industrial Wales alike. By the later years of the 19th century, following the franchise reforms of 1867 and 1884, the hegemony of Welsh Liberal Nonconformity was well established. The passing of legislation specifically concerned with Wales, such as the Welsh Intermediate Education Act (1889) and the Church Disestablishment Act (1914), was a parliamentary success matched in cultural life by the founding of three university colleges and the federal University of Wales and the securing of a royal charter for the establishment of the National Library of Wales and the National Museum of Wales. The attempt by Welsh Liberal associations to secure a representative assembly reached its peak with the Home Rule movement of 1886–96, but it was wrecked by dissension within the associations.

The 20th century
      By 1900 there were signs that the Liberal-Nonconformist supremacy would be gradually undermined. Traditional beliefs were challenged, and the experience of World War I created new tensions. The massive flow of workers into the steel and coal (coal mining) areas, largely from outside Wales, affected the composition, and hence the language, of the industrial communities, and immigration coincided with a new era of industrial unrest and political militancy. The miners' efforts at combination led in 1898 to the founding of the South Wales Miners' Federation; the coal owners strengthened their position by forming powerful combines. Despite fierce resistance, the miners won their campaigns for an 8-hour day and a minimum wage. Within the federation a new militancy, expressed in the policy document entitled the Miners' Next Step (1912), espoused an industrial unionism with syndicalist tendencies. These influences, though potent in the Rhondda Valley, did not pervade the coal industry, nor did they shape the steelworkers' and tinplate workers' unions. After the war syndicalist influence was subsumed in orthodox communism, or, more generally, in democratic socialism. By 1922 the Liberal Party in South Wales had lost its hold upon the industrial communities to the Labour Party, whose influence was felt both at Westminster and in local government. In the northeast and in the slate-quarrying communities of northwestern Wales, which also experienced prolonged and enervating industrial disputes, an allegiance to radical Liberalism gradually evolved into adherence to Labour.

      Economic depression between the world wars, made particularly acute by the collapse of the export market upon which the Welsh economy so heavily depended, brought massive unemployment. Wales lost about 430,000 people by emigration to England and to areas overseas. The war years of 1939–45 brought substantial industrial recovery, and upon the cessation of hostilities strenuous efforts were made to modernize the basic industries of steel and coal and to achieve a diversification of industry in general. Even so, coal production continued to fall, and in the industrial areas the exodus of workers and their families showed no signs of abating. To be sure, the rural economy benefited from government subsidies that facilitated investments in land improvements and new buildings as well as from advisory and marketing agencies. However, the working population continued to fall, even in the rural areas.

      Labour continued to retain the political allegiance of the Welsh electorate. After World War II the party registered gains in rural Wales and held as many as 32 of 36 Welsh seats until 1966. Their position was not maintained, however. Plaid Cymru, which was founded in 1925 as the Welsh Nationalist Party, achieved a measure of influence that was not reflected in successes at parliamentary elections until 1966. It captured its first parliamentary seat in a by-election at Carmarthen that year, though it lost the seat in 1970. The party subsequently won three seats in northwestern Wales in October 1974. The Conservative Party also made gains at Labour's expense, several members being returned in constituencies where boundaries were redrawn to take account of the growth of suburban communities. In the late 1970s and early '80s the Conservatives made even greater gains, winning 14 of 38 Welsh seats in 1983. By the late 1980s, however, Labour was again dominant. The 1997 election resulted in the defeat of all Conservative candidates and the return of 34 Labour, 4 Plaid Cymru, and 2 Liberal Democratic members of Parliament.

      The Welsh Language Society, founded in 1962, brought a measure of militancy to the cause of preserving the language and was among the influences that spurred a more positive response to the problem of its continuing decline, including the Welsh Language Act of 1967. In 1964 the Labour government honoured a pledge to appoint a secretary of state for Wales with departmental responsibility, and subsequent Labour and Conservative administrations promoted an extensive transfer of functions to the Welsh Office. Demands in Wales and Scotland for an elected assembly with devolved powers led to the appointment of a Royal Commission on the Constitution, which recommended devolution for both countries in 1973. An act providing Wales with a measure of devolution was passed at Westminster in 1978, but devolution was overwhelmingly defeated—by a margin of nearly 4 to 1—in a referendum held the following year.

      Support for devolution and the protection of Welsh identity increased in 1979 with the election in London of a Conservative government, which enjoyed only minority support in Wales. A new phase of immigration in rural Wales in the 1980s and increased economic vulnerability to the global free market prompted renewed and more cohesive efforts to conserve Welsh heritage. In 1982 a Welsh-language television channel was created, and in 1993 the government passed another Welsh Language Act. The Welsh Language Board, established under the provisions of the 1993 act, promoted the use of the Welsh language and sought to give Welsh equal legal weight with English in the conduct of government business.

      A second referendum on the creation of a Welsh assembly, held under the new Labour government of Tony Blair (Blair, Tony), was barely approved (50.3 percent) on September 18, 1997. The assembly was given responsibility for administering public services and implementing regional policies on education, health care, and economic development, among other areas. Its first elections—which were held under a system of proportional representation rather than under the plurality system used for Westminster elections—took place in May 1999 and produced a minority Labour government headed by Alun Michael, who assumed the title “first secretary.” Although Labour won 28 seats, a resurgent Plaid Cymru took 17 seats, including several in Labour's traditional strongholds; the Conservatives won 9 seats and the Liberal Democrats 6.

J(enkyn) Beverley Smith Ed.

Additional Reading

Geography
Harold Carter and H.M. Griffiths (eds.), National Atlas of Wales (1980, reissued 1989), provides wide-ranging coverage, with explanatory text in both English and Welsh. David Thomas (ed.), Wales: A New Study (1977), is a comprehensive volume, now somewhat out-of-date but still valuable. Eric H. Brown, The Relief and Drainage of Wales: A Study in Geomorphological Development (1960), examines the physiographic evolution of the Welsh landscape.Paul Cloke, Mark Goodwin, and Paul Milbourne, Rural Wales: Community and Marginalization (1997), addresses the changing and problematic nature of rural Wales. Noragh Jones, Living in Rural Wales (1993), gives a more personal account of social and cultural change. Urban and rural planning are discussed in Roderick Macdonald and Huw Thomas (eds.), Nationality and Planning in Scotland and Wales (1997). Harold Carter, The Towns of Wales, 2nd ed. (1966); and D. Huw Owen (ed.), Settlement and Society in Wales (1989), consider the growth, functions, and morphology of urban areas.Social and economic themes are profiled in David Dunkerley and Andrew Thompson (eds.), Wales Today (1999), a collection of essays; Ralph Fevre and Andrew Thompson (eds.), Nation, Identity, and Social Theory: Perspectives from Wales (1999); and Contemporary Wales: An Annual Review of Economic and Social Research. Language issues are analyzed in John Aitchison and Harold Carter, A Geography of the Welsh Language, 1961–1991 (1994), and in Language, Economy, and Society: The Changing Fortunes of the Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century, updated ed. (2000). Bridget Taylor and Katarina Thomson (eds.), Scotland and Wales: Nations Again? (1999), analyzes the effects of devolution on the contemporary political scene in Wales.

History
General historical surveys include Gwyn A. Williams, When Was Wales?: A History of the Welsh (1985); and Prys Morgan and David Thomas, Wales: The Shaping of a Nation (1984). The early period is examined in Colin Renfrew, Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins (1987), reflecting recent scholarly thought; while T.G.E. Powell, The Celts, new ed. (1980), represents more traditional views. Important studies of Roman and post-Roman Wales include V.E. Nash-Williams, The Roman Frontier in Wales, 2nd ed., rev. by Michael G. Jarrett (1969), and The Early Christian Monuments of Wales (1950).The Middle Ages are covered in John Edward Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, 2 vol. (1911; available also in many later editions), a classic work still not superseded; Wendy Davies, Wales in the Early Middle Ages (1982); and R.R. Davies, Conquest, Coexistence, and Change: Wales, 1063–1415 (1987). The key works for modern Welsh history are Glanmor Williams, Recovery, Reorientation, and Reformation: Wales, c. 1415–1642 (1987); Geraint H. Jenkins, The Foundations of Modern Wales: Wales 1642–1780 (1987); and Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880–1980 (1981).Valuable specialist histories include Geraint H. Jenkins, Literature, Religion, and Society in Wales, 1660–1730 (1978); Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, Communities: Essays in the Social History of Victorian Wales (1987); and Kenneth O. Morgan, Wales in British Politics, 1868–1922, 3rd ed. (1980). Meic Stephens (ed.), The Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales (1986), includes historical information on people.Pyrs Gruffudd

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