Why are England Scotland wales called Britain?

Answer 1

This comes from the land of the britons ( a tribe present in the country 2000 years ago). The Romans on their invasion called the island 'Britannia' as a result (hence the song - Rule Britannia!) after this tribe. The name Britain became a shortened version of the 'Britannia' name.
The 'great' in Great Britain was added to differentiate between the large island of Britannia and a smaller area in north west France, also occupied by britons. Therefore, this area became 'Lesser' Britannia (not 'Little Britain' - as in the TV show!) and became eventually known by the French as 'Bretagne', or as we in the UK call it today, Brittany.
If I may interject, a number of sources state that Britain or Briton was called Albion before that but was changed after Brutus of Troy invaded and conquered these isles. His comrade Cornieus became king over what is now Cornwall.

Answer 2

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country made up of the Island of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), the north - eastern part of Ireland and numerous small islands. England and Scotland had been separate countries with separate monarchs since the 9th Century. The Principality of Wales had been under the control of English monarchs since 1284. On the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 King James VI of Scotland became King of England as James I - the kingdoms were united as the same person was king of both countries. This came into law in 1707 when the Acts of Union were passed and the country then became The United Kingdom of Great Britain. Another law, The Act of Union in 1800 brought the whole of Ireland into the union with effect from January 1801 and the country then became The United Kingdom Great Britain and Ireland. In 1920 Ireland was partitioned, the southern counties became independent as The Irish Free State and the six northern counties remained in the UK, which then became The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Answer 3

The island of England, Scotland and Wales is called Great Britain. Together with Northern Ireland, this makes up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"Britain" comes from "Britannia", the name the Romans gave to the island when they invaded it, and they called the Celts who already lived there the "Britanni". The name "Great Britain" means that most of the Britanni lived here, but some moved to "Lesser Britain" - a province of France today called Britanny in English and Bretagne in French.

Answer 4

The name Blighty comes from way back when the Birtish troops were over in India. The Indian word for "the home country" was "Bility" thus this is what the british soldiers called it. The spelling changed along with the pronounciation over the years into Blighty.

Answer 5

'The British Isles' are the group of islands to the north of France.

'Great Britain' is the largest island (and can include those much smaller and close to it), but not the island of 'Ireland' (and the smaller islands close to it).

'Great Britain' is therefore made up of the kingdoms of 'England' and 'Scotland' and the principality of 'Wales'.

The island of 'Ireland' is made up of 'Eire' (the Republic of Ireland) and 'Northern Ireland'.

'The United Kingdom' is the shortened form of the full title for the country, 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' - so England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

People often refer to the entire country as 'England' partly out laziness, or the fact English is the dominant language, or has dominated the others historically and in size, or out of misunderstanding the issue in hand - but this is irritating to the other areas as well as most English people.

They also refer to it as 'Great Britain', which might irritate some in Northern Ireland and this is often shortened to 'Britain'.

Answer 6

They didn't, they called it Britannica.