Wales

History 

A distinct Welsh culture emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales was briefly united under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in 1055. After 200 years of war, the conquest of Wales by King Edward I of England was completed by 1283. In the 16th century the whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system. 

Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by David Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century: a nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, was formed in 1925.

At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into an industrial one causing  a rapid expansion of Wales’s population. 

The country has a distinct national and cultural identity and from the late 19th century onwards Wales acquired its popular image as the “land of song”, in part due to the eisteddfod tradition and rousing choir singing. 

Both Welsh and English are official languages. A majority of the population in most areas speaks English whilst the majority of the population in parts of the north and west speak Welsh, with half a million Welsh speakers across the entire country.