0: Welcome to the United Kingdom (and a Whole Lot More) explained by me, C. G. P. Grey.

4: United Kingdom? England? Great Britain?

5: Are these three the same place? Are they different places?

7: Do British people secretly laugh those who use the terms incorrectly? Who knows the answers to these questions?

12: I do, and I'm going to tell you right now.

14: For the lost — this is the world, this is the European continent, and this is the place we have to untangle.

18: The area shown in purple is the United Kingdom.

20: Part of the confusion is that the United Kingdom is not a single country, but is instead is a country of countries.

24: It contains, inside of it — four, co-equal, and sovereign nations.

28: The first of these is England, shown here in red.

29: England is often confused with the United Kingdom, as a whole, because it's the largest and

32: most populous of the nations, and contains the de facto capital city, London.

36: To the north is Scotland, shown in blue, and to the west is Wales, shown in white,

38: and — often forgotten even by those who live in the United Kingdom — is Northern Ireland, shown in orange.

42: Each country has a local term for the population.

44: While you can call them all 'British,' it's not recommended; as the four countries generally don't like each other.

48: The Northern Irish, Scottish, and Welsh regard the English as slave-driving, colonial masters

52: (no matter that all three have their own, devolved, Parliaments; and are allowed to vote on English laws despite the reverse not being true),

57: and the English generally regard the rest as rural, yokels who spend too much time with their sheep.

61: However, as the four constituent countries don't have their own passports,

63: they're all British citizens, like it or not. They are British citizens of the United Kingdom,

67: whose full name, by the way, is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

70: So where's Great Britain hiding?

71: Right here, the area covered in black is Great Britain.

74: Unlike England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Great Britain is a geographical — rather than a political — term.

78: Great Britain is the largest island among the British Isles.

80: Within the United Kingdom, the term 'Great Britain' is often used to refer to — England, Scotland, and Wales alone

84: — with the intentional exclusion of Northern Ireland.

86: This is mostly, but not completely, true, as all three constituent countries have islands that are not part of Great Britain:

91: such as the Isle of Wight (part of England), the Welsh Isle of Anglesey,

95: the Scottish Hebrides, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, and the Islands of the Clyde.

98: The second biggest island in the British Isles is Ireland.

100: It's worth noting, at this point, that Ireland is not a country;

102: like Great Britain, it's a geographical — not political — term.

105: The Island of Ireland contains, on it, two countries:

107: Northern Ireland, which we have already discussed, and the Republic of Ireland.

110: When people say they are 'Irish,' they're referring to the Republic of Ireland

112: (which is a separate country from the United Kingdom).

114: However, both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are members of the European Union —

118: even though England, in particular, likes to pretend that it's an island in the mid-Atlantic,

121: rather than 50 kilometers off the coast of France — but that's a story for another time.

125: To review:

126: the two largest islands in the British Isles are Ireland and Great Britain.

129: Ireland has, on it, two countries — the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland;

131: while Great Britain, mostly, contains three: England, Scotland and Wales.

134: These last three, when combined with Northern Ireland, form the United Kingdom.

137: There are still many unanswered questions: such as, why, when you travel to Canada,

140: is there British royalty on the money?

142: To answer this, we need to talk about empire.

144: You can't have gone to school, in the English-speaking world, without having learned that the British Empire

147: once spanned 1/4th the world's land and governed nearly 1/4th the world's people.

150: While it's easy to remember the parts of the British Empire that broke away violently,

153: we often forget how many nations gained independence through diplomacy, not bloodshed.

156: These want-to-be nations struck a deal with the Empire: where they continued to recognize the Monarchy

159: as the Head of State, in exchange for a local, autonomous parliament.

162: To understand how they are connected, we need to talk about the Crown.

164: Not the physical crown — that sits behind glass in the Tower of London, and earns millions

167: of tourist pounds for the UK — but the Crown as a complicated, legal entity,

170: best thought of as a one-man corporation.

172: Who created this corporation?

173: God did.

174: According to British tradition, all power is vested in God and the Monarch is crowned in a Christian ceremony.

178: God, however, not wanting to be bothered with micromanagement,

180: conveniently delegates his power his power to an entity called the Crown.

182: While this used to be the physical crown in the Tower of London, it evolved,

185: over time, into a legal corporation; sole able to be controlled only by the ruling monarch.

189: It's a useful reminder that the United Kingdom is still, technically, a theocracy: with the reigning monarch

192: acting as both the Head of State and the Supreme Governor of the official state religion: Anglicanism.

197: Such are the oddities that arise when dealing with a thousand year-old Monarchy.

200: Back to Canada and the rest.

201: The former colonies that gained their independence through diplomacy, and continue to recognize the authority of the Crown,

205: are known as the Commonwealth Realm. They are, in decreasing order of population:

208: Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Jamaica, the Solomon Islands, Belize,

212: the Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada,

214: Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Tuvalu.

217: All are independent nations, but still recognize the Monarchy as the Head of State

220: (even though it has little real power within their borders).

222: There are three further entities that belong to the Crown, and these are the Crown Dependencies: the Isle of Man, Jersey, and Guernsey.

227: Unlike the Commonwealth Realm, they are not considered independent nations, but are granted

230: local autonomy by the Crown, and a British Citizenship by the United Kingdom

234: (though, the UK does reserve the right to over-rule the laws of their local assemblies).

237: Are we all done ???? Almost, but not quite;

239: there are still a couple of loose threads, such as this place:

241: the tiny city of Gibraltar on the southern coast of Spain.

244: Famous for its rock, its monkeys, and for causing diplomatic tension between the United Kingdom and Spain.

248: But what about the Falkland Islands: which caused so much tension

250: between the United Kingdom and Argentina, that they went to war over them.

253: These places belong in the last group of Crown properties known as: British Overseas Territories,

257: but their former name, 'Crown Colonies,' gives away their origin.

260: They are the last vestiges of the British Empire. Unlike the Commonwealth Realm,

263: they have not become independent nations and continue to rely on the United Kingdom

266: for military and, sometimes, economic assistance.

268: Like the Crown Dependencies, everyone born within their borders is a British citizen.

271: The Crown Colonies are, in decreasing order of population:

273: Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Anguilla,

278: Saint Helena, the Ascension Islands, Tristan da Cunha, Montserrat, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands,

283: the Falkland Islands, the British Antarctic Territory, and the Pitcairn Islands.

287: For our final Venn diagram:

288: the United Kingdom is a country situated on the British Isles and is part of the Crown, which is controlled by the Monarchy.

292: Also part of the Crown and the British Isles are the Crown Dependencies.

295: The independent nations of the former Empire that still recognize the Crown are the Commonwealth Realm,

298: and the non-independent remnants of the former Empire and are the British Overseas Territories.

303: Thank you very much for watching!