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Wales
The capital of Wales is Cardiff, a small city of about 300,000 people on the south coast. This southern area was an important element in Britain’s industrial revolution, as it had rich coal deposits. Coal-mining became a key industry for the Welsh, employing tens of thousands at its height. So its recent disappearance has been a major economic and cultural blow.
But South Wales has been very successful in attracting investment from abroad—particularly Japan and the United States, which has helped to create new industries to replace coal and steel.Wales is the smallest among the three nations on the British mainland, though larger than Northern Ireland. It is very close to the most densely populated parts of central England. Though it is hillier and more rugged than adjacent parts of England there is no natural boundary. So Wales has been dominated by England for longer than the other nations of the union. Nevertheless, what is remarkable is that despite this nearness and long-standing political integration Wales retains a powerful sense of
its difference from England. It also retains its own language, Welsh. This is a Celtic tongue completely different from English, spoken by 19% of the population, a much higher proportion of the population than speak Gaelic in Scotland. Again, all those Welsh-speakers are also fluent in English.As in Scotland the Welsh people elect their Members of the Parliament to the London parliament. The Walsh too have nationalist party, “Plaid Cymru” (The Party of Wales), which campaigns for an independent Wales. Of the 38 Welsh MPs, 4 are members of the party. Under a Labor government Wales will probably gain its own parliament to manage its own internal affairs.
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