Wales is part of the United Kingdom, though a referendum on
September 18 1997 marginally produced a majority (of just 0.6 percent) in favour of the
setting-up of a democratically elected Assembly to look after its affairs.
After elections on May 6th, the 60-member Assembly assumed its powers on July 1st 1999,
taking wide-ranging responsibility in areas such as health, education, housing, local
government, the environment, transport, sport, leisure and the arts among others.
Currently the assembly is housed in Crickhowell House (right) in the Cardiff Bay
Waterfront development, while a new debating chamber neaby is due to open on St David's
Day, March 1 2006.
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Wales is a bi-lingual nation with English and Welsh the languages spoken. About 27 per
cent of the population speak Welsh, with the highest concentration of speakers in the west
and north-west. In these areas, many people use Welsh as their first language, but even
here, everyone speaks and understands English.
Most of Wales' population is concentrated in the southern counties, with over a tenth
(305,353) of its inhabitants living in Cardiff, the capital of the principality since
1955. The second most populated city is Swansea (223,293), some forty miles to the west,
followed by Newport (137,017), a town twelve miles north-east of the capital.
In the north, Wrexham has the greatest number of citizens, with a population of 128,477.
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All three of the largest towns in the south were once major seaports, which in their
heyday exported countless millions of tons of coal, iron and steel to all parts of the
world.
All of the coal, and much of the iron and steel originated in the formerly
heavy-industrialised valleys in the hinterland of the Bristol Channel coast on which
Cardiff, Swansea and Newport stand.
Throughout the world, early railways ran on rails made from Welsh iron; the locomotives
fired with Welsh coal. As sail gave way to steam, so too were many of the world's navies,
until coal, in its turn, was superseded by oil. The peak for coal export from South Wales
was just before World War 1, when in just one year (1908) the Taff Vale Railway alone
moved 18,346,933 tons of coal over its tracks. West of Cardiff, the port of Barry holds
the record for the most coal exported in one year: 11m tons in 1913.
But the Valleys' heavyweight industrial role is now being consigned to history.
Lighter, more environmentally friendly industries are appearing, and their arrival is
helping eradicate the scars of the past.
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To the north and to the west of the valley areas, Wales is revealed in its true beauty
as a land of rolling hills, awesome mountains, and rugged coastline.
In the south, the coastline is shown to best advantage on the Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire
coastal paths, and the Gower peninsular west of Swansea.
The Black Mountain ranges and Brecon Beacons separate industrialised South Wales from the
rurality of Mid Wales. In the north west, the terrain pitches and rolls to form the
Snowdonia National Park, dominated by Snowdon, at 3,560 feet the highest peak in England
and Wales.
Throughout Wales, but particularly along the northern fringe, the landscape is dotted
with castles clinging to rocky crags, many of Norman construction, or built or
strengthened at the behest of Edward I, as a defence against the rebellious Welsh.
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The border with England was marked for much of its length by the massive earthwork of
Offa's Dyke, a line of demarcation between Wales and the English kingdom of Mercia, built
by King Offa in the latter half of the 8th century. Now a popular long-distance walking
route running from Prestatyn in the north to Chepstow in the south, Offa's Dyke remains a
symbol of the perceived divide between the Welsh and English, though the actual boundary
has changed many times during the intervening centuries.
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Copyright © 1996/7/8/9/2000/1/2/3/4/5 by Deryck Lewis.
All rights reserved.
Page created July 14 1996; Redesigned March 20 1999; Updated December 12 2005
If you have any suggestions, comments, or glitches to report, please contact the author at
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