Great Britain is a geographical term not a political one. It’s like saying continental United States, it doesn’t mean the same thing as the United States of America. The term covers the island of the United Kingdom plus a few but not all of the islands. The Isle of Wight is included the Shetland Islands are not.
The United Kingdom is made up of three countries England, Scotland, and Wales, plus all of the islands that are not covered by the term Great Britain, the United Kingdom is a country as well. It’s a country of countries. I don’t believe there is anywhere else in the world with that setup so it is confusing.
Northern Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom for all sorts of complicated reasons but it more or less boils down to the fact that it was a colony rather than the core of the empire. And it’s never been updated because what’s the point.
So the full and recognised international term is the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and all the small islands) and Northern Ireland. Except not the Isle of Man because that’s its own independent country that’s nothing to do with us but in some ways kind of acts like it’s part of the UK, they use the pound but they use it in the same way that Canada uses the dollar, but politically it is its own thing. Although I don’t believe there are any border checks so you can kind of pretend that it is part of the UK as you can just go there more or less whenever, it’s just a weird part of the UK where everyone’s strange and unhelpful.
Thank you I am even more confused than before
Great Britain is a geographical term not a political one. It’s like saying continental United States, it doesn’t mean the same thing as the United States of America. The term covers the island of the United Kingdom plus a few but not all of the islands. The Isle of Wight is included the Shetland Islands are not.
The United Kingdom is made up of three countries England, Scotland, and Wales, plus all of the islands that are not covered by the term Great Britain, the United Kingdom is a country as well. It’s a country of countries. I don’t believe there is anywhere else in the world with that setup so it is confusing.
Northern Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom for all sorts of complicated reasons but it more or less boils down to the fact that it was a colony rather than the core of the empire. And it’s never been updated because what’s the point.
So the full and recognised international term is the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and all the small islands) and Northern Ireland. Except not the Isle of Man because that’s its own independent country that’s nothing to do with us but in some ways kind of acts like it’s part of the UK, they use the pound but they use it in the same way that Canada uses the dollar, but politically it is its own thing. Although I don’t believe there are any border checks so you can kind of pretend that it is part of the UK as you can just go there more or less whenever, it’s just a weird part of the UK where everyone’s strange and unhelpful.
Oh shit yeah, just realised, there’s a reason they say UK and NI. Fucking huge face palm moment. My bad to anyone I may have stepped on toes of.
I was mostly wrong, don’t take any notice of what I said