United Kingdom vs Great Britain vs England primer

For someone who lives outside of the United Kingdom, the terms United Kingdom and Great Britain and England often feel interchangeable, and they feel like they're referring to the same thing. But as we'll see in this video, they aren't referring to exactly the same thing.

So, the United Kingdom is actually short for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Thus, the United Kingdom includes everything here on the right on the island of Great Britain. It includes all of that, and it includes part of the island of Ireland. It includes Northern Ireland, right over there. That is the United Kingdom: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Now, what are they talking about when these people say Great Britain? Well, they're just referring to the large island here on the right. And what about England? Well, England is a subset of Great Britain. England is this region in this peachy color, right over here on the island of Great Britain.

Now, the reason why some people will interchange these words is because London is in England. It's the seat of power for the United Kingdom. But there are other regions, and some people would even say nations, because the folks in these regions historically have shared common traditions and common dialects, sometimes bordering on common language.

And the other regions, or you could even say nations of people who have a common affinity, include the Welsh; and so they are in Wales, also part of Great Britain, which is part of the United Kingdom. You have the Scots, also, or the people who live in Scotland, also part of Great Britain, which is part of the United Kingdom.

So that's Great Britain. As we said, the United Kingdom is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It also includes this northern part, right over here, of the island of Ireland.

And so some of you might be saying, well, what is right here in green? What is the rest of the island of Ireland? Well, that is the Republic. The Republic of the Republic of Ireland.

So hopefully that clarifies a little bit the difference between the United Kingdom, which includes Wales, England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland—it's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The difference between that and Great Britain, which is the large island here on the right, England, which is a part of Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland, which we just talked about.