Wales

Wales has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years; the burial of the "Red Lady of Paviland" in a Gower cave is one of Britain's oldest known human remains. The Romans held it with forts such as Caerleon and Segontium, near Caernarfon, and mined gold at Dolaucothi. After Rome, Welsh kingdoms such as Gwynedd, Powys and Deheubarth emerged, speaking the British language that became Welsh, and in the 8th century the Mercian king Offa marked the eastern border with his dyke.

The native princes held out against the Normans until 1282, when Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales, was killed and Edward I conquered Gwynedd, ringing it with castles at Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech and Beaumaris. Owain Glyndŵr's revolt, begun in 1400, briefly revived Welsh rule. Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle, landed at Milford Haven in 1485 to take the English throne, and the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542 joined Wales to England.

The Industrial Revolution turned the south into a heavy-industry heartland. Merthyr Tydfil's ironworks, Blaenavon, the coal of the Rhondda and the other valleys, and the docks of Cardiff and Swansea drew workers from across Britain, while the north quarried slate. The coal economy collapsed in the 20th century; the Aberfan disaster of 1966 and the strike of 1984–85 remain raw memories. Devolution followed a narrow referendum vote in 1997, and the parliament, now called the Senedd, has sat in Cardiff since 1999.

The Welsh language, Cymraeg, is the heart of national identity. Around a sixth of people speak it, most in Gwynedd, Anglesey and the west, where it is the everyday language of many towns. It is taught in all schools, and signs are bilingual throughout.

The biggest cultural event is the National Eisteddfod, a week-long festival of poetry, music and competition held each August, moving between north and south Wales; the Urdd Eisteddfod, for young people, is held each May. Choral singing, especially male voice choirs, harp music and poetry run deep, and Dylan Thomas, born in Swansea, is the best-known Welsh writer in English.

Rugby union is the national sport, and international matches in Cardiff are occasions of intense national feeling. St David's Day on 1 March is marked with daffodils, leeks and school celebrations, and St Dwynwen's Day in January is the Welsh day of lovers, linked to the carving of wooden love spoons. The Royal Welsh Show at Builth Wells celebrates farming, the Hay Festival brings writers to Hay-on-Wye, and Chapel culture, once dominant, has largely given way to secular life.

About 3.1 million people live in Wales, most in the south-east. Cardiff has about 370,000, Swansea about 245,000 and Newport about 160,000; Wrexham, which became a city in 2022, is the largest town in the north. Mid Wales is thinly populated sheep country.

The economy leans on public services, retail, tourism and farming, alongside manufacturing such as Airbus's wing factory at Broughton. Port Talbot's steelworks shut its blast furnaces in 2024, a major loss for the south. The former coal valleys still face poverty and poor health, while rural and coastal areas struggle with second homes, which the Welsh Government has taxed more heavily to protect Welsh-speaking communities.

Daily life reflects a strong sense of community, whether in the valleys' rugby clubs and chapels, or in the farming towns of the north and west. Cardiff is the lively centre, with a large student population and nightlife, and the national default 20 mph speed limit, introduced in 2023, has been one of the most debated local issues.

Welsh food rests on lamb, dairy, the sea and simple home cooking. Cawl is the national dish, a broth of lamb or beef with leeks, potatoes and root vegetables. Welsh rarebit is cheese melted with ale and mustard on toast, and Glamorgan sausages are made from cheese, leeks and breadcrumbs, with no meat. Laverbread, or bara lawr, is a purée of seaweed, traditionally fried with cockles from Penclawdd on the Gower and bacon for breakfast.

Welsh beef has protected status, as does Gower salt-marsh lamb. Caerphilly is the country's best-known cheese, crumbly and mildly salty. Anglesey produces Halen Môn sea salt, and the Conwy estuary has mussel beds.

The sweet side is teatime baking: Welsh cakes, or picau ar y maen, are small spiced fruit cakes cooked on a bakestone or griddle, and bara brith is a fruit loaf made with tea-soaked dried fruit. Penderyn, in the Brecon Beacons, distils Welsh whisky, and Cardiff's Brains is the best-known brewery, alongside a growing number of craft breweries and vineyards.

Cardiff has its castle, the National Museum, the Senedd and the Wales Millennium Centre on Cardiff Bay, and St Fagans open-air museum on its edge, with Caerphilly Castle and Castell Coch nearby. West of Swansea, the Gower peninsula has Rhossili Bay, Worm's Head and Three Cliffs Bay. The Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) National Park rises to Pen y Fan, with Big Pit mining museum at Blaenavon on its edge.

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park takes in St Davids and its cathedral, Barafundle Bay, the puffins of Skomer, and Tenby, a walled harbour town above sandy beaches, with Pembroke Castle nearby.

In the north, Eryri (Snowdonia) centres on Yr Wyddfa, whose summit can be reached on foot or by the Snowdon Mountain Railway from Llanberis, with Betws-y-Coed, Harlech Castle, the Ffestiniog Railway and the Italianate village of Portmeirion around it. On the coast, Conwy Castle and its town walls and Caernarfon Castle, scene of the 1969 investiture of the Prince of Wales, are among Europe's best-preserved medieval fortresses. Across Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge, Anglesey offers Beaumaris Castle, South Stack lighthouse and Llanddwyn Island.

Mid Wales has Aberystwyth, Devil's Bridge and the Elan Valley reservoirs, and the north-east has the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Llangollen.