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|image name = MODIS - Great Britain and Ireland - 2012-06-04 during heat wave.jpg |image caption = Satellite image of the British Isles, excluding Shetland and the Channel Islands (out of frame) |image size =255px |image alt = A map of the British Isles and their location in Europe. |locator map = British Isles (orthographic projection).svg |locator map size =220px |location = North-western Europe |coordinates = |waterbody = Atlantic Ocean |area_km2 = 315159 |area footnotes = 〔(COUNTRY/TERRITORY INDEX, ISLAND DIRECTORY ), United Nations Environment Programme. Retrieved 9th August 2015. (Island Facts ), Isle of Man Government. Retrieved 9 August 2015. According to the UNEP, the Channel Islands have a land area of 194 km², the Republic of Ireland has a land area of 70,282 km², and the United Kingdom has a land area of 244,111 km². According to the Isle of Man Government, the Isle of Man has a land area of 572 km². Therefore, the overall land area of the British Isles is 315,159 km²〕 |total islands = 6,000+ |highest mount = Ben Nevis |elevation_m = 1344 |Country heading = Sovereign states and dependent territories |country = Bailiwick of Guernsey |country capital and largest city = Saint Peter Port |country capital type = settlement |country area km2 = 78 |country 1 = Bailiwick of Jersey |country 1 capital and largest city = Saint Helier |country 1 capital type = settlement |country 1 area km2 = 118 |country 2 = Ireland |country 2 capital and largest city = Dublin |country 2 area km2 = 70282 |country 3 = Isle of Man |country 3 capital and largest city = Douglas |country 3 capital type = settlement |country 3 area km2 = 572 |country 4 = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |country 4 capital and largest city = London |country 4 area km2 = 244111 |density km2 = 216 |population = 68,017,607 |population as of = 2011 | timezone1 = GMT | utc_offset1 = ±0UTC | timezone1_DST = WEST | utc_offset1_DST = +1 |additional info = }} The British Isles are a group of islands off the north-western coast of continental Europe that consist of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles.〔"British Isles", ''Encyclopædia Britannica''〕 Two sovereign states are located on the islands: Ireland (a republic which covers roughly five-sixths of the island with the same name)〔The diplomatic and constitutional name of the Irish state is simply ''Ireland''. For disambiguation purposes, ''Republic of Ireland'' is often used although technically not the name of the state but, according to the ''Republic of Ireland Act 1948'', the state "may be described" as such.〕 and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (which includes the countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The British Isles also include three dependencies of the British Crown: the Isle of Man and, by tradition, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, although the latter are not physically a part of the archipelago.〔Oxford English Dictionary: "British Isles: a geographical term for the islands comprising Great Britain and Ireland with all their offshore islands including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands."〕 The oldest rocks in the group are in the north west of Scotland, Ireland and North Wales and are 2,700 million years old. During the Silurian period the north-western regions collided with the south-east, which had been part of a separate continental landmass. The topography of the islands is modest in scale by global standards. Ben Nevis rises to an elevation of only , and Lough Neagh, which is notably larger than other lakes on the isles, covers . The climate is temperate marine, with mild winters and warm summers. The North Atlantic Drift brings significant moisture and raises temperatures 11 °C (20 °F) above the global average for the latitude. This led to a landscape which was long dominated by temperate rainforest, although human activity has since cleared the vast majority of forest cover. The region was re-inhabited after the last glacial period of Quaternary glaciation, by 12,000 BC when Great Britain was still a peninsula of the European continent. Ireland, which became an island by 12,000 BC, was not inhabited until after 8000 BC.〔http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/2262/40560/1/Edwards%26Brooks_INJ08_TARA.pdf〕 Great Britain became an island by 5600 BC. Hiberni (Ireland), Pictish (northern Britain) and Britons (southern Britain) tribes, all speaking Insular Celtic,〔(Koch )〕 inhabited the islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. Much of Brittonic-controlled Britain was conquered by the Roman Empire from AD 43. The first Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century and eventually dominated the bulk of what is now England.〔British Have Changed Little Since Ice Age, Gene Study SaysJames Owen for National Geographic News, 19 July 2005 ()〕 Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements and political change—particularly in England. The subsequent Norman conquest of England in 1066 and the later Angevin partial conquest of Ireland from 1169 led to the imposition of a new Norman ruling elite across much of Britain and parts of Ireland. By the Late Middle Ages, Great Britain was separated into the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, while control in Ireland fluxed between Gaelic kingdoms, Hiberno-Norman lords and the English-dominated Lordship of Ireland, soon restricted only to The Pale. The 1603 Union of the Crowns, Acts of Union 1707 and Acts of Union 1800 attempted to consolidate Britain and Ireland into a single political unit, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining as Crown Dependencies. The expansion of the British Empire and migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in the distribution of the islands' population and culture throughout the world and a rapid de-population of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty (1919–1922), with six counties remaining in the UK as Northern Ireland. The term ''British Isles'' is controversial in Ireland,〔〔(Social work in the British Isles by Malcolm Payne, Steven Shardlow ) When we think about social work in the British Isles, a contentious term if ever there was one, what do we expect to see?〕 where there are objections to its usage due to the association of the word ''British'' with Ireland. The Government of Ireland does not recognise or use the term〔"(Written Answers – Official Terms" ), Dáil Éireann, Volume 606, 28 September 2005. In his response, the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs stated that "The British Isles is not an officially recognised term in any legal or inter-governmental sense. It is without any official status. The Government, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, does not use this term. Our officials in the Embassy of Ireland, London, continue to monitor the media in Britain for any abuse of the official terms as set out in the Constitution of Ireland and in legislation. These include the name of the State, the President, Taoiseach and others."〕 and its embassy in London discourages its use. As a result, Britain and Ireland is used as an alternative description,〔 and Atlantic Archipelago has had limited use among a minority in academia, although ''British Isles'' is still commonly employed.〔 Within them, they are also sometimes referred to as ''these islands''. ==Etymology== The earliest known references to the islands as a group appeared in the writings of sea-farers from the ancient Greek colony of Massalia.〔Foster, p. 1.〕〔 The original records have been lost; however, later writings, e.g. Avienus's ''Ora maritima'', that quoted from the Massaliote Periplus (6th century BC) and from Pytheas's ''On the Ocean'' (circa 325–320 BC)〔Harley, p. 150.〕 have survived. In the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus has ''Prettanikē nēsos'',〔Diodorus Siculus' ''Bibliotheca Historica'' Book V. Chapter XXI. Section 1 (Greek text ) at the Perseus Project.〕 "the British Island", and ''Prettanoi'',〔Diodorus Siculus' ''Bibliotheca Historica'' Book V. Chapter XXI. Section 2 (Greek text ) at the Perseus Project.〕 "the Britons".〔Allen, p. 172–174.〕 Strabo used Βρεττανική (''Brettanike''),〔Strabo's ''Geography'' Book I. Chapter IV. Section 2 (Greek text ) and (English translation ) at the Perseus Project.〕〔Strabo's ''Geography'' Book IV. Chapter II. Section 1 (Greek text ) and (English translation ) at the Perseus Project.〕〔Strabo's ''Geography'' Book IV. Chapter IV. Section 1 (Greek text ) and (English translation ) at the Perseus Project.〕 and Marcian of Heraclea, in his ''Periplus maris exteri'', used αἱ Πρεττανικαί νῆσοι (''the Prettanic Isles'') to refer to the islands.〔 Greek text and Latin Translation thereof archived at the Open Library Project.〕 Historians today, though not in absolute agreement, largely agree that these Greek and Latin names were probably drawn from native Celtic-language names for the archipelago.〔Davies, p. 47.〕 Along these lines, the inhabitants of the islands were called the Πρεττανοί (''Priteni'' or ''Pretani'').〔〔Snyder, p. 68.〕 The shift from the "P" of ''Pretannia'' to the "B" of ''Britannia'' by the Romans occurred during the time of Julius Caesar.〔Snyder, p. 12.〕 The classical writer, Ptolemy, referred to the larger island as ''great Britain'' (''megale Britannia'') and to Ireland as ''little Britain'' (''mikra Brettania'') in his work, ''Almagest'' (147–148 AD). In his later work, ''Geography'' (c. 150 AD), he gave these islands the names ''Alwion'' , ''Iwernia'', and ''Mona'' (the Isle of Man), suggesting these may have been native names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing ''Almagest''. The name ''Albion'' appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Great Britain, after which ''Britain'' became the more common-place name for the island called Great Britain.〔 The earliest known use of the phrase ''Brytish Iles'' in the English language is dated 1577 in a work by John Dee.〔John Dee, 1577. 1577 J. ''Arte Navigation'', p. 65 "The syncere Intent, and faythfull Aduise, of Georgius Gemistus Pletho, was, I could..frame and shape very much of Gemistus those his two Greek Orations..for our Brytish Iles, and in better and more allowable manner." From the OED, s.v. "British Isles"〕 Today, this name is seen by some as carrying imperialist overtones〔 although it is still commonly used. Other names used to describe the islands include the ''Anglo-Celtic Isles'', ''Atlantic archipelago'', ''British-Irish Isles'',〔John Oakland, 2003, (British Civilization: A Student's Dictionary ), Routledge: London British-Irish Isles, the (geography) see BRITISH ISLES British Isles, the (geography) A geographical (not political or CONSTITUTIONAL) term for ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WALES, and IRELAND (including the REPUBLIC OF IRELAND), together with all offshore islands. A more accurate (and politically acceptable) term today is the British-Irish Isles.〕 ''Britain and Ireland'', ''UK and Ireland'', and ''British Isles and Ireland''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Blackwellreference.com )〕 Owing to political and national associations with the word ''British'', the Government of Ireland does not use the term ''British Isles''〔 and in documents drawn up jointly between the British and Irish governments, the archipelago is referred to simply as "these islands". Nonetheless, British Isles is still the most widely accepted term for the archipelago.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Isles」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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