Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and whose physical geography is characterised by a varied coastline and a largely upland interior. It is bordered by England to its east, the Irish Sea to its north and west, and the Bristol Channel to its south. It has a total area of 2,064,100 hectares (5,101,000 acres) and is about 170mi (274km) from north to south and at least 60mi (97km) wide. It comprises 8.35 percent of the land of the United Kingdom. It has a number of offshore islands, by far the largest of which is Anglesey. The mainland coastline, including Anglesey, is about 1,680mi (2,704km) in length. As of 2014, Wales had a population of about 3,092,000; Cardiff is the capital and largest city and is situated in the urbanised area of South East Wales.
Wales has a complex geological history which has left it a largely mountainous country. The coastal plain is narrow in the north and west of the country but wider in the south, where the Vale of Glamorgan has some of the best agricultural land. Exploitation of the South Wales Coalfield during the Industrial Revolution resulted in the development of an urban economy in the South Wales Valleys, and the expansion of the port cities of Newport, Cardiff and Swansea for the export of coal. The smaller North Wales Coalfield was also developed at this time, but elsewhere in the country, the landscape is rural and communities are small, the economy being largely dependent on agriculture and tourism. The climate is influenced by the proximity of the country to the Atlantic Ocean and the prevailing westerly winds; thus it tends to be mild, cloudy, wet and windy.
Physical geography
The summit of Snowdon, the highest mountain in WalesDepiction of the Vale of Towy, Carmarthenshire
Wales is located on the western side of central southern Great Britain. To the north and west is the Irish Sea, and to the south is the Bristol Channel. The English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire lie to the east.[3] Much of the border with England roughly follows the line of the ancient earthwork known as Offa's Dyke.[4] The large island of Anglesey lies off the northwest coast, separated from mainland Wales by the Menai Strait, and there are a number of smaller islands.[3]
Most of Wales is mountainous. Snowdonia (Welsh: Eryri) in the northwest has the highest mountains, with Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) at 1,085m (3,560ft) being the highest peak. To the south of the main range lie the Arenig Group, Cadair Idris and the Berwyn Mountains. In the northeast of Wales, between the Clwyd Valley and the Dee Estuary, lies the Clwydian Range.[3] The 14 (or possibly 15) peaks over 3,000 feet (914m), all in Snowdonia, are known collectively as the Welsh 3000s.[5]
The Cambrian Mountains run from northeast to southwest and occupy most of the central part of the country. These are more rounded and undulating, clad in moorland and rough, tussocky grassland. In the south of the country are the Brecon Beacons in central Powys, the Black Mountains (Y Mynyddoedd Duon) spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales and, confusingly, Black Mountain (Y Mynydd Du), which lies further west on the border between Carmarthenshire and Powys.[3]
The length of the coast of mainland Wales is about 1,370mi (2,205km), and adding to this the coasts of the Isle of Anglesey and Holy Island, the total is about 1,680mi (2,704km).[6] Cardigan Bay is the largest bay in the country and Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) the largest lake[7] at 4.7km2 (1.8sqmi). Other large lakes include Llyn Trawsfynydd at 1.8sqmi (4.7km2),[8]Lake Vyrnwy at 1.7sqmi (4.4km2),[9]Llyn Brenig at 1.4sqmi (3.6km2),[10]Llyn Celyn at 1.2sqmi (3.1km2)[11] and Llyn Alaw at 1.2sqmi (3.1km2).[12] Bala Lake lies in a glacial valley blocked by a terminal moraine, but the other lakes are reservoirs created by impounding rivers, to provide drinking water, hydroelectric schemes or flood defences, and many are also used recreationally.[13]
The geology of Wales is complex and varied. The earliest outcropping rocks are from the Precambrian era, some 700 Mya, and are found in Anglesey, the Llŷn peninsula, southwestern Pembrokeshire and in places near the English border. During the Lower Palaeozoic, as seas periodically flooded the land and retreated again, thousands of metres of sedimentary and volcanic rocks accumulated in a marine basin known as the Welsh Basin.[14] Rocks found in a quarry near to the village Llangynog, Carmarthenshire, in 1977 contain some of the Earth's oldest fossils which date from the Ediacaran period, 564 million years ago, when Wales was part of the micro-continent Avalonia.[15]
During the early and middle Ordovician period (485 to 460 Mya), volcanic activity increased. One large volcanic system, which was centred around what is now Snowdon, emitted an estimated 60 cubic kilometres (14cumi) of debris. Another volcano formed Rhobell Fawr near Dolgellau. During this period, great accumulations of sand, gravel and mud were deposited further south in Wales, and these gradually consolidated. Some of the volcanic ash fell in the sea and formed great banks, where unstable masses sometimes slid into deeper water, creating submarine avalanches. This caused great turbidity in the sea, after which the particles began to settle out according to particle size. The strata thus formed are called turbidites, and these are common in central Wales, being particularly obvious in the sea cliffs around Aberystwyth.[14]
By the beginning of the Devonian period (420 Mya) the sea was retreating from the Welsh Basin as the land was thrust up by the collision of land masses, forming a new range of mountains, the Welsh Caledonides. The Old Red Sandstone represents debris from their erosion. Elsewhere the strata were compressed and deformed, and in places, the clay minerals recrystallised, developing a grain that allowed parallel cleavage, making it easy to split the rocks into thin flat sheets of stone known as slate. In the early part of the Carboniferous period, reinvasion of southern and northern parts of Wales by the sea resulted in depositions of limestone, and extensive swamps in South Wales gave rise to peat deposits and the eventual formation of coal measures. Erosion of nearby upland areas resulted in the formation of sandstones and mudstones in the later part of the period. Southwestern Wales, in particular, was affected by the Variscan orogeny, a period when continental collisions further south caused complex folding and fracturing of the strata.[14]
During the Permian, Triassic and Jurassic (300 to 150 Mya), further episodes of desertification, subsidence and uplift occurred and Wales was alternately inundated by the sea and raised above it. By the Cretaceous (140 to 70 Mya), Wales was permanently above sea level and in the Pleistocene (2.5 Mya to recent), it underwent several exceptionally cold periods, the ice ages. The mountains we see today largely assumed their present shape during the last ice age, the Devensian glaciation.[14]
Wales has a maritime climate, the predominant winds being southwesterlies and westerlies blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. This means that the weather in Wales is in general mild, cloudy, wet and windy. The country's wide geographic variations cause localised differences in amounts of sunshine, rainfall and temperature. Rainfall in Wales varies widely, with the highest average annual totals in Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons, and the lowest near the coast and in the east, close to the English border. Throughout Wales, the winter months are significantly wetter than the summer ones. Snow is comparatively rare near sea level in Wales, but much more frequent over the hills, and the uplands experience harsher conditions in winter than the more low-lying parts.[17]
The mean annual temperatures in Wales are about 11°C (52°F) on the coast and 9.5°C (49°F) in low-lying inland areas. It becomes cooler at higher altitudes, with a mean decrease in annual temperatures of approximately 0.5°C (0.9°F) for each 100 metres (330 feet) of increased altitude. Consequently, the higher parts of Snowdonia experience mean annual temperatures of 5°C (41°F).[17] At nights, the coldest conditions occur when there is little wind and no cloud cover, especially when the ground is snow-clad; the lowest temperature recorded in Wales was in conditions of this sort at Rhayader on New Year's Day, 1940, when the temperature fell to −23.3°C (−9.9°F). Occasionally, the coastal area of North Wales experiences some of the warmest winter conditions in the United Kingdom, with temperatures up to 18°C (64°F); these result from a Foehn wind, a south-westerly airflow warming up as it descends from the mountains of Snowdonia.[17]
Rainfall in Wales is mostly as a result of the arrival of Atlantic low pressure systems and is heaviest between October and January over the whole country. The driest months are usually April, May and June, and Wales experiences fewer summer thunderstorms than England. Rainfall varies across the country with the highest records being from the greatest elevations. Snowdonia experiences total annual rainfalls exceeding 3,000mm (118in) whereas coastal regions of Wales and the English border may have less than 1,000mm (39in). The combination of mountainous areas and Atlantic lows can produce large quantities of rain and sometimes results in flooding.[17] The amount of snowfall varies with altitude and enormously from year to year. In the lowlands, the number of days with lying snow may vary from zero to thirty or more, with an average of about twenty in Snowdonia.[17]
Wales is one of the windier parts of the United Kingdom. The strongest winds are usually associated with Atlantic depressions; as one of these arrives, the winds usually start in the southwest, before veering to the west and then to the northwest as the system passes by. The southwest of Pembrokeshire experiences the most gale-force winds. The highest wind speed ever recorded in Wales at a lowland site was gusts of 108 knots (200km/h; 124mph) at Rhoose, in the Vale of Glamorgan, on 28 October 1989.[17]
The total terrestrial surface[clarification needed] of Wales is 2,064,100 hectares (5,101,000 acres). The area of land used for agriculture and forestry in the country in 2013 was 1,712,845 hectares (4,232,530 acres). Of this 79,461 hectares (196,350 acres) was used for arable cropping and fallow, 1,449 hectares (3,580 acres) for horticulture, and 1,405,156 hectares (3,472,220 acres) was used for grazing. Woodland occupied 63,366 hectares (156,580 acres) and 10,126 hectares (25,020 acres) was unclassified land. In addition, there were 180,305 hectares (445,540 acres) of common rough grazing, giving a total area of all the land used for agriculture purposes, including common land, of 1,739,863 hectares (4,299,300 acres).[18]
In order of area planted, the arable crops grown in Wales were: foods for stock-feeding, spring barley, wheat, maize, winter barley, other cereals for combining, oilseed rape, potatoes and other crops. The grassland was predominantly permanent pasture, with only 10% of the grassland being under five years old.[18] Compared with other parts of the United Kingdom, Wales has the smallest percentage of arable land (6%), and a considerably smaller area of rough grazing and hill land than Scotland (27% against 62%).[19]
Vast quantities of coal were mined in Wales during the Industrial Revolution and the earlier part of the twentieth century, after which coal stocks dwindled and the remaining pits became uneconomical as foreign coal became available at low prices. The last deep pit in Wales closed in 2008.[20]
Ironstone outcrops along the northern edge of the South Wales Coalfield were extensively worked for the production of iron and were important in the initiation of the Industrial Revolution in South Wales.[21]
Lead, silver and to a lesser extent zinc were mined in the upland areas of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol and in the headwaters of the River Severn for centuries and smaller deposits were also mined at Pentre Halkyn in Flintshire during the Roman occupation of Britain. Copper was a major export from Parys Mountain on Anglesey which was, at its height, the largest copper mine in the world.
Slate quarrying has been a major industry in North Wales. The Cilgwyn Quarry was being worked in the 12th century, but later Blaenau Ffestiniog became the centre of production.[22]
The Dinorwig Power Station lower reservoir, a 1,800 MW pumped-storage hydroelectric scheme, one of the largest such schemes in Europe
With its mountainous terrain and ample rainfall, water is one of Wales' most abundant resources. The country has many man-made reservoirs and exports water to England as well as generating power through hydroelectric schemes.
Wind is another resource that Wales has in abundance. Gwynt y Môr is one of several offshore wind farms off the coast of the North Wales mainland and Anglesey, and is the second largest such wind farm in the world.[24]
Thus was created the border between Wales and England, a border which has survived until today. It did not follow the old line of Offa's Dyke nor the eastern boundary of the Welsh dioceses; it excluded districts such as Oswestry and Ewias, where the Welsh language would continue to be spoken for centuries, districts which it would not be wholly fanciful to consider as Cambria irredenta. Yet, as the purpose of the statute was to incorporate Wales into England, the location of the Welsh border was irrelevant to the purposes of its framers.
The boundary has never been confirmed by referendum or reviewed by a Boundary Commission. The boundary line very roughly follows Offa's Dyke from south to north as far as a point about 40 miles (64km) from the northern coast, but then swings further east.[26] It has a number of anomalies, but some were ironed out by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.[27] For instance, it separates Knighton from its railway station,[28] and divides the village of Llanymynech where a pub straddles the line.[29]
Wales is divided into 22 unitary authorities, which are responsible for the provision of all local government services, including education, social work, environmental and road services. Below these in some areas there are community councils, which cover specific areas within a council area. The unitary authority areas are known as "principal areas".[30] The King appoints Lords Lieutenant to represent him in the eight preserved counties of Wales.[31]
In the Office for National Statistics Area Classification, local authorities are clustered into groups based in the six main census dimensions (demographic, household composition, housing, socio-economic, employment and industry sector). Most of the local authorities in mid and west Wales are classified as part of the 'Coastal and Countryside' supergroup. Most of the south Wales authorities, Flintshire and Wrexham are in the 'Mining and Manufacturing' supergroup; Cardiff is part of the 'Cities and Services' supergroup and the Vale of Glamorgan is part of 'Prospering UK'.[32]
Social geography
A number of historians of Wales have questioned the notion of a single, cohesive Welsh identity. For example, in 1921, Alfred Zimmern, the inaugural professor of international relations at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, argued that there was "not one Wales, but three": archetypal 'Welsh Wales', industrial or 'American Wales', and upper-class 'English Wales'. Each represented different parts of the country and different traditions.[33] In 1985, political analyst Dennis Balsom proposed a similar 'Three Wales model'. Balsom's regions were the Welsh-speaking heartland of the north and west, Y Fro Gymraeg; a consciously Welsh but not Welsh-speaking 'Welsh Wales' in the South Wales Valleys and a more ambivalent 'British Wales' making up the remainder, largely in the east and along the south coast.[34] The division reflects, broadly, the areas where Plaid Cymru, Labour, and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats respectively enjoyed the most political support.[citation needed]
Topography has traditionally limited the integration between North and South Wales, with the two halves virtually functioning as separate economic and social units in the preindustrial era, with successive British Government transport policy doing little to rectify it.[35] Today, the main road and rail links run east-west, although there was once a north-south rail link that pressure groups are attempting to reinstate.[36] By the interwar years, industry in South Wales was increasingly linked to Avonside and the English Midlands, and that in north Wales to Merseyside.[37]
Liverpool was often called "the capital of north Wales" in the late 19th and early 20th century. With 20,000 Welsh-born people living on either side of the Mersey in 1901, the city had an array of Welsh chapels and cultural institutions; hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1884, 1900 and 1929 and gave rise to several leading figures in Welsh life in the 20th century.[38] The Liverpool Daily Post became, effectively, the daily newspaper for north Wales.[39] The decline of Liverpool after the Second World War and changing patterns of Welsh migration, caused the Welsh presence to diminish. In the 1960s, the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley to provide the city with water soured relations with many people in Wales.[38]
The North Welsh are sometimes referred to, in Wenglish, as Gogs (from the Welsh gogledd, "north") and the south Welsh as Hwntws (from tu hwnt roughly meaning 'far away over there' or 'beyond'). There are differences in the Welsh vocabulary between the north and south; for instance, the south Welsh word for now is nawr whereas the north Welsh is rŵan.[citation needed]
The more urbanised south, containing cities such as Cardiff, Newport and Swansea, was historically home to the coal and steel industries. It contrasts with the mostly rural north, where agriculture and slate quarrying were the main industries. Although the M4 corridor brings wealth into South Wales, particularly Cardiff, there is no pronounced economic divide between north and south unlike in England; there is, for example, a high level of poverty in the postindustrial South Wales Valleys.[citation needed]
Demography
Cardiff is the most densely populated area in Wales
The estimated population of Wales in 2019 was about 3,152,879, an increase of 14,248 on the previous year.[40] The main population and industrial areas in Wales are in South Wales, specifically Cardiff, Swansea and Newport and the adjoining South Wales Valleys. Cardiff is the capital city and had a population of around 346,000 at the 2011 census. This was followed by the unitary authorities of Swansea (239,000), Rhondda Cynon Taf (234,400), Carmarthenshire (183,800), Caerphilly (178,800), Flintshire (152,500), Newport (145,700), Neath Port Talbot (139,800), Bridgend (139,200) and Wrexham (134,800).[41] Cardiff was the most heavily populated area in Wales with 2,482 people per square kilometre (6,428 per sq mile) while Powys had just 26.[42]
A high proportion of the Welsh population lives in smaller settlements: nearly 20% live in villages of less than 1,500 persons compared with 10% in England. Wales also has a relatively low proportion of its population in large settlements: only 26% live in urban areas with a population over 100,000; in comparison, nearly 40% of the English population live in urban areas larger than the largest in Wales. Another feature of the settlement pattern in Wales is the share of the population living in the sparsest rural areas: 15% compared with only 1.5% in England.[43]
Communications
Communications within Wales are influenced by the topography and the mountainous nature of the country: the main rail and road routes between South and North Wales loop to the east and pass largely through England. The only motorway corridor in Wales is the M4 motorway from London to South Wales, entering the country over the Second Severn Crossing, passing close to Newport, Cardiff and Swansea and extending as far west as the Pont Abraham services before continuing northwest as the A48 to Carmarthen. The M48 motorway parallels the M4 between Aust and Magor via Chepstow. The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard via Brecon and Carmarthen.[44] The A487 coast road links Cardigan with Aberystwyth, and the A44 links Aberystwyth with Rhayader, Leominster and Worcester.[45] The main trunk road in North Wales is the A55dual carriageway road from Chester past St Asaph and Abergele, continuing along the coast to Bangor, crossing Anglesey and terminating at Holyhead.[46] The A483 runs from Swansea to Chester passing Llandovery, Llandrindod Wells, Oswestry (in England) and Wrexham.
Cardiff Airport is the only airport in Wales which offers international scheduled flights. Destinations available include other parts of the United Kingdom, Ireland and parts of continental Europe. The airport is also used for charter flights on a seasonal basis. In 2018, around 1.6 million passengers used the airport.[50] Several ferry services operate between Welsh ports and Ireland: Holyhead to Dublin; Fishguard to Rosslare;[51] Pembroke Dock to Rosslare;[52] and Swansea to Cork.[53]
Wales has three designated national parks. Snowdonia National Park in northwestern Wales was established in 1951 as the third national park in Britain, following the Peak District and the Lake District. It covers 827 square miles (2,140km2) of the mountains of Snowdonia and has 37 miles (60km) of coastline.[54][55] The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park was established the following year to protect the spectacular coastal scenery of West Wales. It includes Caldey Island, the Daugleddau estuary and the Preseli Hills, as well as the entire length of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path.[56] The Brecon Beacons National Park was established five years later and extends across the southern part of Powys, the northwestern part of Monmouthshire, parts of eastern Carmarthenshire and the northern parts of several South Wales Valleys county boroughs. In each case, the national park authority acts as a special purpose local authority and exercises planning control over residential and industrial development in the park. The authorities have a duty to conserve the natural beauty of the area, and to promote opportunities for members of the public to enjoy and appreciate the park's special qualities.[57]
Wales also has five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. These differ from National Parks in that the local authorities have a duty to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the landscape but do not have an obligation to promote the enjoyment of the public. Partnerships established to administer AONBs do not have control over planning, responsibility for which remains with the constituent local authorities.[58] In 1956, the Gower Peninsula became the first designated AONB in Britain.[59] Other AONBs are: the coast of Anglesey; the Llŷn Peninsula;[60] the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley;[61] and the Wye Valley, part of which is in England.[62]
Wales has many waterfalls, including some of the most striking in the United Kingdom. One such is the 240ft (73m)Pistyll Rhaeadr near the village of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. It is formed as a mountain stream drops over a cliff and changes character to a lowland river, the Afon Rhaeadr. The site was designated by the Countryside Council for Wales as the 1000th Site of Special Scientific Interest in Wales, because of its importance to an understanding of Welsh geomorphology. The 19th-century English authorGeorge Borrow remarked of the waterfall, "I never saw water falling so gracefully, so much like thin, beautiful threads, as here."[63]
Snowdonia, or Eryri, is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon, which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The shorter Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.
Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to the south-west. As of 2021, it had a population of 3,107,494. It has a total area of 21,218 square kilometres (8,192 sq mi) and over 2,700 kilometres (1,680 mi) of coastline. It is largely mountainous with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. The capital and largest city is Cardiff.
There are five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) in Wales, known from November 2023 as National Landscapes. AONBs are areas of countryside that have been designated for statutory protection, due to their significant landscape value, by initially the Government of the United Kingdom and later Welsh devolved bodies. Of the current five areas designated, four are wholly in Wales, with another spanning the Wales-England border, and in total AONBs account for 4% of Wales' land area.
South Wales is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards to include Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. In the western extent, from Swansea westwards, local people would probably recognise that they lived in both south Wales and west Wales. The Brecon Beacons National Park covers about a third of south Wales, containing Pen y Fan, the highest British mountain south of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia.
Glyder Fawr is a mountain in Snowdonia, Wales, the highest peak in the Glyderau range at just over 1,000 metres. It is the fifth-highest mountain in Wales and has several walking and scrambling routes leading to its summit. According to Sir Ifor Williams, the word "Glyder" derives from the Welsh word "Gludair", meaning a heap of stones.
The national parks of Wales are managed areas of outstanding landscape in Wales, United Kingdom where some forms of development are restricted to preserve the landscape and natural environment. Together, they cover 20% of the land surface of Wales and have a resident population of over 80,000 people. Each National Park Authority is a free-standing body within the local government framework.
Transport in Wales is heavily influenced by the country's geography. Wales is predominantly hilly or mountainous, and the main settlements lie on the coasts of north and south Wales, while mid Wales and west Wales are lightly populated. The main transport corridors are east–west routes, many continuing eastwards into England.
Tourism in Wales makes up a significant portion of the Welsh economy and attracting millions of visitors each year. The tourism industry in Wales was worth around £5bn in 2017. The tourism industry also makes a significant contribution to the Welsh economy, supporting over 100,000 jobs and more than 8% of the Welsh workforce. Wales attracts visitors from overseas, particularly from the United States, Australia, Germany and the Republic of Ireland.
The geology of Wales is complex and varied; its study has been of considerable historical significance in the development of geology as a science. All geological periods from the Cryogenian to the Jurassic are represented at outcrop, whilst younger sedimentary rocks occur beneath the seas immediately off the Welsh coast. The effects of two mountain-building episodes have left their mark in the faulting and folding of much of the Palaeozoic rock sequence. Superficial deposits and landforms created during the present Quaternary period by water and ice are also plentiful and contribute to a remarkably diverse landscape of mountains, hills and coastal plains.
Scouting in Wales provides an overview of Scouting activities in Wales. Scout troops have existed in the country since 1908 with the largest number of Scouts and volunteer leaders today linked to the Scout Association of the United Kingdom. This is done through ScoutsCymru, the Welsh Scout Council who split the region further into four regions and a total of 12 Scout Areas. In addition to the Scout Association, there are also traditional Scouting groups belonging to the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association and a number of Scouting clubs within Universities which are affiliated to the Student Scout and Guide Organisation.
Wales, a country that is part of the United Kingdom, contains protected areas under various designations. The largest designation by land area is Wales' three national parks, followed by the five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The Wales Coast Path is a designated long-distance trail which follows, or runs close to, the coastline of Wales.
The natural resources of Wales have contributed substantially to the economic wealth of the United Kingdom from pre-Roman times to the present. Wales has a complex and varied geology with a wealth of natural minerals. Although Wales has been strongly associated with the coal industry, it has also been the world's leading supplier of slate and of copper at different times. The country lies along the western side of Great Britain and is buffeted by the prevailing South-Westerly trade winds which bring year round rain and wind but also maintain an equable temperate climate. The combination of climate and physical geography and geology have given rise to many different types of landscape and biomes rich in species variety.
The Wales Way is the name collectively given to a series of three tourist routes in Wales, UK, promoted by Visit Wales, the government agency charged with promoting tourism in the country. The three routes are the 180-mile Coastal Way, the 75-mile North Wales Way and the 185-mile Cambrian Way. The Wales Way was launched in late 2018.
The coastline of Wales extends from the English border at Chepstow westwards to Pembrokeshire then north to Anglesey and back eastwards to the English border once again near Flint. Its character is determined by multiple factors, including the local geology and geological processes active during and subsequent to the last ice age, its relative exposure to or shelter from waves, tidal variation and the history of human settlement and development which varies considerably from one place to another. The majority of the coast east of Cardiff in the south, and of Llandudno in the north, is flat whilst that to the west is more typically backed by cliffs. The cliffs are a mix of sandstones, shales and limestones, the erosion of which provides material for beach deposits. Of the twenty-two principal areas which deliver local government in Wales, sixteen have a coastline, though that of Powys consists only of a short section of tidal river some distance from the open sea. Its length has been estimated at 1,680 miles (2,700 km).
Wales has traditionally been divided into a number of ambiguous and ill-defined areas described as regions, reflecting historical, geographical, administrative, cultural and electoral boundaries within the country. Presently, the most common form of division of Wales into "regions" has been using cardinal and intercardinal references: north or south-west for example. None of the variously described "regions" have official status or defined boundaries; neither is there a fixed number of regions. Various organisations use different regions and combinations of regions for their individual purposes. This includes devolved institutions, such as Visit Wales, Natural Resources Wales, and the Welsh Government itself, using different sets of Wales' regions. Wales is most commonly sub-divided into between two and four regions, with a North–South divide, and North, Mid, South East and South West division being common. This article lists the various terms applied to be the "regions of Wales" and the regions used by various organisations.
West Wales and the Valleys is a UK International Territorial Level 2 statistical region covering the western areas of Wales and the South Wales Valleys. Created as part of the Eurostat's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), it was used to by the European Union (EU) to deliver the European Regional Development Fund to areas of Wales, until the UK's withdrawal from the EU in 2020. Following which it was mirrored onto the Office for National Statistics' International Territorial Level (ITL) geoclassification system. The remainder of Wales is part of the East Wales statistical region.
↑ Williams, Chris (Winter 2003–2004). "A post national Wales"(PDF). Agenda. Institute of Welsh Affairs. pp.2–5. Archived(PDF) from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
1 2 John Davies; Nigel Jenkins; Menna Baines; Peredur I. Lynch (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p.469. ISBN978-0-7083-1953-6.
↑ "Population change, 2001-2011". 2011 Census: Population and Household Estimates for Wales, March 2011. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
↑ Welsh Assembly Government (2005). Rural Development Plan for Wales, 2007 to 2013: The Strategic Approach. Welsh Assembly Government. pp.61–63. ISBN0-7504-9757-2.
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