Originally (and traditionally) a Celtic land and one of the Celtic nations, a distinct Welsh national identity emerged in the early fifth century, after the Roman withdrawal from Britain. The 13th-century defeat of Llewelyn by Edward I completed the Anglo-Norman conquest of Wales and brought about centuries of English occupation. Wales was subsequently incorporated into England with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, creating the legal entity known today as England and Wales. However, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century, and in 1881 the Welsh Sunday Closing Act became the first legislation applied exclusively to Wales. In 1955 Cardiff was proclaimed as national capital and in 1999 the National Assembly for Wales was created, which holds responsibility for a range of devolved matters.
The capital Cardiff (Welsh: Caerdydd) is Wales' largest city with 317,500 people. For a period it was the biggest coal port in the world and, for a few years before World War One, handled a greater tonnage of cargo than either London or Liverpool. Two-thirds of the Welsh population live in South Wales, with another concentration in eastern North Wales. The Encyclopaedia of Wales notes that many travellers and tourists have been drawn to Wales' "wild... and picturesque" landscapes. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", attributable in part to the revival of the eisteddfod tradition Actors, singers and other artists are celebrated in Wales today, often achieving international success and Cardiff is the home of the largest media centre in the UK outside of London. The English name "Wales" originates from the Germanic word Walh or Waelisc, meaning "Romanised". Waelisc also provides the source of English word Welsh. As the terms Walh or Waelisc were not used by Germanic speakers to describe their eastern neighbours, it would have had a meaning that was more than just "foreigner". Anglo-Saxons used their version of an Old Teutonic term to apply to speakers of Celtic languages as well as to speakers of Latin. The same etymology applies to walnuts (meaning—nut of the Roman lands) as well as to the "wall" of Cornwall in Britain and to Wallonia in Belgium. Old Church Slavonic also borrowed the term from the Germanic, and it served as the origin of the name of the Romanian region of Wallachia.
Gaul or Gallia, as well as Gael and Gaelic share the same etymology. The letters G and W are often interchangeable between English and French (wasp/guêpe, ward/garde, etc.), with "Wales" known in French as "Pays de Galles" (English: Country of the Gauls) and "Welsh" translated as "Gallois".
The Welsh call their country Cymru in the Welsh language, which most likely meant "compatriots" in Old Welsh. The name competed for a long time in Welsh literature with the older name Brythoniaid (Brythons). Only after 1100 did the former become as common as the latter; both terms applied originally not only to the inhabitants of what is now called Wales, but in general to speakers of the Brythonic language and its descendants, many of whom lived in "the Old North": the placenames Cymru (Welsh for Wales), Cumbria and Cumberland, in the North of England, derive their names from the same origin.[ The Angles, Saxons and Jutes were known indiscriminately as Saeson in Welsh (the term is cognate with "Saxon"; compare Gaelic Sassenach); Sais, plural Saeson, is the modern Welsh word for "Englishman."
There is also a medieval legend found in the Historia Regum Britanniae of Sieffre o Fynwy (Geoffrey of Monmouth) that derives it from the name Camber, son of Brutus and, according to the legend, the eponymous King of Cymru (Cambria in Latin); this, however, is considered largely the fruit of Geoffrey's vivid imagination.
he head of state in Wales, a constituent part of the United Kingdom, is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II (since 1952). Executive power is vested in the Queen, and exercised by Her Majesty's Government at Westminster, with some powers devolved to the Welsh Assembly Government in Cardiff. The United Kingdom Parliament retains responsibility for passing primary legislation in Wales, but since the Government of Wales Act 2006 came into effect in 2007, the National Assembly for Wales can request powers to pass primary legislation as Assembly Measures on specific issues. The National Assembly is not a sovereign authority, and the UK Parliament could, in theory, overrule or even abolish it at any time.The National Assembly was first established in 1998 under the Government of Wales Act. There are 60 members of the Assembly, known as "Assembly Members (AM)". Forty of the AMs are elected under the First Past the Post system, with the other 20 elected via the Additional Member System via regional lists in 5 different regions. The largest party elects the First Minister of Wales, who acts as the head of government. The Welsh Assembly Government is the executive arm, and the Assembly has delegated most of its powers to the Assembly Government. The new Assembly Building designed by Lord Rogers was opened by The Queen on St David's Day (1 March) 2006.
The current First Minister of Wales is Rhodri Morgan (since 2000), of the Welsh Labour party, with 26 of 60 seats. After the National Assembly for Wales election, 2007 Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru; The Party of Wales, which favours Welsh independence from the rest of the United Kingdom entered into a coalition partnership to form a stable government with the "historic" One Wales agreement. As the second largest party in the Assembly with 15 out of 60 seats, Plaid Cymru is currently led by Ieuan Wyn Jones, now the Deputy First Minister of Wales. The presiding officer of the Assembly is Plaid Cymru member Lord Elis-Thomas. Other parties include the Conservative Party, currently the loyal opposition with 12 seats, and the Liberal Democrats with six seats. The "LibDems" had previously formed part of a coalition government with Labour in the first Assembly. There is one independent member.
In the British House of Commons, Wales is represented by 40 MPs (out of a total of 646) from Welsh constituencies. Currently, Welsh Labour represents 29 of the 40 seats, the Liberal Democrats hold four seats, Plaid Cymru three and the Conservatives three A Secretary of State for Wales sits in the UK cabinet and is responsible for representing matters that pertain to Wales. The Wales Office is a department of the United Kingdom government, responsible for Wales. The current Secretary of State for Wales is Paul Murphy, who replaced Peter Hain on 24 January 2008 over an investigation on undeclared donations.
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