Member-only story
Geopolitics
What’s the difference between Britain, England and the UK?
Britain is NOT a country
It annoys the crap out of me that I had to search “Britain” on Unsplash to find this image. “But Victoria”, I hear you cry, “that’s the British flag!”
Incorrect, loser. See the diagonal red cross on the white background? That’s the cross saltire of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and last time I checked, Ireland wasn’t in Britain. Part of it is in the United Kingdom (UK) though, which the Union Flag, or Union Jack as it’s also known, represents.
Confused? Evidently, you are. Don’t worry though, I’ve got you covered.
What is Britain?
To answer the question “what is Britain?”, we must first ask, what is this?
This natty illustration is, of course, of the British Isles. The British Isles comprise more than 5,000 islands, but for our purposes, we only want the names of the two biggest ones. They are *drumroll please*:
- Great Britain
- Ireland.