The major island components of the British Isles, geographically but not politically, are Great Britain and Ireland, 229 834 km2 (88 745 mi2). Great Britain comprises England, including the Isle of Wight, Scilly Isles and smaller islands; Wales, including Anglesey; Scotland, including the Inner and Outer Hebrides and the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Ireland, 83 851 km2 (32 375 mi−2), is divided into two parts: Northern Ireland, which until 1972 had an independent parliament and government under (he British Crown and now is part of the United Kingdom, under direct British rule; and Ireland or fire, which is an independent republic. From 1921 to 1937 the republic was known as the ‘Irish Free State’. Smaller parts of Great Britain, but administered indirectly, are the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The parts of Great Britain are covered alphabetically in separate articles. (see under Great Britain). Ireland is covered separately since the whole of the Republic of Ireland is an...
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Rast, N. (1997). British isles. In: Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_14
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