Ethnicities around the world (beta)

The western region of the British-Irish Isles is populated by peoples descended from the 6 Celtic nations, which comprise two ethnolinguistic groups: the Brittonic peoples, who were displaced by the Anglo Saxons and settled in what is now Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany; and the Gaels, who became the dominant culture in Ireland and then expanded to Scotland and the Isle of Man. Each of these cultures has spoken some variant of its original Celtic dialect continuously. The Irish derive their name from the Gaelic term for the territory, Éire, and are heirs to a rich oral tradition of poetry, music, storytelling, dance, and mythology. The Scottish, though descended from the same roots, developed their own distinct culture, as well as their own dialect of Gaelic and the Scots language. They are named for the Latin term for all Gaels, “Scoti.” Their Brittonic neighbors, the Welsh, were labeled “walhaz,” meaning “foreigner” or “stranger” in Germanic, and the name of their ethnicity and language is derived from that term. During the Middle Ages, Anglo-Norman conquerors invaded the region, and English colonization in the 16th and 17th centuries reshaped its ethnic and linguistic character — introducing the English language, which is now ubiquitous throughout the British-Irish Isles. Still, the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh take great pride in their respective languages, histories, traditions, and other distinct cultural assets.