Wales is NOT England . The two countries look, sound and feel different. The population is largely rural with a culture rooted deeply in folklore and legend.
The survival of our distinct and ancient language is perhaps our most prominent trademark.
“Welsh is the oldest living European language”
The Welsh language, the oldest living European language, is strong in many parts of Wales and is often the predominant language in the West and North.
A quarter of the population speaks it and there are TV and radio stations
that solely broadcast in Welsh. WELSH IS NOT OUR HERITAGE, IT IS OUR EVERYDAY
LANGUAGE!!
Wales' comparative anonymity (compared with its Celtic cousins - Ireland and
Scotland) has ensured that much of the landscape and culture is intact. This
will be instanly evident to you. Each night will be spent at amazing unspoilt
locations allowing you to get close to nature and to get a true feeling for
the land.
Wales can boast some of the finest scenery in Europe . It has
vast mountain ranges, stunning coastlines, lush valleys and has more castles
per km2 than
any other country in the world. Much of Wales remains undamaged by tourism
and development and this will be instantly evident to you.
“Undamaged and Unspoilt by Tourism”
Wales ' industrial heritage is unsurpassed in the UK . The South Wales coalfields during the 19th and 20th centuries produced vast amounts of coal driving the industrial revolution. In North Wales huge slate mines produced slate that roofed houses of the world, and at its peak exported more slate than the rest of the countries in the world combined. The closure of these mines in recent years has affected these regions greatly.
The following was spoken in the House of Representatives in 1971:
Very little has been written of what the Welsh have contributed in all walks of life in the shaping of American history. Twenty percent of the Pilgrim Fathers were Welsh, as was the Captain of the Mayflower. How many know that almost 50 percent of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence were Welsh or of Welsh descent-- as were nine of the Presidents of the United States-- and that many of the universities and colleges such as Yale, Princeton, Brown, William and Mary, Virginia, Johns Hopkins, and Andover were founded by Welshman.
George Washington: 'Good Welshmen make good Americans'
The man who financed the War of Independence was Robert Morris, Pennsylvania
was founded by William Penn, and Rhode Island by Roger Williams, all were
Welsh. It is strange indeed that such a small country-- as Wales, so many
people are hardly aware of its existence-- has contributed so much more in
proportion to its size than any other nation, and stranger still so little
has been written of it. Oh, yes, the next time you are in the Capitol and
feel like climbing the Washington Monument stairway, about halfway up there
is a stone inscribed:
"FY IAITH, FY NGWLAD, FY NGHENEDL
CYMRU - CYMRU AM BYTH!"
["My language, my land, my nation of Wales - Wales for ever!"]