Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
Top-level
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

5/ But likewise there are parts of Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ that have been "English" ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ for a millennia, for example "Little England beyond Wales" in the south of Pembrokeshire, where many Anglo-Saxons and Flemish immigrants were relocated by the Normans in the early 12th century.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_E

The "Landsker Line" marks the language border.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsker

#geoweirdness

Map showing the location of "Little England beyond Wales"
Map of the Landsker Line
7 comments
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

6/ Incorporation with England ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ had a significant impact on traditional Welsh culture, with perhaps the most long-lasting and significant being English becoming the official language of Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ

It maintained official legal status in Wales until 1993 with the Welsh Language Act, which finally gave Welsh an equal legal footing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_La

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

7/ According to a 2021 study conducted by the ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง UK's Office of National Statistics, Welsh is spoken by roughly 18% of the population today.

There is a national push to protect the language, with government plans to hit the one million speakers mark by 2050.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_la

Map showing distribution of Welsh speakers as percentage of local population
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

8/ Places in Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ typically have both a Welsh and an English name, and the Welsh Language Commissioner provides an official "List of Standardised Welsh Place-names". The site is of course available in Welsh and English.

welshlanguagecommissioner.wale

#geoweirdness

Screenshot of Welsh Language Commissioners "List of Standardised Welsh Place-names"
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

9/ Due to ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง British colonial expansion (and as a special form of "fun" for geocoding services like ours) many places around the world today have Welsh placenames or references to Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ.

Most famously of course the Australian ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ state of New South Wales

#geoweirdness

Map of southeastern Australia showing New South Wales
Screenshot from the OpenCage demo page showing places named "Cardiff" in Wales, the US (multiple), Canada, Australia
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

10/ Perhaps less expected though is the Welsh speaking community in Argentinean Patagonia, a legacy of Welsh emigration 150 years ago.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Wladfa

as covered in our thread about Argentina ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท
en.osm.town/@opencage/11059918

Today "Patagonian Welsh" is one of five main dialects of the language.

#geoweirdness

Flag of Y Wladfa colony with the Welsh dragon
Map of the Welsh dialects
Argentinian sign in Spanish, Welsh, and English
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

11/ Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ has an active geospatial and OpenStreetMap community. As a response to the ambitious 2050 language target, Welsh developers developed Mapio Cymru, a Welsh-language version of OSM.

openstreetmap.cymru

@Dailingual presented the project at Geomob London in January.

mapstodon.space/@geomob/111817

Here's an interview from a few years back on our blog:
blog.opencagedata.com/post/ope

#OpenStreetMap #geomobLON #geoweirdness

11/ Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ has an active geospatial and OpenStreetMap community. As a response to the ambitious 2050 language target, Welsh developers developed Mapio Cymru, a Welsh-language version of OSM.

openstreetmap.cymru

@Dailingual presented the project at Geomob London in January.

mapstodon.space/@geomob/111817

Sceenshot of Mapio Cymru
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ replied to OpenCage

12/ Diolch am ddarllen! / Thanks for reading!

We hope you enjoyed this look at geoweirdness of Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ.

Language and geography are intrinsically linked, and it is fascinating to see how they can shape a countryโ€™s identity.

We have many more threads about specific countries and regions, border disputes, geocoding, etc over on our blog:
blog.opencagedata.com/geothrea

If you likes Wales, you may enjoy

๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ Scotland: en.osm.town/@opencage/11213292

and

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ช Ireland: en.osm.town/@opencage/11142578

Until next time!

12/ Diolch am ddarllen! / Thanks for reading!

We hope you enjoyed this look at geoweirdness of Wales ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ.

Language and geography are intrinsically linked, and it is fascinating to see how they can shape a countryโ€™s identity.

We have many more threads about specific countries and regions, border disputes, geocoding, etc over on our blog:
blog.opencagedata.com/geothrea

Screenshot from the OpenCage blog page listing all of our geothreads
Go Up