| The Isle of Man |
The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin in Manx), a British Crown Dependency, lies in the Irish Sea almost an equil distance from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
With an area of 572 km² (221 square miles) and a population of around 76,315 (2001 Census) it arguably has the "Oldest Continuous Parliament in the World" (a claim made by several other countries) - the Tynwald - supposedly founded in 979.
Part of the Norwegian Kingdom of the Hebrides until the 13th century when it was ceded to Scotland, the island came under the British crown in 1765. Current concerns include reviving the almost extinct Manx Gaelic language, the native language for the Isle of Man.
English is now the only language spoken on the island. The Isle of Man is a dependency of the British Crown, it is not part of the United Kingdom or a member of the EU.
The island is also famous for the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Race, which is a motorcycle racing event held on the Isle of Man since 1907. The tailless Manx cat originated on the island. |
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| Flag |
The flag of the Isle of Man shows a triskelion, the Three Legs of Man emblem, in the centre of a red flag.
The three legs are joined at the thigh and bent at the knee. In order to have the toes pointing clockwise on both sides of the flag, a two-sided emblem is used.
The Three Legs of Man is the island's symbol of Independence.
While there is much local argument about which way the legs run (officially it is clockwise), the symbol's meaning is undisputed:
Quocunque Jeceris Stabit - 'Whichever way you throw me I stand'. |
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| Geography |
| The mountain Snaefell (621m) dominates the centre of the island: from its summit, according to an old saying, one can see seven kingdoms: the Kingdoms of Man, Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Heaven and the Sea. The island's terrain is varied. There are two mountainous areas divided by a central valley which runs between Douglas and Peel. The highest point on the island, Snaefell, is in the northern area and reaches 621m. The northern end of the island is a flat plain, consisting of glacial tills and marine sediments. To the south the island is more hilly, with distinct valleys. There is no land below sea level. |
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| Climate |
The Isle of Man has a temperate climate. Rainfall on the island can vary quite a lot depending on the location. There is less rainfall in the north of the island along the northern plain and in the south along the southern coast. The rainfall is abundant in the hill interior of the island, especially in the higher points of Snaefell Mountain. The Isle of Man rarely experiences frost or snow.
The summers are cool with clear skies. The winters are mild and wet. The island does not suffer with overcast skies as much as other places in the British Isles. The strong winds which whip through the island keep the clouds moving. |
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| History |
| The Isle of Man became separated from Britain and Ireland by about 8000 BC. It appears that colonisation took place by sea sometime before 6500 BC. The first residents lived in small natural shelters, hunting, fishing and gathering for their food. They used small tools made of flint or bone, which have been found near the coast. Representatives of these artifacts are kept at the Manx Museum. |
| The Neolithic Period marked the coming of knowledge of farming, better stone tools and pottery. It was during this period that megalithic monuments began to appear around the island. Examples from this period can be found at Cashtal yn Ard near Maughold, King Orry's Grave in Laxey, Meayll Circle near Cregneash, and Ballaharra Stones in St John's. This was not the only Neolithic culture; there were also the local Ronaldsway and Bann cultures. |
| During the Bronze Age, the large communal tombs of the megalith builders were replaced with smaller burial mounds. Bodies were put in stone lined graves along with ornamental containers. The Bronze Age burial mounds created long lasting markers about the countryside. According to John T. Koch and others, the Isle of Man in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included the other Celtic nations, England, France, Spain and Portugal where Celtic languages developed with the Tartessian language the first written Celtic language so far discovered. |
| The Iron Age marked the beginning of Celtic cultural influence. Large hill forts appeared on hill summits, and smaller promontory forts along the coastal cliffs, while large timber-framed roundhouses were built. It is likely that the first Celtic tribes to inhabit the Island were of the Brythonic variety. Around AD 700, cultural influence from Ireland, probably along with some degree of migration, precipitated a process of Gaelicisation, evidenced by Ogham inscriptions, giving rise to the Manx language, which remains closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. |
| Viking settlement of Mann began at the end of the 8th century. The Vikings established Tynwald and introduced many land divisions that still exist. They also left the Manx Runestones. Although the Manx language does contain Norse influences, they are few. The Norse Kingdom of Mann and the Isles was created by Godred Crovan in 1079 after the Battle of Skyhill. During Viking times, the islands of this kingdom were called the Súðreyjar or Sudreys ("southern isles") in contrast to the Norðreyjar ("northern isles") of Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides. This later became Anglicised as Sodor. The Church of England diocese is still called the Diocese of Sodor and Man although it only covers Man. |
| (When the Rev. W.V. Awdry wrote The Railway Series, he invented the island of Sodor as an imaginary island located between Mann and the Cumbrian coast.) |
| In 1266, as dictated in the Treaty of Perth, Norway's King Magnus VI ceded the isles to Scotland. Mann came under English control in the 14th century. During this period the Isle was dominated by the Stanley family, who also held the title of Earl of Derby, who had been given possession of Man by King Henry IV. In 1703, the Act of Settlement secured peasant rights and marked the beginning of a move away from feudal government. In 1765, however, the British Crown secured a greater control over the island, without incorporating it into Great Britain, laying the grounds for the island's status as a Crown dependency. |
| In 1866, greater autonomy was restored to the island's parliament and a full transition to democracy began. The Isle quickly developed as a finance centre and tourist destination, becoming increasingly prosperous during the 20th century. During both the First and Second World Wars the island was used as a location for internment camps for Central Powers and Axis citizens and suspected sympathisers, respectively. |
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| Manx Language |
The Manx language is closely related to the Scottish Gaelic and Irish languages. By the middle of the twentieth century only a few elderly native speakers remained: the last of them, Ned Maddrell, died on December 27, 1974.
By then a scholarly revival had begun to spread to the populace and many had learned Manx as a second language.
The first native speakers of Manx (bilingual with English) in many years have now appeared: children brought up by Manx-speaking parents.
Primary immersion education in Manx is provided by the Manx government: since 2003, the former St. John's School building has been used by the Bunscoill Gaelgagh (Manx language-medium school).
Degrees in Manx are available from the Isle of Man College, the Centre for Manx Studies and the University of Edinburgh. |
| Manx-language playgroups also exist, and Manx language classes are available in island schools. In the 1991 census, 1,689 out of a population of about 71,000 claimed to have knowledge of Manx, although the degree of knowledge in these cases presumably varied. A well known Manx expression is "Traa Dy Liooar", meaning "time enough" and represents a stereotypical view of the Manx attitude to life. |
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| Economy |
| Offshore banking, manufacturing, and tourism are key sectors of the economy of the Isle of Man. The government's policy of offering incentives to high-technology companies and financial institutions to locate on the island has paid off in expanding employment opportunities in high-income industries. As a result, agriculture and fishing, once the mainstays of the economy, have declined in their shares of GDP. Banking and other services now contribute the great bulk of GDP. Trade is mostly with the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man has access to European Union markets. |
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