View source for Great Britain

'''Great Britain''' is the island to the west of [[Europe]] (or part of it depending on your point of view) that consist of [[England]], [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] (but not [[Ireland]]). It is part of the [[United Kingdom]] but is commonly called [[Britain]].

The term was first formally used by [[James VI]] on 20 October 1604 to [[title]] himself as [[King]] of Great Britain but there were earlier usages. ''Bretayne the grete'' has been dated to 1338. In 1707 the Act of Union merged the [[kingdom]]s of Scotland and England into the kingdom of Great Britain.

The term is also used in [[English]] and [[French]] to differentiate between the island Britain and the area of Britain in [[France]].
:English:  ''Great Britain'' vs ''[[Brittany]]''
:French:   ''Grande Bretagne'' vs ''Bretagne''
[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] referred to them in his ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' as ''Britannia major'' and ''Britannia minor''.

''This information was extracted from the [[Wikipedia]] entry at [[Wikipedia:Great Britain]].''