Population in Wales
The population estimate for Wales in the early Middle Ages, at the Norman Conquest in 1066, is 150,000. This is squarely in the ‘medieval warming period’ which began around 950 AD, in which Wales experienced a warmer climate than between the 13th and 19th centuries. This site indicates that the population doubled by 1350 to 300,000, but then was cut by 1/3 with the Black Death. It didn’t reach that total again until the 16th century. As of 2008, the population of Wales was roughly 3 million, creeping slowly up from 2.8 million in 1991. Cardiff, the capital, is by far the biggest city, with slightly fewer than 300,000 people. http://www.citypopulation.de/UK-Wales.html. In the Middle Ages, Cardiff’s population was between 1500 and 2000 people–and was one of the few, and certainly one of the largest–towns in Wales. http://www.localhistories.org/Cardiff.html This population is spread over Read more…
Welsh Independence (part . . . 227?)
A reader of this blog, Joe, asked me a question the other day. He said: “I was recently listening to the audio version of “The Economist” and heard an article about the Welsh vote on devolution. One of the article’s lead sentences was (I’m paraphrasing) : “On a cold day in Cardiff, it’s hard to catch any talk of devolution, and even harder to find anyone who cares much about it”. Do you agree with this assessment? And if so, do you think there’s a historical or cultural aspect to why some people in Wales feel they way they do? (I’m curious because, if I lived in Wales, I think I would be very likely to have a strong opinion on the matter.) —————– I think that the perspective on Welsh devolution varies according to where an individual lives (including Read more…
Sunrise and Sunset in Wales
For those who live in a far northern or southern region of the planet, this will not be news, but for the vast majority of people who do not, the idea that the sun will not set in the summer until what is traditionally viewed as ‘night’ and will rise far too early in the morning is very foreign. Look at the chart below, showing sunrise and sunset times for Cardiff (which is in southern Wales) for June 2010. Note that for the entire month, the sun rise varies by 7 minutes: rising at 5:02 am, reaching 4:55 am in the middle of the month, and by the end of the month is again at 4:59 am. Sunset varies by 13 minutes, peaking at a 16 hour, 38 minute ‘day’. 1-Jun-10 5:02 AM 9:20 PM 16h 18m 32s 2-Jun-10 5:01 AM Read more…
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