Bermuda And Falklands, Great Britain Or United Kingdom

Three of the four countries that make up the UK have their own national government or assembly - so we certainly see ourselves as Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish. England doesn't have an English parliment - only the UK one at Westminister which governs all four countries, and indeed this is curently the cause of some debate. Only it has tax raising powers etc.

Together, the four countries make (as Peter says) the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island. The term Great Britain is used to refer to three of the countries - it excludes us here in Northern Ireland.

Although other sundry islands such as the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands lie close to the UK they are not part of it but are are British dependencies. Indeed the Isle of man is not even in the EU (lucky people...)

The term "British Isles" includes all the Islands and the Republic of Ireland - though the term is not used or really liked by those in the Republic - perhaps understandably so - but it was always a geographicial term, not a political one.

I hope this helps

Thanks for the replies, I am confused more now , politics aside I created it as follows:

-United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
-+Great Britain.
-+Bermuda.
-+Falkland Islands.
-+etc

the alphabetical order will not work, because then I will have 25 main categories(no countries start with x I think).

and will have issues with countries with complex names like Republic of The Gambia.

is it (R)epublic of The Gambia.
or (T)he Gambia.
or simply (G)ambia.

That is a good idea, thanks sap.

"Dependant Islands". What is this exactly? I think I understand it but want to make sure I have all of my facts right. Does the British Government in England call all of the shots and draft all of the laws for these "Dependant" places? Or do they just mint their coins?

Thanks. I'll check these out.