Why do Americans always think that Wales is in England?

Question

Why is it everytime I go to the States and people ask me where I'm from, I say Wales and they say England. Have they no idea we are seperate? I'm not against England or anything it just really gets me down that they don't seem to grasp the idea! Someone show them a map!

Answer 1

I'm Welsh and I live here,always had the same problem, it's simply that they are not tought much Geography here. I often feel like billing the Welsh Tourist board. Friends go to the Uk and I tell them to go to Wales and how easy it is by train from London, they come back and all of them say they loved it.I keep writing to the WTB but they don't seem to care.

Answer 2

As a Scot who has been to America a couple of times, I've found most Americans are very clued up on the UK and the seperate countries which make it up. It's actually people from Continental Europe who show the most ignorance in assuming Scotland and Wales are little cities in England.

Answer 3

I always knew Wales was next to England, but I always thought of it as a different country.

Although, when I studied in London last fall, while on a tour of the Houses of Parliament, the tour guide said that Wales was actually (technically?) part of England. That's why there were only three symbols on the walls or whatever: England, Scotland, and Ireland. Nothing to represent Wales with.

Answer 4

yeah, tell me about it!

I spoke to loads of people in bars, hotels etc across california and New York on a 3 week stop over on my way back from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Those other countries knew a whole lot more about England and its cities and the definition of "england", "The UK" and "Great Britain" than americans did.

They're just generally ignorant and obnoxious, steming from the "U-S-A!!!!" culture... creation theory in schools, bow down to the flag and their "ungodly" obsession with Jesus.

From my experience MOST americans only know of London. When i said i was from england, they always replied "london?" so i said "no". 90% of the time the reply was then "wales?"

Only a small percentage of americans hold passports which shows how ignorant they are to other cultures, countries, language etc which is a shame because its the only thing you can fault about their country - the attitude of its people and their obnoxious and uneducated views on the rest of the world.

Answer 5

It is true. Most people call the UK 'England'. I don't know why is this, but they do. Somehow, England became a symbol for Britain. Perhaps because England is considered to be the political, military and cultural center of the country. It is still a matter of low education. I'm from Serbia, a former part of Yugoslavia, and I know how upseting it is for me when people think I'm a Muslim (like Bosnians), or tell me that they know someone from Zagreb (Croatia).
Once I heard, on CNN, I believe, that Belgrade (capital of former Yugoslavia, capital of Serbia) is the capital of Kosovo (region in south Serbia).

Answer 6

For the same reason that people think Hong Kong is a country. Don't know, don't care, uneducated. Also, the US is a big country, you can stick about 50 Wales within our borders. Some people here can't even tell you what's in the next county.

Answer 7

It's because we Americans are ignorant of the outside world. Very few of us travel out of the US... You should see us in a Renaissance festival... It's outright embarrassing.

My mother is from England and is tired of hearing Americans ask her what language they speak over there!

I work in the Alaskan Arctic and I'm constantly asked if I live in an igloo.

I also work in the Middle East from time to time(I'm writing this from Oman). My mother in law called me at 2:00am when a bomb went off in a hotel in "Amman" (Jordan).

When I stated the difference between Oman and Amman, she was still worried as it's all "over there". Americans think that everything outside of the US exists in a very small area. I had to explain to her that a bomb going off in Amman would be like a Bomb going off in Montreal, Canada to where she lives in Texas.


Another part of of the puzzle lies in who actually and ultimately rules Wales and Scotland. It's the corporate mentality.... Like Kellogg Brown and Root and Dresser are Halliburton entities, so "Halliburton" gets the blame for asbestos and Iraqi oil contract monopolies.

England "owns" Wales... Therefore it's sort of a blind mentality of Americans to call the Welsh "English"

-- But the Scots are "Scotch" which really annoys me.

Answer 8

I even ought to consider 'i love the large pink one'. The British Isles refers to great Britain and eire(it also incorporates the Channel Islands and the Isle of guy), even with the reality that there is a good type of controversy over eire being blanketed, as we fought for our freedom and so on with many those who want the time period British and Irish Isles. also The Act of Union in 1800 meant that eire replaced into area of the united kingdom until eventually i trust 1922 even as the Anglo-Irish Treaty created the Irish loose State. notwithstanding, even as even human beings in England imagine that eire continues to be area of england and the united kingdom. And maximum year 8 scholars do not comprehend the capital cities of Scotland, Wales and northern eire. Is it extremely THAT outstanding that individuals imagine Wales is area of england?

Answer 9

American people are not taught geography in school.
Neither are our students taught history, at least not factual history.

There was a geography test given nationwide to college students some years ago. More than half chose Brazil as the place where they thought the USA was.

Some years ago, when I lived in New York state, a group of students went on a trip to Jamaica. They were told that their plane would land in Kingston. Some of the students thought that they were going only about five miles to Kingston, New York, and could not understand why they had to fly there.

Answer 10

we know it is a different area we just substitute England for UK a lot. They are interchangable to us. Especially since geography on the other side of the globe that most Americans won't travel to in their lifetime. We know they are connected on the island and for most of our lives that is good enough to get by here. I know they are different and are under the umbrella of UK but most think that England conquered it all and it is now all England except for culture.