CYMRU WALES

The bedrock of Wales came first - in some places 600 million year old pre-Cambrian strata are among oldest in the world. Undersea volcanoes then threw up dramatic mountain ranges and vast sheets of slate, followed by the coal measures. This geology has shaped Wales and her people beginning with the Celts who arrived from Europe in 6000BC, laying down the roots of Welsh culture. Sheep farmers worked the hills and river valleys, coal miners in the south powered industrialized Britain and slate quarrymen from the north roofed the world. A country of industrious, chapel-going people developed with diverse traditions of sport, craft, arts and of course the famous choirs of The Land of Song. Still widely spoken, the Welsh language is an ancient survivor of the Celts. It is alive in everyday speech, celebrated at the Eisteddfod cultural festivals, spoken at the recently formed National Assembly For Wales, heard on S4C, the Welch Television channel, and in the songs of  famous bands such as Catatonia. 

Today, Cymru continues to be cool and confident, weaving tradition and 21st century invention as harmoniously as the strands of a Welsh love knot.