Encyclopaedia of Wales

The Encyclopaedia of Wales is a single-volume-publication encyclopaedia on Wales. The English-language and Welsh-language editions were published simultaneously; the Welsh-language edition is titled Gwyddoniadur Cymru.

The publication was released in January 2008. The encyclopaedia indexes 6 ,000 facts about Wales compiled by 400 researchers over ten years. Publishers claim they have included facts from every community in Wales. Ashley Drake of the University of Wales said that it is a "celebration of Wales and Welshness. With everything you could think of about Wales in [the encyclopaedia]," adding "Every town, every village, every city is mentioned in there," and including famous people in the fields of science, religion, politics, popular culture, amongst others.

Included in the encyclopaedia are such facts as these:

• The equals sign was created by Welshman Robert Recorde of Tenby in the 1540s.
• Felinfoel was the first brewery to can beer in Europe.
• The nearest point between Wales and Ireland is the lighthouse on Strumble Head
• Wales' largest metal dragon is in Newport.
• Newtown had the first mail order service in Great Britain.
• The worlds tallest mountain was named after Welshman George Everest.
• Swansea is the wettest city in Great Britain.
• World's rarest apple was discovered on Bardsey Island in 2000.
• Wales produces more energy than it consumes.

"It is a long way from the infamous entry in an index of a 19th-century encyclopaedia which read 'For Wales, See England,' said correspondent Caroline Evans in her report on BBC Wales Today, July 12, 2007.

Sources

• BBC Wales Today broadcast extracted from online 12 July 2007

External links

• Encyclopaedia of Wales
• What is Wales? - Review on guardian.co.uk 29.3.08