53 17'N 4 20'W / 53 283, 4333

Anglesey

Geography
Area	714 km
Administrative capital	Llangefni
Largest city	Holyhead
ISO 3166-2	GB-AGY
ONS code	00NA
Demography
Population - Total ( 29 April 2001 ) - Density	66 829 hab 94 inhabitants / km
Ethnic	98.1% White / Caucassien
Percentage speaking Welsh	70.4%
Politics
County Council of the Isle of Anglesey www.anglesey.gov.uk
Control	Majority of independent
MP	Albert Owen
Assembly Members	Ieuan Wyn Jones (Local) North Wales (Regional)
MEP	Wales

The Anglesey (in Welsh : pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet : / ns'mo: n / ) is an island and a region of far north-west Wales , which is separated by a narrow stretch of water known as the Menai Strait as two bridges span.

The first of these is the Menai Suspension Bridge on the A5 which passes built by Thomas Telford in 1826 and the second, although more recent rebuilt twice is the Britannia Bridge , which passes on the A55 and the line Railway North Wales Coast Line.

Previously, the island of Anglesey was associated with the druids : even today 28 stone circles on the trays stand overlooking the sea (eg at Plas Newydd). Around 61 AD. AD , the Roman general Suetonius Paullinus, then 78, General Agricola , determined to undermine their authority, attacked the island and destroyed the temple and sacred groves. Known as Mona in Roman times, the island was then invaded by the Vikings to 853 , then by the Saxons and finally the Normans before falling under the sway of King Edward I of England in the thirteenth ^century.

The Britannia Bridge spanning the Menai Strait

The Welsh name of the island is currently Mon, deriving from the Brythonic Mona. The English name, Anglesey, is a distorted version of the old Norwegian ongullsey meaning "Island Ongull. Other Welsh names that were given the island Ynys Dywyll ("The Black Island") and Ynys y Cedyrn ("The Island of the Brave"). Tacitus , Pliny the Elder and Dio Cassius called it Mona. Giraldus Cambrensis Note that it is called Mam Cymru ('Mother of Wales "). She was also named, among others, Clas Merddin.

To believe in the triad, Anglesey was once part of the main island, this fact is proved by geological expertise. In the fifth ^century,Cadwallon annexed the island that became the cradle of the kingdom of Gwynedd. The princes of Gwynedd resided at Aberffraw , now a village southwest of the island from ^the ninth century until 1282 (the death of Llywelyn the Last ).

The road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll is a Roman via. It was excavated on the island of many camps, coins and ornaments and Roman Britain.

Geography

The Anglesey is a relatively flat island, with some higher regions, like the Parys Mountain, Cadair Mynachdy (or Monachsy, ie "the pulpit of the monastery, because there is a convent not far), Mynydd Bodafon and Holyhead Mountain. The island was considered the breadbasket of Wales, hence the name she received in the Middle Ages "Mother of Wales". This geographical advantage made it a strategic position during the centuries of confrontation between the leaders of the various kingdoms of England and the Welsh princes.

Anglesey has many small towns scattered across the island, which gives it a rather stable population distribution. Among the most important are:

• Biwmares (Beaumaris in English) where stands the castle of Beaumaris Edward ^I. built during his campaign in North Wales. This is now a marina important.
• Niwbwrch (Newborough in English) which was built by the inhabitants of Llanfaes when they had to be relocated during the construction of Beaumaris Castle and where lies the site of Llys Rhosyr, the court of the princes of medieval Wales, one of oldest in the United Kingdom.
• Llangefni , at the center of the island, which is now the administrative center of the area of Anglesey.
• Porthaethwy (Menai Bridge) which was enlarged during construction of the bridge in order to house the workers. It was originally a major crossing point for ferries. Near this town is Bryn Celli Ddu, a burial mound of the Stone Age.
• The town of Amlwch , north-east, formerly an important industrial center since built in the eighteenth ^century to exploit the copper mine of Parys Mountain.
• Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch , which has the merit of the village which has one of the longest names in the world, even if it is a name invented in the ^nineteenth century for the tourists in Welsh we say simply Llanfairpwll or Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll.
• Finally, also note the cities of Cemaes , Benllech , Pentraeth , Gaerwen , Dwyran , Bodedern and Rhosneigr.

There is also an aquatic zoo has become a tourist attraction whose "residents" are local species (lobsters, eels, etc..) Which has been recreated natural habitat. In addition, the zoo created salt by evaporating seawater and is the breeding of pearl oysters and lobsters.

All the rural coast of the island was declared "area of outstanding natural beauty" and has many beaches, particularly along the east coast and around Beaumaris and Amlwch and along the coast is close between Ynys Llanddwyn small bays around Caramel Head, to Rhosneigr.

Today it is tourism which is the main economic activity of the island, followed by agriculture which are the most productive dairies in the region. There is also a nuclear power station, Wylfa plant at Cape Wylfa on the north coast.

The main industries are concentrated in Holyhead which owns an aluminum smelter, and Amlwch, near Wylfa nuclear power station, where a plant to extract bromine. Nevertheless, there are a whole battery of smaller industries, concentrated mostly in industrial parks and Llangefni Gaerwen, including a slaughterhouse, centers of manufacturing chemicals or lumber, aluminum smelters centers, fish farming and processing plants food products.

The Anglesey is also one of the main roads leading from Britain to Ireland , with ferries leaving from Holyhead to the west of Holy Island and lead to Dn Laoghaire and Dublin.

There are few lakes, mainly in the west as the Horns cerrig y daran , but rivers are few and small cons. There are two large water tanks led by Dwr Cymru: Llyn Cefni at the center of the island, fed by the waters of the Afon Cefni, Llyn Alaw and north of the island. Llyn Llywenan is the largest natural lake in the island.

The climate is damp but constant due to the effects of the Gulf Stream, which bathes the island. The land quality is uneven and was probably more fertile in the past.

Ecology

Livestock production, aided by modern technology is used fairly intensively over much of Anglesey. Ecological conservation is not widely applied in these places, but there are nevertheless some sites that are protected. In addition, some lakes, inhabited by many species of waterfowl and semi-aquatic ecological interest important. To the west, it is believed that marshes are home Malltraeth at a species of Ardeidae (bird of the heron family) and near the estuary of Afon Cerfi also hosts birds made internationally famous through the paintings of Charles Tunnicliffe.

The cliffs of South Stack near Holyhead provide the opportunity to make nests for many species of penguins ( Puffin , Razorbill and Guillemot ) and for species of Peregrine and Chough.

Three sites in Anglesey are important sites for wedding terns.

Culture

In 1999 , Anglesey hosted the Festival of Eisteddfod (a festival literary, poetic and musical Welsh)

Related article

• List of islands of Wales

Trivia

• The group Folk Metal Swiss insipration of Celtic Eluveitie has a song by the name of Inis Mona speaking of this island and its history on his third album Slania.

Subdivisions of Wales
Counties	Anglesey Carmarthenshire Ceredigion Denbighshire Flintshire Gwynedd Monmouthshire Pembrokeshire Powys
County boroughs	Blaenau Gwent Bridgend Caerphilly Conwy Merthyr Tydfil Neath Port Talbot Rhondda Cynon Taf Torfaen Vale of Glamorgan Wrexham
City-county	Cardiff Swansea
Cities	Bangor Newport St David's

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