Cornwall

The far southwest, where the language died and is being rebuilt from manuscripts. Cornwall was the last Brittonic-speaking territory in England, holding out as a distinct kingdom, Kernow, after the Saxon advance, and Athelstan fixed the Tamar as its boundary around 936 - a line that still marks the county. Its identity rested on three things: the language, the tin, and the sea. Cornish tin was traded to the Mediterranean in antiquity and Cornwall was among the world's leading producers into the nineteenth century, developing deep mining techniques and the beam engine that Cornish miners then carried to Mexico, South Africa and Australia when the industry collapsed. The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 was partly a protest against an English liturgy in a Cornish-speaking region, and its suppression accelerated the language's decline; the last traditional speakers died in the eighteenth century. Revival began around 1900 and Cornish now has several hundred fluent speakers and official minority status. The Duchy of Cornwall provides the heir to the throne's income. Its mining landscape is a World Heritage site. Methodism took deep hold here. The county has about 570 thousand residents and no city of any size. St Michael's Mount faces its Breton counterpart across the Channel. Cornish pasties have protected geographical status. The Eden Project was built in a worked-out china clay pit. Surfing on the north coast is now a significant economy, alongside tourism that multiplies the summer population. Cornwall has its own flag, the cross of Saint Piran, flown widely across the county.

• Existed: 600 CE – present
• Type: Entity