Place · region

British Isles

The British Isles are the group of islands off north-western Europe made up of Great Britain, Ireland and many smaller islands, including the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland. From the late 8th century Norse raiders and settlers established colonies there, and many of the settlers of the Faroe Islands and Iceland came from these Norse communities or brought Gaelic companions and slaves.

British Isles
Image: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 4 profiles

Dal RiataMilitaryKingdom of EnglandDeclineOld NorseSpeakers, SummaryVikingsSummary

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Faroese CommonwealthIcelandic Commonwealth

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). British Isles. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/british-isles
MLA
“British Isles.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/british-isles. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “British Isles.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/british-isles.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘British Isles’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/british-isles (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻