David Black, age 15, of Lyconia, N.H.., for his question:
WHO RULES THE COUNTRY OF WALES?
Wales is a constitutional monarchy and is part of Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state but a cabinet of government officials called ministers actually rules the nation. The prime minister is the chief governing official.
Although Wales has been united with England for more than 400 years, the Welsh have kept alive their own language, literature and traditions. The people have great pride in their country.
Britain's laws are made by Parliament, which consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Wales elects 36 members of the 630 in the House of Commons. Most of the members of the House of Lords are noblemen who have inherited their seats.
The chief administrative official of Wales is the secretary of state for Wales. He is appointed by the British prime minister and is a member of the Cabinet. The secretary of state heads the Welsh Office in Cardiff. The Welsh Office carries out the day to day administration of Wales. It is responsible for local government, housing, public health, roads, national parks, town planning, water and sewerage systems and welfare programs.
Some Welshmen object to being governed by Great Britain. A Welsh nationalist party called the Plaid Cymru seeks complete independence for Wales from Britian. Other Welshmen think that Wales should at least have its own parliament.
Most of the Welsh are descended from peoples who began settling in the British Isles thousands of years ago. Wales now has a population that is close to 3 million. The country is slightly larger than the state of New Jersey.
Coal is the most important natural resource of Wales. In northern Wales, the Cambrian Mountains contain limestone and slate. One of the largest slate quarries in the world is located in the northwest.
The country's chief manufactured products are aluminum, iron, steel and tin plate.
We don't know how long people have been living in what is now Wales. But we do know that people called Iberians lived there between 6000 and 3000 B.C. These people used flint to make tools.
About 2000 B.C., people called Beaker folk settled in the Wales region. Their name comes from small clay containers called beakers, which they buried with their dead. The Beaker folk raised crops and made bronze tools.
About 600 B.C., the Celts invaded and conquered the country. The Celts introduced the use of iron in Wales. Then the Romans, who had conquered England in A.D. 43, conquered Wales between A.D. 60 and 75. They controlled the country for nearly 400 years.
When the Romans left Wales and England, Angles and Saxons from northern Germany invaded. They conquered all the Celtic tribes in England except the Britons, who fled to Wales. For hundreds of years, the Britons succeeded in keeping Wales independent.
Then came a long struggle between the Anglo Saxons and the Welsh. It came to a climax in 1485 when Henry Tudor, a Welsh prince, became King Henry VII of England. The Welsh people then gradually began to accept the idea of uniting with England.