xenophobia toward the welsh (a thread)

not many people know about what happened to Wales, and how we almost completely lost our culture and language. so i decided to make a thread that’ll hopefully help educate people on what happened, and what is currently happening as we speak.

Wales was conquered in around 1277 and 1283 by Edward I, he had lost his patience with all the rebellions toward the English. to celebrate his victory of conquering Wales, he built numerous castles and colonial towns, in which the welsh were excluded from living in.

not only that, the welsh were also denied certain legal rights. there was no attempt to destroy the welsh language...yet. now, Wales was a colony, ruled and exploited for English gain.

although there was resentment, many learned to live in this new reality. but in 1400, this resentment completely exploded into a rebellion under Owain Glyndŵr, it was spread across the whole nation, this destroyed a lot of the economy in ensuing violence and retaliations

all the destruction that the rebellion had caused let to some reconciliation on both sides, but the race laws denied welshmen some legal rights still.

in 1536, the English sovereignty over Wales was made official with Henry VIII’s Act of Union. the use of the welsh language became largely banned and laws were passed which removed the official status of the welsh language.

this law even went to schools in Wales. if a student was caught speaking welsh, they were made to wear the ‘Welsh Knot’ throughout the whole school day, and at the end of said school day, they were beaten.

to get a job, english also had to be spoken, so getting jobs would be extremely hard for the welsh as the only language they spoke was welsh really. but luckily, the welsh pulled through all the struggles and we are still able to celebrate our culture and speak the language now.

though it did do a lot of damages as only 29.6% of people age 3+ is able to speak welsh.

hatred and discrimination of the welsh still goes on to this day though. here are some of what is said about us

our language and culture is not and should never be used as a joke.

cant forget this, its far from recent but it was still said.

here’s some pretty pictures of wales btw

for anyone who doesn’t know where wales is too, here’s a map

ALSO HUGE CREDIT TO @Creiddyladx FOR ALL THE SS, ILY

we’re also native bretons too :) here’s the gene map

Liverpool went to parliament for permission to drown the welsh valley Tryweryn for a reservoir and although the people who lived there protested against the drowning of their homes for 8 years, parliament still approved (they didn’t need welsh permission). Capel Celyn(a village-

in the valley) was one of the only welsh-speaking villages left. 35/36 welsh parliament members voted against it, the other didn’t vote and the cemetery was drowned

@Nice2KnoElla THIS AS WELL

also, people were defacing the memorial for remember tryweryn (cofiwch dryweryn)

TO ADD - under henry viii’s reign, the laws in wales acts 1535 and 1542 were put into place, which extended english law to wales. this guy (can’t find his name ) was brought over to harshly implement these laws. he executed 900-1000 welsh people on top of a mountain.