Overview

Wales, the western, mountainous peninsula of the island of Great Britain, occupies an area just slightly larger than the state of New Jersey. Wales is shaped roughly like a rectangle with a section taken out of the west side—Cardigan Bay, facing Ireland across the Irish Channel. North of Cardigan Bay the island of Anglesey and the Lleyn peninsula jut westward; to the south, also stretching west, lies the larger Pembroke peninsula. Bounded by water on three sides, Wales itself constitutes a peninsula with its eastern border formed by England. Much of the terrain is mountainous. In the northwest is the rugged Snowdonia range, named for Mount Snowdon, at 3,560 feet the highest in Britain south of Scotland. Lesser mountains and hills run south through central Wales into Pembroke and the famous coalfields of South Wales.

Principal cities and towns lie mostly along the coast. Through...