Connie Whitaker, age 12, of High Point, North Carolina, for her question:

Is England the same as Great Britain?

In ancient times this small kingdom was partitioned into smaller realms. The central region from the south coast to the Scottish borderland was ruled by the king of England. A western region of rough mountains was isolated and populated by the Welsh people who refused to consider themselves or their country as part of England. To the North, the Scottish people fought long and hard to maintain a separate country of their own. Struggles between England and her neighbors went on through many centuries.

Eventually, both Scotland and Wales agreed that a sort of merger with England was sensible and maybe to everyone's advantage. The three new friends remade a flag for themselves that merged historic symbols of their former flags. Together they became Great Britain and the flag became the bright, cheerful pennant known as the Union Jack. So England is part, but not all, of Great Britain.

Sometimes we refer to the British Isles, which includes Ireland. But most of Ireland is an independent country, Eire, though Britishers sometimes refer to Great Britain and Ireland as a political unit.