People From Cornwall

People From Cornwall

The Cornish (Cornish: Kernowyon) are a people associated with Cornwall, in the southwest of England, in the United Kingdom, which is seen in some respects as distinct from the rest of England. Some have argued that the Cornish represent a distinct ethnic group within the UK, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons who inhabited southern and central Great Britain prior to the Roman conquest, and some in the county today continue to assert a distinct identity, separately or in addition to English or British identities. Cornish identity has been adopted by migrants into Cornwall, as well as by emigrant and descendant communities from Cornwall, the latter sometimes referred to as the Cornish diaspora. Although not included as an explicit option in the UK census, the numbers of those claiming Cornish ethnic and national identity are officially recognised and recorded.

Throughout classical antiquity, the ancient Britons formed a series of tribes, cultures and identities in Great Britain; the Dumnonii and Cornovii were the Celtic tribes who inhabited what was to become Cornwall during the Iron Age, Roman and post-Roman periods. The name Cornwall and its demonym Cornish are derived from the Celtic Cornovii tribe. The Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain in the 5th to 6th centuries pushed Celtic culture to the northern and western fringes of Great Britain. The Cornish people, who shared the Brythonic language with the Welsh, were referred to in the Old English language as the "Westwalas" meaning West Welsh. The Battle of Deorham between the Britons and Anglo-Saxons is thought to have resulted in a loss of landlinks with the people of Wales, and by the time of the Norman Conquest Cornwall had been effectively absorbed into the Kingdom of England.

The Cornish people and their Brythonic Cornish language experienced a process of anglicisation and attrition during the Medieval and early Modern Period. By the 18th century, and following the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Cornish language and identity had faded, replaced by the English language and British identity. A Celtic revival during the early-20th century enabled a cultural self-consciousness in Cornwall that revitalised the Cornish language and roused the Cornish to express a distinctly Celtic heritage.

In mid-2008, the population of Cornwall, including the Isles of Scilly was estimated to be 534,300. The Cornish self-government movement has called for greater recognition of Cornish culture, politics and language, and urged that Cornish people be accorded greater status, exemplified by the call for them to be one of the listed ethnic groups in the United Kingdom Census 2011 form. The Cornish language was granted official recognition under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2002, but the Cornish are not afforded protection under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.