Anglesey
Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.) |
Anglesey (Hindi: अंगलेशी) is an island situated on the north coast of Wales with an area of 715 km2.[1] Anglesey is by far the largest island in Wales and the seventh largest in the British Isles. Anglesey is also the largest island in the Irish Sea by area, and the second most populous island (after the Isle of Man).
Name
The name of the island may be derived from the Old Norse; either Ǫngullsey "Hook Island"[2] or Ǫnglisey "Ǫngli's Island".[3] No record of such an Ǫngli survives,[4] but the place name was used in the Viking raiders as early as the 10th century and was later adopted by the Normans during their invasions of Gwynedd.[5] The traditional folk etymology reading the name as the "Island of the Angles (English)"[6][7] may account for its Norman use but has no merit,[8] although the Angles' name itself is probably a cognate reference to the shape of the Angeln peninsula. All of these ultimately derive from the proposed Proto-Indo-European root *ank- ("to flex, bend, angle").[9] Through the 18th and 19th centuries and into the 20th, it was usually spelt Anglesea in documents.[10]
Ynys Môn, the island's Welsh name, was first recorded as Latin Mona by various Roman sources.[11] It was likewise known to the Saxons as Monez.[12] The Brittonic original was in the past taken to have meant "Island of the Cow".[13][14] This view is untenable, however, according to modern scientific philology, and the etymology remains a mystery.
History
Numerous megalithic monuments and menhirs are present on Anglesey, testifying to the presence of humans in prehistory. Plas Newydd is near one of 28 cromlechs that remain on uplands overlooking the sea. The Welsh Triads claim that Anglesey was once part of the mainland.[15]
Historically, Anglesey has long been associated with the druids. In AD 60 the Roman general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, determined to break the power of the druids, attacked the island using his amphibious Batavian contingent as a surprise vanguard assault[16] and then destroying the shrine and the nemetons (sacred groves). News of Boudica's revolt reached him just after his victory, causing him to withdraw his army before consolidating his conquest. The island was finally brought into the Roman Empire by Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain, in AD 78. During the Roman occupation, the area was notable for the mining of copper. The foundations of Caer Gybi as well as a fort at Holyhead are Roman, and the present road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll was originally a Roman road.[17] The island was grouped by Ptolemy with Ireland ("Hibernia") rather than with Britain ("Albion").[18]
British Iron Age and Roman sites have been excavated and coins and ornaments discovered, especially by the 19th century antiquarian, William Owen Stanley.[19]Following the Roman departure from Britain in the early 5th century, pirates from Ireland colonised Anglesey and the nearby Llŷn Peninsula. In response to this, Cunedda ap Edern, a Gododdin warlord from Scotland, came to the area and began to drive the Irish out. This was continued by his son Einion Yrth ap Cunedda and grandson Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion; the last Irish invaders were finally defeated in battle in 470. As an island, Anglesey was in a good defensive position, and so Aberffraw became the site of the court, or Llys, of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Apart from a devastating Danish raid in 853 it remained the capital until the 13th century, when improvements to the English navy made the location indefensible. Anglesey was also briefly the most southern possession of the Norwegian Empire.
After the Irish, the island was invaded by Vikings — some of these raids were noted in famous sagas — and by Saxons, and Normans, before falling to Edward I of England in the 13th century.
Anglesey (together with Holy Island) is one of the thirteen historic counties of Wales. In medieval times, before the conquest of Wales in 1283, Môn often had periods of temporary independence, as it was frequently bequeathed to the heirs of kings as a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd. The last times this occurred were a few years after 1171, following the death of Owain Gwynedd, when the island was inherited by Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd, and between 1246 and c. 1255, when it was granted to Owain Goch as his share of the kingdom. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I, Anglesey was created a county under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284. Prior to this it had been divided into the cantrefi of Aberffraw, Rhosyr and Cemaes.
Jat History
Dalip Singh Ahlawat[20] writes that Jat Blood flows in the people of England as the Celts, Jutes, Angles, Saxons and Danes were descendants of Scythian Jats. This is evident from Jat Clans surnames still prevalent in England though they follow Christianity. [21]
प्राचीनकाल में यूरोप देश
दलीप सिंह अहलावत[22] लिखते हैं: यूरोप देश - इस देश को प्राचीनकाल में कारुपथ तथा अङ्गदियापुरी कहते थे, जिसको श्रीमान् महाराज रामचन्द्र जी के आज्ञानुसार लक्ष्मण जी ने एक वर्ष यूरोप में रहकर अपने ज्येष्ठ पुत्र अंगद के लिए आबाद किया था जो कि द्वापर में हरिवर्ष तथा अंगदेश और अब हंगरी आदि नामों से प्रसिद्ध है। अंगदियापुरी के दक्षिणी भाग में रूम सागर और अटलांटिक सागर के किनारे-किनारे अफ्रीका निवासी हब्शी आदि राक्षस जातियों के आक्रमण रोकने के लिए लक्ष्मण जी ने वीर सैनिकों की छावनियां आवर्त्त कीं। जिसको अब ऑस्ट्रिया कहते हैं। उत्तरी भाग में ब्रह्मपुरी बसाई जिसको अब जर्मनी कहते हैं। दोनों भागों के मध्य लक्ष्मण जी ने अपना हैडक्वार्टर बनाया जिसको अब लक्षमबर्ग कहते हैं। उसी के पास श्री रामचन्द्र जी के खानदानी नाम नारायण से नारायण मंडी आबाद हुई जिसको अब नॉरमण्डी कहते हैं। नॉरमण्डी के निकट एक दूसरे से मिले हुए द्वीप अंगलेशी नाम से आवर्त्त हुए जिसको पहले ऐंग्लेसी कहते थे और अब इंग्लैण्ड कहते हैं।
द्वापर के अन्त में अंगदियापुरी देश, अंगदेश के नाम से प्रसिद्ध हुआ, जिसका राज्य सम्राट् दुर्योधन ने अपने मित्र राजा कर्ण को दे दिया था। करीब-करीब यूरोप के समस्त देशों का राज्य शासन आज तक महात्मा अंगद के उत्तराधिकारी अंगवंशीय तथा अंगलेशों के हाथ में है, जो कि ऐंग्लो, एंग्लोसेक्शन, ऐंग्लेसी, इंगलिश, इंगेरियन्स आदि नामों से प्रसिद्ध है और जर्मनी में आज तक संस्कृत भाषा का आदर तथा वेदों के स्वाध्याय का प्रचार है। (पृ० 1-3)।
यूरोप अपभ्रंश है युवरोप का। युव-युवराज, रोप-आरोप किया हुआ। तात्पर्य है उस देश से, जो लक्ष्मण जी के ज्येष्ठपुत्र अङ्गद के लिए आवर्त्त किया गया था। यूरोप के निवासी यूरोपियन्स कहलाते हैं। यूरोपियन्स बहुवचन है यूरोपियन का। यूरोपियन विशेषण है यूरोपी का। यूरोपी अपभ्रंश है युवरोपी का। तात्पर्य है उन लोगों से जो यूरोप देश में युवराज अङ्गद के साथ भेजे और बसाए गये थे। (पृ० 4)
कारुपथ यौगिक शब्द है कारु + पथ का। कारु = कारो, पथ = रास्ता। तात्पर्य है उस देश से जो भूमध्य रेखा से बहुत दूर कार्पेथियन पर्वत (Carpathian Mts.) के चारों ओर ऑस्ट्रिया, हंगरी, जर्मनी, इंग्लैण्ड, लक्षमबर्ग, नॉरमण्डी आदि नामों से फैला हुआ है। जैसे एशिया में हिमालय पर्वतमाला है, इसी तरह यूरोप में कार्पेथियन पर्वतमाला है।
इससे सिद्ध हुआ कि श्री रामचन्द्र जी के समय तक वीरान यूरोप देश कारुपथ देश कहलाता था। उसके आबाद करने पर युवरोप, अङ्गदियापुरी तथा अङ्गदेश के नाम से प्रसिद्ध हुआ और ग्रेट ब्रिटेन, आयरलैण्ड, ऑस्ट्रिया, हंगरी, जर्मनी, लक्षमबर्ग, नॉरमण्डी, फ्रांस, बेल्जियम, हालैण्ड, डेनमार्क, स्विट्जरलैंड, इटली, पोलैंड आदि अङ्गदियापुरी के प्रान्तमात्र महात्मा अङ्गद के क्षेत्र शासन के आधारी किये गये थे। (पृ० 4-5)
नोट - महाभारतकाल में यूरोप को ‘हरिवर्ष’ कहते हैं। हरि कहते हैं बन्दर को। उस देश में अब भी रक्तमुख अर्थात् वानर के समान भूरे नेत्र वाले होते हैं। ‘यूरोप’ को संस्कृत में ‘हरिवर्ष’ कहते थे। [23]
References
- ↑ "Anglesey Nature introduction"
- ↑ Lena Peterson, et al. Nordiskt runnamnslexikon (Dictionary of Names from Runic Inscriptions), p. 116, May 2001.
- ↑ Room, Adrian. Placenames of the World, p. 30. McFarland, 2003.
- ↑ Warren Kovach Anglesey, Wales.
- ↑ Davies, John. A History of Wales, pp. 98–99.
- ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Anglesey", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 17–18.
- ↑ The London Encyclopaedia. "Anglesey". Tegg (London), 1839.
- ↑ Room, Adrian. Placenames of the World, p. 30. McFarland, 2003.
- ↑ University of Texas at Austin's Linguistics Research Center. "Proto-Indo-European Etyma 9.14 Archived March 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.: Physical Acts & Materials: to Bend". 17 May 2011.
- ↑ Chisholm 1911, pp. 17–18.
- ↑ 1. Tacitus. Annals, XIV.29. and Agricola, XIV.14 & 18. Accessed 6 April 2013. 2. Pliny. Natural History, IV.30. Accessed 6 April 2013. 3. Cassius Dio. Roman History, 62.
- ↑ The Present State of the British Empire in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. Wales. Anglesea. Griffith (London), 1768.
- ↑ Chisholm 1911, pp. 17–18.
- ↑ Davies, Edward. The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, p. 177. Booth (London), 1809.
- ↑ Chisholm 1911, pp. 17–18.
- ↑ Tacitus Agricola 18.3-5
- ↑ Chisholm, Hugh (1910). The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information. Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 18.
- ↑ Ptolemy, Geog., Bk. 2, Ch. 1 & 2
- ↑ Stanley, Anglesey, 1871, and many Celtic contributions, especially on Celtic subjects, to Archaeologia Cambrensis.
- ↑ Jat History Dalip Singh Ahlawat/Chapter IV, p.401
- ↑ Ujagar Singh Mahil: Antiquity of Jat Race, p.66-70
- ↑ Jat History Dalip Singh Ahlawat/Chapter IV,p.339-340
- ↑ (सत्यार्थप्रकाश दशम समुल्लास पृ० 173)