United Kingdom

About this destination

The name Britain was first used by the Romans, who called the island Britannia. The prefix 'great' is used to distinguish it from Brittany, which was originally called lesser Britannia ("Greater Britain", in French: Grande Bretagne; versus "Lesser Brittany", in French: Petite Bretagne). The first origin of the name should, however, be attributed to the Greek explorer Pytheas, around 325 BC. The Celtic inhabitants of the region painted themselves with a blue-green dye from the woad plant when they went into battle.