Guernsey |
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Guernsey, an island located in the English channel
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Status | Jurisdiction | ||||
Capital and largest city |
St. Peter Port (Saint-Pierre-Port) 49°27′N 2°36′W / 49.450°N 2.600°W |
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Official languages | |||||
Recognised regional languages | |||||
Part of | Bailiwick of Guernsey | ||||
Leaders | |||||
• Monarch
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Queen Elizabeth II | ||||
Vice Admiral Sir Ian Corder KBE, CB | |||||
• Bailiff
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Sir Richard Collas | ||||
• President of Policy & Resources Committee
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Gavin St Pier | ||||
Establishment | |||||
• Administrative separation from mainland Normandy
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1204 | ||||
• Liberation from Nazi Germany
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9 May 1945 | ||||
Area | |||||
• Total
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65 km2 (25 sq mi) | ||||
• Water (%)
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0 | ||||
Population | |||||
• 2016 estimate
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63,026 | ||||
• Density
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965/km2 (2,499.3/sq mi) | ||||
GDP (PPP) | 2015 estimate | ||||
• Total
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$3.473 billion | ||||
• Per capita
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$55,186 | ||||
Currency | Guernsey Pound, Pound sterlingd (GGP, GBP) | ||||
Time zone | GMT | ||||
• Summer (DST)
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(UTC+1) | ||||
Drives on the | left | ||||
Calling code | +44e | ||||
ISO 3166 code | GG | ||||
Internet TLD | .gg | ||||
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Guernsey is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. With several smaller nearby islands, it forms a jurisdiction within the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency. The jurisdiction is made up of ten parishes on the island of Guernsey, three other inhabited islands (Herm, Jethou and Lihou), and many small islets and rocks. The jurisdiction is not part of the United Kingdom, although defence and most foreign relations are handled by the British Government.
The entire jurisdiction lies within the Common Travel Area of the British Isles and is not a member of the European Union, but has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community with access to the single market for the purposes of free trade in goods. Taken together with the separate jurisdictions of Alderney and Sark it forms the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The two Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey together form the geographical grouping known as the Channel Islands.
The name "Guernsey", as well as that of neighbouring "Jersey", is of Old Norse origin. The second element of each word, "", is the Old Norse for "island", while the original root, "guern(s)", is of uncertain origin and meaning. (It could be from the latinification of the word "Kvern", or "mill", in old and new Icelandic and Norwegian, meaning "mill-island")
Around 6000 BC, rising seas created the English Channel and separated the Norman promontories that became the bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey from continental Europe.Neolithic farmers then settled on its coast and built the dolmens and menhirs found in the islands today.