The Celtic Nations
The surviving remnant of the Celtic languages and cultures is only a small fragment of what once existed. In the last few centuries B.C., cultures that spoke a Celtic language were spread in a broad arc through the center of Europe from the Black Sea in the east to Spain in the west. The area also included what is now the British Isles and Ireland.
The ancient Celtic peoples, unlike the population of the Roman empire, were never under the common rule of any Celtic emperor. They shared related languages, cultures, and religious beliefs, but never had any self-perception of themselves as part of any cultural unity. Even the ancient Greek and Roman authors who first perceived some of the common features of the Celtic world never described the peoples of Ireland and the British Isles as Celts.
Now, some two thousand years after the growth of the Roman Empire began to dissolve and destroy the Celtic cultures, the only living remnant of the ancient Celtic world survives in the far western fringe of Europe. There are six areas where Celtic languages and cultures have survived into modern times and it is possible to find someone who speaks a Celtic language. These are Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, which are the homes of what the linguists call q-Celtic languages, and Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany, which are the homes of the p-Celtic languages. In addition, Galicia on the north coast of Spain keeps a Celtic cultural awareness, but no longer speaks a Celtic language.