Wales is a country that composes part of the United Kingdom. It makes up one of the smaller nations of the island of Great Britain often unhappily as a result of their eastern neighbors, the English. Similar to Scotland, Wales was conquered and ruled by an outside ethnic group, the English. In the 1200s, Wales was conquered by the rising English who steadily beat back Viking incursions. Wales regained independence in the 1500s briefly, but it was reclaimed soon after by the English. Over time, however, Wales became an even more important part of Britain, peaking with the election of David Lloyd George, a liberal Welsh politician, as Prime Minister during World War 1.

"Wales, I never heard of that place (conversation between the author and some picnicking black Americans on the coast of South Carolina). Wales, the invisible, the lost. Wales, the real Cantre'r Gwaelod. A small island in the Hebrides. A rock off the west coast of Ireland. A hummock out there in the stormy ocean. Wales, Grassholm writ just that little bit larger. Floating west, full of birds" (Finch).