Guernsey

Country Briefs: Guernsey and other Channel Islands are ideal representatives of the medieval Dukedom of Normandy. During the Second World War these islands were the only British land that were conquered by the German troops. The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British crown dependency in the English Channel. The island of Guernsey is divided into 10 Parishes.

There are three official languages (English, French and Dgernesiais) of Guernsey. The capital of this island is St Peter Port. St Peter Port is also the main port of Guernsey.

The history of Guernsey reveals that Guernsey and other promontories that had emerged from the continental Europe were inhabited by the Neolithic farmers during the pre-historic era.

In the years that followed Guernsey was occupied by the Britons. Britons also covered the Lenur or Channel Islands and Angia or Jersey.

In 933 the Duchy of Normandy overpowered the Duchy of Britanny i.e. the Britons. This is precisely the reason that the island of Guernsey and other channel islands are called the last remnants of the medieval Duchy of Normandy. The queen Elizabeth II is titled as the head of state or chief of state and so the Duke of Normandy.

During the English Civil War that occurred from 1642 to 1651 and refers to the series of armed conflicts between English Parliamentarians and Royalists, Guernsey assisted the parliaments. Guernsey’s were mainly concerned with Calvinists and other Reformed churches, as well as Charles I’s refusal to take up the case of some Guernsey seamen who were not captured by the Barbary corsairs.

But the southwest region of the island confronted revolts by the Royalists. At that time the governor and the royalist troops ruled over the Castle Cornet. The Castle Cornet, a large castle in Guernsey and a former tidal island was the last Royalist monopoly to be capitulated in 1651.

In the course of First World War many Guernsey men fought for the British Expeditionary Force. The BEF was the British army sent to France and Belgium during the First World War and British Forces in Europe from 1930-1940 during the Second World War.

However during the Second World War, German troops invaded the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Second World War ruined the life of many Guernsey people especially children. Before the German occupation of Guernsey many Guernsey children were sent to England to live with their acquaintances. At the time of German invasion the Germans to camps in the southwest of Germany expelled some people from Guernsey.  

Overcoming countless upheavals Guernsey has now become politically stable and its economy too is flourishing.

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