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Snowdonia (Welsh: Eryri) is a region of North Wales and a national park of 838 square miles (2,170 km2) in area. It was the first to be 
designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.
The English name for the area derives from Snowdon, which is the highest mountain in Wales at 1,085 metres (3,560 ft).
In Welsh, the area is named Eryri. One assumption is that the name is derived from eryr ("eagle"), but others state that it means quite simply Highlands, as leading Welsh scholar Sir Ifor Williams proved.
Snowdonia National Park (Welsh: Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri) was established in 1951 as the third national park in England and Wales. It covers 2,142 square kilometres (827 sq mi), and has 60 kilometres (37 mi) of coastline.
The park is governed by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, which is made up of local government and Welsh national representatives, and its main offices are at Penrhyndeudraeth.
More than 26,000 people live within the park, of whom about 62% speak Welsh. The park attracts over 6 million visitors annually, split almost equally between day and staying visitors, making it the third most visited national park in England and Wales.
Whilst most of the land is either open or mountainous land, there is a significant amount of agricultural activity within the park.
Unusually, Snowdonia National Park has a hole in the middle, around the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, a slate quarrying centre. This was deliberately excluded from the park when it was set up in order to allow the development of new light industry to replace the decimated slate industry.
Snowdon Mountain Railway Delights and the'The Song of Wales.
by Johnfwake
