What is Powys?
[[File:Wales Powys locator map.svg|thumb|220px|right|The County of Powys within [[Wales]]]] [[File:Escut_Powys.png|thumb|100px|right|[[Coat of arms]] of Powys]] '''Powys''', officially the '''County of Powys''' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]: '''Sir Powys'''), is the largest [[Local government in Wales|principal area]] and [[county]] in [[Wales]]. It is named after the [[Kingdom of Powys]] which was a Welsh successor state, [[petty kingdom]] and [[principality]] that was founded during the [[Middle Ages]] following the end of [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] rule in [[Great Britain|Britain]]. Modern day Powys covers the historic counties of [[Montgomeryshire]] and [[Radnorshire]], most of [[Brecknockshire]], and a small part of [[Denbighshire (historic)|Denbighshire]]. With an area of about 2,000 square miles (5,200 km2), it is the largest unitary authority in [[Wales]] by land area and about the same size as the country of [[Trinidad and Tobago]]. It is bordered by [[England|English]] counties of [[Shropshire]] and [[Herefordshire]] to the east, [[Gwynedd]], [[Wrexham County Borough|Wrexham]] and [[Denbighshire]] to the north, [[Ceredigion]] to the west and [[Rhondda Cynon Taf]], [[Merthyr Tydfil County Borough|Merthyr Tydfil]], [[Caerphilly County Borough|Caerphilly]], [[Blaenau Gwent]], [[Monmouthshire]] and [[Neath Port Talbot]] to the south. The county's largest towns are: * [[Newtown, Powys|Newtown]], population 11,357 * [[Ystradgynlais]], population 8,092 * [[Brecon]], population 8,250 * [[Welshpool]], population 6,664 It has the lowest population density of all the [[Local government in Wales|principal areas]] of Wales. Most of Powys is [[mountain]]ous making north–south travel fairly difficult. {{Welsh principal area}} {{geo-stub}}