Ireland, A Brief History

The first settlement of Ireland took place sometime around 6000 BC by hunters and fishers along the island's eastern coast. The Gaels, a Celtic-speaking people from western Europe, found their way to the island sometime between about 600 and 150 BC and subdued the previous inhabitants.

In the early AD years, the island was organized into five kingdoms which became seven by 400 AD.  The kings of these kingdoms often allied their armies to raid neighboring Roman Britain.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, Ireland came under fierce attacks from the Vikings. Monasteries suffered great atrocities. In 853 the Danes invaded the island and were followed by Danish settlers who gradually assimilated with the local population and adopted Christianity and formed a united church. This reform and others was frowned upon by the Pope and who convinced Henry II of England to invade in 1168 who soon thereafter enacted many reforms that violated the traditional political and social structure (including the granting of land).

From the latter 12th century to about 1400, many Norman's from England moved to Ireland and settled the eastern areas, particularly around Dublin. Some assimilated but strife persisted between the native Irish and the colonists. In 1367 a law was enacted to keep the two populations separate.

In 1495 Henry VII extended English law over the entirety of Ireland and assumed supremacy over the Irish parliament. When Henry VIII became king, he tried to separate the Irish Church from the Papacy much as he had done in England which only intensified Irish resolve toward the English. In the 1560s Queen Elizabeth expropriated all lands and settled the province with Englishmen. By 1660 they had become well seated and English law prevailed throughout the land.

During the reign of James I (early 1600s), Catholic schools were closed and children were taught in Protestant institutions.

When Cromwell took control of England, he also invoked strict rule over Ireland and confiscated all Catholic holdings. Following his death, the Irish renewed their claims on their historic lands. In 1690 they defeated the English at Londonderry and signed a treaty with London that granted them a number of rights, only to see it rejected by the Protestant dominated Irish parliament.

The rift between the two religions broadened. In 1727, Catholics were excluded from all public office and denied the right to vote.

In 1798, a revolt set in motion a series of events that led the Irish to relinquish their own parliament. In 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came into existence. The union was highly unpopular and relations continued to deteriorate between the Catholics and Protestants.

When the potato crops of the 1840s failed, a devastating famine resulted. Between 1841 and 1851, Ireland's population fell from 8.2 million to 6.6 million through starvation, disease, and emigration, particularly to the United States.

Following the famine, Catholic Ireland slowly increased in prosperity but there became a growing awareness of the greater affluence enjoyed by the industrialized Protestant populations. Demand for national self-government came to the fore. The Catholics gradually gained parliamentary power and "home rule", a separate Irish parliament within the Union, gained popularity. Using their leverage in the British parliament, a home rule bill was enacted in 1914, but not put in effect until the end of World War I.

In the twentieth century, Ireland's situation remained unsettled. In 1920, separate parliaments were set up for the north and south.  In 1921 a treaty between southern Ireland and Britain established the Irish Free State, a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

In 1937 southern Ireland drafted and adopted a new constitution creating the new state of Eire. A republic in all but name, it remained formally within the British Commonwealth. It lasted only eleven years until 1948 when the ties with the Commonwealth were severed completely and the Republic of Ireland was born.  It was one of the poorest countries in Western Europe and had high emigration until the protectionist economy was opened in the late 1950s and Ireland joined the European Community (now the European Union) in 1973.  In 1972, the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community.  An economic crisis led Ireland to start large-scale economic reforms in the late 1980s.

Today, the Republic of Ireland ranks as the world's third most economically free country. This liberalization has transformed Ireland into one of the fastest growing, richest, most developed and peaceful countries on earth with the highest quality of life in the world. Foreign immigrants make up approximately 10% of the population. Ireland's population is the fastest growing in Europe (2.5%/year).

The Republic of Ireland traditionally had 26 counties, and these are still used in cultural and sporting contexts. Today there are 29.  The Republic occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland  extending over 27,103 sq miles.

The local temperate climate is relatively mild with summer temperatures only exceediong 86 °F once every decade and freezes occur only occasionally in winter, with temperatures below 21 °F being uncommon. Rain is common, with some areas getting up to 275 days/year.

The official languages are Irish and English. Teaching of the Irish and English languages is compulsory in the primary and secondary level schools that receive money from the state.  English is by far the predominant language spoken throughout the country. People living in predominantly Irish-speaking communities, Gaelic regions, are limited to the low tens of thousands in isolated pockets largely on the western seaboard. Road signs are usually bilingual, except in Gaelic regions, where they are in Irish only.

Ireland is officially a secular state, and the constitution states that the state is forbidden from endowing any particular religion. Approximately 86.8% of the population are Roman Catholic…followed by Anglican, Hinduism, Protestant, Methodist, and Jewish denominations.

The patron saints of Ireland are Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget.