Brief History of Ireland

Ireland's history is very deep and enriched. It has had a lot of different events, some of which are good and bad. To put it simpler, I'll out it in points:

• 8000 BC: Humans arrive in Ireland from Britain and Europe
• 300 BC: Celts move in from France, bringing their culture with them
• 400s AD: Saint Patrick arrives in Ireland and converts Ireland to Christianity
• 800s: Vikings invade and raid the monasteries for treasure
• 1016: Irish High King, Brian Boru, beats the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf, Dublin
• 1169: Anglo-Norman armies invade Ireland from England and capture Dublin.
• 1541: Ireland becomes a Kingdom, with the Monarch of England as the monarch. This overtook the Lordship of Ireland, which existed in the Medieval Period, although Ireland was not fully part of England's Empire.
• 1603: The Irish leaders flee to Europe, and English/Scottish settlers move in to take over the land in the North of Ireland, known as Ulster. This is known as the 'plantation'.
• 1640s: Ireland falls into a bitter power struggle, as the Irish rebel to the new colonists, which leads to the 1641 Irish rebellion. This rebellion is crushed by Oliver Cromwell, Protector of England in 1648-9.
• 1680s: King James II of England attempts to help Irish Catholics against the Protestant English, who have thrown him off the throne for being Catholic. He is crushed by William of Orange, new king of England.
• 1798: Irish Wolfe Tone rises up against the English in another massive rebellion, supported by the Napoleon's French. They are crushed, but Wolfe Tone is found dead before he was executed. He is remembered as one of Ireland's greatest patriots in history.
• 1801: Irish Parliament is abolished, which results in the British Parliament at Westminster ruling from now on.
• 1845: Start of the Great Famine of the 1840s, which kills at least 1 million people. People begin to emigrate to America, Britain Australia, and Canada.
• 1916: A rebellion breaks out in Dublin against British rule. It is crushed, but it makes more people rise up against British rule.
• 1920s; War breaks out, which results in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. This parts the island. But people want it completely free, so the Civil War starts.
• 1947: Republic of Ireland (Eire) is created, and Ireland breaks away from the Commonwealth. Ulster is not included, which annoys many Irish nationalists, especially the IRA.
• 1969: First sign of trouble in Northern Ireland that is included in what is known as the Troubles. This is caused by the difference in religion in Ireland, between Catholicism and Protestantism.
  
• 1969-1998: Troubles tear Northern Ireland apart. Many outbreaks occur in towns and cities across Northern Ireland, including Bloody Sunday, Derry 1972, and Omagh 1998.
• 1998: The Belfast Agreement is made, which results in an end to the War in Northern Ireland. Ireland and the UK work together to towards the end of the century. Meanwhile, Eire's economy is being boosted in what is known as the Celtic Tiger, a period of massive economic growth.
• 2000-: Ireland continues it's advancement and flourishes in the new millennium, making an even more major part in the world than before.

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St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin 2007

Population

Ireland has a population of about 6.1 million people. The average population density of Ireland is about 60 people per square km. In the Republic there are 4.3 million people, and in Northern Ireland there is 1.8 million people. Dublin is the biggest city by far, with a population of 1.7 million in the Greater Dublin Area. Next comes Belfast with just above 0.5 million, then Cork, Limerick, Derry, Galway, Waterford and so on. Ireland's population is only half as much as it was in 1841, before the famine, but it is growing steadily and is predicted to reach that population by 2050.

Ireland is made up of mostly pure Irish. Although there are large numbers of groups coming from outside Ireland. The biggest minority is Britons. There around 400,000 Britons in Ireland up to around 5% of the population. Next there is Polish (200,000), then Lithuanians (115,000), Chinese (50,000),Nigerians (30,000) Germans (20,000), Latvians (15,000), Americans (10,000), and lots more. They now make up 10% of Ireland's population, twice as much as Portugal. Ireland is now considered a popular place to live. So good that Irish descendants are finally coming home.

Religion

Ever since the English settled in Ireland, there has been a war between the 2 main religions: Catholics and Protestants. This had a big effect on Ireland. In the late 1960s, the Catholics (also known as the Republicans) formed together then the, Irish Army, the IRA (Irish Republican Army) advanced to Northern Ireland, were most of the Protestants (a.k.a. Unionists) lived. There then rose a number of terrorist attacks throughout the 1970s, on of the worst the terrorist attack called "Bloody Sunday". These terrorist attacks contiued and reached its peak in the 1980s. It was so bad that Northern Ireland was recognized throughout the world as what would now be Iraq. So many terrorist attacks continued that people were not aloud into Northern Ireland. It continued throughout the 1990s and one major incident in Omagh when the bomb in 1998 killed over 30 people. Finally, in 1999, an agreement in Belfast was signed to ease the relations between the North and South. So basically, the terrorist attacks, known in Ireland and abroad as "The Troubles", came to an end. But the IRA refused to disarm. However, in 2005, the IRA disarmed.
In Ireland, there are mainly Roman Catholics, in the ROI about 88%. But there are Protestants, Church of Ireland, Angelican, and a small number of Jews and Islam.

Notable Sites (and people) for Visiting in Ireland

The Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim: Wonderfully shaped stones
Hill of Tara, Co. Meath: Wonderful patterns and views
Newgrange, Co. Meath: Wonderful facts of prehistoric Ireland
Skellig, Co. Kerry: Wonderful rocks and views
Blarney Castle and Stone, Co. Cork: A special stone, and the beautiful town of Blarney, Co. Cork (my grandparents live there)
Aran Islands, Co. Galway: A rare place to see old Irish Culture (before the famine)
Kilkenny Castle, Co. Kilkenny: A wonderful site in the east
Dublin City: A wonderful city to see old Ireland (as well as modern Ireland)
Donegal Mountains: Wonderful landscape
Irish People: Happy and friendly, especially in the western and southern areas

President and Taoiseach (Prime Minister)

There has been 8 Presidents of Ireland since the early 20th Century. The first was Douglas Hyde. Today, the President of Ireland is called Mary McAleese. The President of Ireland lives in a large house called Aras an Uachtarain (pronounced "Air-is on Oocharon"). It is located in Phoenix Park, Dublin.

The Prime Minister of Ireland is called a Taoiseach (pronounced "Tea-shuc"). There has been ten Taoiseach's, the most recent being Bertie Ahern.