Ireland

Ireland Second largest island of the British Isles. Ireland is w of Great Britain. The Irish Sea and St Georges Channel run between the two islands. Ireland is divided into two separate countries, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Land and climate

The central area of Ireland is a lowland with a mild, wet climate. This area is covered with peat bogs (an important source of fuel) and sections of fertile limestone (the location of dairy farming). Most coastal regions are barren highlands. The interior of Ireland has many lakes and wide rivers (loughs). It boasts the longest river in the British Isles, the Shannon.

History

From c.3rd century bc to the late 8th century, Ireland was divided into five kingdoms inhabited by Celtic and pre-Celtic tribes. In the 8th century ad, the Danes invaded, establishing trading towns, including Dublin, and creating new kingdoms. In 1014, Brian Boru defeated the Danes, and for the next 150 years Ireland was free from invasion but subject to clan warfare. In 1171, Henry II of England invaded Ireland and established English control. In the late 13th century, an Irish Parliament was formed. In 1315, English dominance was threatened by a Scottish invasion. In the late 15th century, Henry VII restored English hegemony and began the plantation of Ireland by English settlers. Edward Poynings forced the Irish Parliament to pass Poynings Law (1495), stating that future Irish legislation must be sanctioned by the English Privy Council. Under James I, the plantation of Ulster intensified. An Irish rebellion (1641–49) was eventually thwarted by Oliver Cromwell. During the Glorious Revolution, Irish Catholics supported James II, while Ulster Protestants backed William III. After James' defeat, the English-controlled Irish Parliament passed a series of punitive laws against Catholics. In 1782, Henry Grattan forced trade concessions and the repeal of Poynings Law. William Pitt's government passed the Act of Union (1801), which abolished the Irish Assembly and created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1829, largely due to the efforts of Daniel O'Connell, the Act of Catholic Emancipation was passed, which secured Irish representation in the British Parliament. A blight ruined the Irish potato crop and caused the Irish Famine (1845–49). Nationalist demands intensified. Gladstone failed to secure Irish Home Rule amid mounting pressure from fearful Ulster Protestants. In 1905 Arthur Griffith founded Sinn Féin. In 1914 Home Rule was agreed, but implementation was suspended during World War I. In the Easter Rising (April 1916), Irish nationalists announced the creation of the Republic of Ireland. The British Army's brutal crushing of the rebellion was a propaganda victory for Sinn Féin and led to a landslide victory in Irish elections (1918). Between 1918 and 1921 the Irish Republican Army (IRA), founded by Michael Collins, fought a guerrilla war against British forces. In 1920, a new Home Rule Bill established separate parliaments for Ulster and Catholic Ireland. The Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) led to the creation of an Irish Free State in January 1922 and de facto acceptance of partition. (For history post-1922, see Ireland; Ireland)