Republic of Ireland

HistoryJorge Munoz Rodenas

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History of Republic of Ireland November 28, 2007 – p. 1/11

Index

History of Eire

1. Early history

2. Early Christian Ireland

3. Early medieval

4. Norman Ireland

5. Early Modern 1536–1691

6. Ireland 1691–1801

7. Ireland 1801–1922

8. History of the Republic

9. Ireland today

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1. Early history

The earliest evidence of human occupationafter the retreat of the ice has been dated tobetween 8000 and 7000 BC.

The Neolithic (4500-2500 BC) saw theintroduction of farming and pottery, and theuse of more advanced stone implementsand the sudden appearance and dramaticproliferation of megalithic monuments.

Bronze (2500 BC - 700 BC) was used for themanufacture of both weapons and tools.Irish craftsmen became particularly noted forthe horn-shaped trumpet, which was madeby the lost wax process.

In Ireland the Iron Age was the age of a peo-ple often referred to as Celts.

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2. Early Christian Ireland 400–800

In AD 432, St. Patrick arrived on the islandand, in the years that followed, worked toconvert the Irish to Christianity.

Patrick is traditionally credited withpreserving the tribal and social patterns ofthe Irish, codifying their laws and changingonly those that conflicted with Christianpractices.

He is also credited with introducing theRoman alphabet, which enabled Irish monksto preserve parts of the extensive Celtic oralliterature.

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3. Early medieval era 800–1166

The first recorded Viking raid in Irish historyoccurred in 795 when Vikings from Norwaylooted the island of Lambay, located off theDublin coast.

Early Viking raids were generally small inscale and quick.

These early raids interrupted the golden ageof Christian Irish culture starting thebeginning of two hundred years ofintermittent warfare, with waves of Vikingraiders plundering monasteries and townsthroughout Ireland.

Most of the early raiders came from the fjordsof western Norway.

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4. The arrival of the Normans 1167–1185

By the 12th century, Ireland was dividedpolitically into a shifting hierarchy of pettykingdoms and over-kingdoms.

They fight each other for supremacy. TheKing of one of the kindoms was forciblyexiled and used normans to recover hispower.

This caused consternation to King Henry IIof England, who feared the establishment ofa rival Norman state in Ireland.

Henry landed with a large fleet at Waterfordin 1171, becoming the first King of Englandto set foot on Irish soil.

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5. Early Modern Ireland 1536–1691

It was during this period that Ireland was, forthe first time, fully conquered by Englandand colonised with Protestant settlers fromEngland and Scotland.

This established two central themes in futureIrish history - subordination of the country toLondon based governments and sectariananimosity between Catholics andProtestants.

The fifty years from 1641 to 1691 saw twoperiods of civil war, which pitted IrishCatholics against British forces andProtestant settlers, ended in the almostcomplete dispossession of the Catholiclanded elite.

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6. Ireland 1691–1801

During this time, Ireland was an autonomousKingdom with its own Parliament, but thevast majority of its population, RomanCatholics, largely descended from the nativeIrish, were excluded from power and landownership under the Penal Laws.

The period begins with the defeat of theCatholic (Jacobites) in the Williamite war inIreland in 1691 and ends with the Act ofUnion, which formally annexed Ireland to theUnited Kingdom in 1801.

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7. Ireland 1801–1922

The whole island of Ireland formed aconstituent part of the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Ireland (UK). For almost allof this period, Ireland was ruled directly bythe Parliament of the United Kingdom inLondon.

Ireland faced considerable economicdifficulties in the 19th century, including theGreat Famine of the 1840s.

In 1922, following the War of Independence,twenty-six southern and western counties ofIreland seceded from the United Kingdom asthe Irish Free State.

Six counties in the northeast, which becameNorthern Ireland, remained within the UnitedKingdom.

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8. The Republic

Anglo-Irish Treaty: The state known today asthe Republic of Ireland came into beingwhen twenty-six of the counties of Irelandseceded from the United Kingdom (UK) in1922.

The remaining six counties remained withinthe UK as Northern Ireland.

Irish Civil War 1922-1923 : Was a conflictbetween supporters and opponents of theAnglo-Irish Treaty.

IRA terrorism actions will continue still 1998,when peace process between IRA andUnionists ended.

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9. Ireland today

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): 44,676 USD(2006) The 2nd one after Luxembourg.

26 counties.

The total population of Ireland on CensusDay, April 23, 2006, was 4,234,925.

The Republic of Ireland is 86.8 per centRoman Catholic.

Successful entertainment exports in the latetwentieth century include acts such as U2,Thin Lizzy, The Pogues, Sinéad O’Connor,Boomtown Rats, The Corrs, TheCranberries, Enya, etc...

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