IRELAND

History

The oldest signs of human settlers on Ireland is around 9000 years old.
The settlers probably started farming around 3000 BC

Around 500 BC the celt tribes immmigrated to ireland. 200 years later
they ruled the island. The Celt Ireland was divided in several kingdoms,
always making war with each other. The kings built great castles and
surrounded themselves with poets, musicians and warriors, but the rest
of the population was almost only made nomads. There was a High King
that formely ruled the island, but his power was almost only symbolic.

In the 5th century AD the christian missionaries arrived to Ireland,
among them was
St Patrick who became the islands patron saint.  Patrick encountered
great obstacles, and the new religion was not fully established until a
century after his death.

At the end of the 8th century the vikings started their incursions and
the shattered celtish kings became an easy target. For mor that 200
years the vikings occupied big areas, mostly along the coast. There they
founded Irelands first cities, among others Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
In the year 1000 the Celtish kings finally to united themselves and
managed to defeat the vikings in 1014 at the battle of Clontarf.

150 years later the intern battles between the Celt kings made it easy
for the english king Henry II to take possesion of portions of the
island. But the english kings pusued a policy to make the gap between
the English and the Irish as big as possible.When the english converted
from catolicism to protestantism in the 16th century, the antagonism
became stronger and stronger. The Irish started a revolt, but the were
shattered fast and the English became even stronger on the island. After
that the english ruler Oliver Cromwell had striked down a eleven years
long revolt the english crown controled the whole of Ireland. In spite
of  when the protestantic English noblemen in the beginning of  the 17th
century got Irish land from the English king the catolic Irish still
owed two thirds of the land. The so called punishment-laws from the 18th
century denied the Irish to buy land, rent it or even inherit it. At the
year of 1778 no more that 7% of the land belonged to the Irish. After
that the laws were changed stepp by stepp, and catolics were given back
some of their right. But the parliament remained closed for the Irish
wich the nationalism movement, United Irishmen, couldn't accept.
Inspired by the French revolution in 1789 they rised a rebellion in
1798. After the failed attemt to disembark French soldiers the rebells
surrended and Ireland was formaly incorporated with Great Britain. At
the same time it became possible for Irish men to be elected into the
British parliament.

The 20th century

In 1914 the Brittish parliament  decided that Ireland would get
self-government, but World War I started and the reform was put in the
future.

In the middle of the war, in easter 1916 Irish nationalists occupied
some of the important buildings in Dublin and exclaimed Ireland to a
independent rebublic. Under the leadership of the poet Padraig Pearse
and James Connolly they made a headquarter at the principal
postoffice.The rebells managed it for a week, then they was defeated and
all the leaders were executed.

In 1919 the Irish members of the British parliament created their own
parliament on Ireland and exclaimed Ireland to be a independent
republic. The new parliament elected Eamon de Valera for president.He
was the only one of the leaders from the Easter-rebellion that had not
been executed. But the British parliament forbid the Irish parliament
and the members had to hold their meetings in secret. At the same time
the IRA (Irish Republican Army) used violence and terror against the
police and important persons. The Irish police, which the British made
stronger with ex-soldiers from the world war answered with the same
methods.

In the end of 1921 the Irish reluctantly agreed to a British peace
offer. Six of Irelands 32 counties (Northern Ireland) stayed British and
the rest became Southern Ireland with a free state with a
self-government. This had many limitations and for many people it was a
big disapointment. The Irish parliament disrupted and de Valera resigned
in protest. This lead to a civil war 1921 - 1922, in which the objecters
to the agreement was defeated. The Iorish government continued there
fight for freedome. They were very carefull to show the rest of the
world that they used politic and not the military. Because of that IRA
was forbidden in 1936.

The fight for freedome reached success and 1937 Ireland got a new
constitution, which made the connections with Great Brittian only
formell. The last connections was removed in 1949 and the president John
Costello exclaimed the Republic of Ireland. The republic was neutral
during World War II. They joined the United Nations 1955.

In May 1983 Irelands president Garret FitzGerald made three proposals to
solve the issue of Northern Ireland wich still belonged to Great
Britain: A united Ireland, a federation between North and South or a
mutual government to rule Northern Ireland. The British neglected all
the propolsals but the conversations following lead to the famous
Hillsborough-agreement. There Britian for the first time gave Ireland a
counselling part in the ruling of Northern Ireland.


Trinity College

Trinity College, also known as University of Dublin is the oldest
university in Ireland. It is located in the city of Dublin. It was
founded by the English queen Elisabeth I in 1592. In 1793 Roman
catholics were allowed to take degrees and in 1904 women were admitted
to the college for the fisrt time. The campus is set in 650 km² of land
in the centre of Dublin. The university buildings include fine examples
of  the 18th century architecture for wich Dublin is famous, particulary
the library (1732) and the public theatre (1791). Since 1801 the
university has been entitled by law to recieve a copy of every book
published in Britain or Ireland.


Ireland has a free state school system, and attendance is compulsory for
all children between 6 and 15 years of age. Most schools are controlled
by the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, but are financed
largely by the State.
Secondary education is divided between secondary schools, offering
general courses, and vocational schools offering technical and general
training. A number of community schools combining both elements have
been established. pupils enrolled in any one year. A network of winter
classes provide agricultural education for rural inhabitants


Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin on 30 November 1667. His father died
before he was born and he had no real family life. He was educated at
Kilkenny School where he made an impression as a rebel rather than as a
good student. He went on to Trinity College in Ireland before moving to
England in 1689 where he worked as secretary to the writer and
politician, Sir William Temple. Swift stayed with Temple until the
diplomat's death in 1699. Although the two men often argued, Swift's
work left him plenty of time to read and write.
Swift's earliest works include The Battle of the Books (1697) and A Tale
in the Tub (1704) in which the writer displayed his talents as a
satirist. His targets were literature and religion.
In 1713, Swift became dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. His most
famous piece of work, Gulliver's Travels, was published anonymously in
1726 with the title Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
The book was supposed to be an allegorical attack on the hypocrisy of
courts, statesmen and political parties. The book was also a deep
reflection on human society. The first section was so imaginative and
funny that it soon became a favourite children's story. Swift is said to
have taken six years to write Gulliver's Travels. As soon as it was
published it became a success, being read "from cabinet-council to the
nursery". At the height of his success, Swift gave a third of his income
to charity, and saved another third to found a hospital.
Jonathan Swift died on 19 October 1745 after a long period of mental
illness. He was buried in his own cathedral with the following  text on
his gravestone: "Here lies the body of Jonathan Swift, dean of this
cathedral, where burning indignation can no longer lacerate his heart.
Go, traveller, and imitate if you can a man who was an undaunted
champion of liberty".


The Corrs

 The Corrs grew up in Dundalk in Ireland's County Louth, which lies 50
miles north of Dublin, on the border between Ireland and Northern
Ireland. In typical Irish clan fashion their parents were musicians, so
they grew up with a lot of music in the house. Along with their powerful
familial link, the Corrs' music emanates from a base of Irish culture
and musical styles.
Since expanding their bonds from family to band in 1990, things have
happened quickly for The Corrs. The group had only been together briefly
when Jim met their soon-to-be manager, John Hughes, who was assembling
musicians for Alan Parker's film The Commitments. A friendship was
struck and the band drew an invitation to perform in Dublin as part of a
special Commitments live concert. For years they worked on getting their
sound together but no record label wanted them.
As luck would have it, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith
heard The Corrs play at a small club in Dublin and invited them to
America to play at a World Cup celebration in Boston 1994. Still
unsigned, the band seized the opportunity to meet with U.S. labels.
Captivated by the group, Atlantic Senior Vice President Jason Flom
suggested in turn that they meet with Atlantic Vice President and
producer David Foster, who was in New York at the time working with
Michael Jackson. It wasn't long before The Corrs were official Atlantic
Group artists, with Foster signing on as producer.

Members:     Albums:
Andrea Corr     Forgiven not forgotten
Caroline Corr    The Corrs live
Jim Corr     Talk on corners
Sharon Corr


Sports

Sports are very popular on Ireland. There is some sports that is only
being played there. One of them is hurling. A landhockey game in which
two teams with 15 men each plays with clubs of wood and a little ball.
An other is gaelic football, also played with 15 men in both teams. Both
of the games are pretty usual in the south Ireland.

Roadbowling is an other popular sport, which  is played at the public
roads in West Cork  and South Armagh, yet it is unleagal.

Since Ireland is the most important european breeding-area for
thoroughbred horses, horse-racing is very popular. Even dog-racing is
pretty common.

Irland is famous for its beautiful and challenging golf-coarses. Other
common sports are sailing and fishing.

But you must not forget that many goes to Ireland to experience the
beautiful nature on foot or by bike.


Animals
The Irish fauna is not much different from that of Britain or France.
The great Irish deer and the great auk, or graefowl, were exterminated
in prehistoric times and since civilization took root in Ireland, the
island has lost its bear, wolf, wildcat, beaver and native cattle.
A small amount of red deer and a special art of forest hare, but also
the badger, weasel, hedgehog and small rodents.There is also a very rich
birdlife. There is bird mountains along the coast and in the winter many
of the Northerneuropean birds stay on Ireland.
Since Ireland is a green island and it has great possibilities for
farming there is huge amounts of sheeps, horses and cattle. Especially
on the west side of the island there is alot of sheep. From the wool
they weave beautifull fabrics and  knitt woolen sweaters.
(The fishermen on the Ara-isles had such woolen sweaters on when they
were out fishing. Each family had their special pattern on their
sweater. It was said that when a fisherman had been wrecked his body
could be identified by his sweater.)
Ireland is known for there horse-breeding. Trot- and gallop horses are
being exported to all over the world. A irish horse can be worth several
millions SEK.

Irelands geography

The Republic of Ireland is over two thirds of the island wich is the
westernmost of the British   islands. The island is about 470 km long
and 295 km wide. The Island lies in the North Atlantic Ocean and is
seperated from Great Britain by St George's Channel on the southeast,
the Irish Sea on the east, and the North Channel on the northeast. The
northern part of the island, Northern Ireland belongs to Great Britain.

The land

The republic of Irelands real name is Eire. The word comes from the
celtish word érin, wich closest can be translated with greenland or the
green island.

Eires capital is called Dublin and lies on the west coast. It is the
islands most important industrial city. The city was founded by the
scandinavian vikings on the 8th century. It is, after Edingburgh, known
to be the city which has the most beautiful location of all the cities
on the British islands. The other big and important cities in Eire are
Limerick, Cork, Tipperary and Galway.

Topographically, the surface if the island may be described as
basin-shaped. There is a region of lowlands occupying the central and
eastcentral sections, and a complex system of low mountain ranges lying
on the coasts of the island. Located in the southwestern section of the
island is the highest point in Ireland, a mountain called Carrantuohill
(1041m above the sea level). Numerous bogs and lakes are found in the
plain. The principal rivers of Ireland are the Erne and the Shannon,
wich are in reality chains of lakes joined by the river. The northern
section of the central plain is drained by the Erne, and the centre of
the plain is drained by the Shannon, wich empties into the Atlantic
Ocean.

Climate

During the winter the air is heatend by the gulfstream (January 4º-7ºC )
but during the summer the cool winds from the sea holds down the
temperature (July 15º-16ºC). The winds blowing over the Atlantic Ocean
and towards the east brings a lot of rain during the whole year. I the
mountain areas the rainfall averages reaches 3000mm per year. In the
east and the coast next to the Irish lake the rainfall averages only
reaches 700mm. The weather has distinguished itself  with its fast
changes and high humidity of the atmosphere which makes the number of
days with sun pretty few.

Flora

The flora of Ireland comes largely from Britain (It originally came to
Britain from the western portions of the European mainland). Sedges,
rushes, ferns and grass are the principal flora.

The original deciduous forests with oak, ash and alder have with
exception by a few had to leave room for the growing farming areas. The
forests now makes only 2% of the lands area, this makes Ireland the land
in Europe with the smallest amount of forest compared to the land area.

Ireland got the name "The Green Island" because of its big fields with
its green grass. Since the temperature almost never drops under 4ºC ,
the grass continues to grow during the winter.
How do the Irish people make a living?

In the early 1990s the total labour force was about 1.5 million;
approximately 11 per cent of people in work were engaged in agriculture,
forestry, and fishing, and 24 per cent in industry.

Almost 65 per cent of the total area of the republic is devoted to
pasture, cropland, or mountain grazing. Animal husbandry is the most
important sector economically, but farms are generally mixed-growing
some crops as well as raising animals.

The waters around Ireland are excellent fishing grounds. The fishing
industry, traditionally underdeveloped, has been expanding in recent
years. Deep-sea catches include herring, cod, mackerel, whiting, and
plaice. Crustaceans, particularly lobsters, crawfish, and prawns, and
such molluscs as oysters and periwinkles, are plentiful in coastal
waters

Since 1960 there has been an active programme to encourage foreign
investment in industry. Since 1973 more than 40,000 new jobs have been
created. The United States is the main foreign investor, followed by
Britain and Canada. Ireland has diversified manufacturing, most of it
developed since 1930. Among the food-processing industries, the most
important are meat packing, brewing and distilling, grain milling, sugar
refining, and the manufacture of dairy products, margarine, confections,
and jam.