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The History of Ireland

"May luck be our companion
May friends stand by our side
May history remind us all
Of Ireland's faith and pride."

The Early Years:

The first evidence of humans in Ireland date back to between 8,000 and 7,000 . These people were thought to be hunters and gatherers and mainly inhabited the coastal areas and waterways. Between 4,000 BC and 2,500 BC the inhabitants of Ireland started to develop agriculture. Many of these Neolithic peoples were thought to have migrated from Northern Britain. They brought with them cattle, sheep and goats. From about 2,500 BC to about 600 BC, The inhabitants of Ireland developed the use of metals, and were able to forge tools and weapons. Around 1,200 BC the first Hill Forts and Ring Forts started appearing. It was common to find a "crannog" in Ireland, a fort surrounded by water, sometimes built as an artificial fortified Island on a lake.

The Celtic Migration:

The Celts are more easily grouped by their language than any tribe or nationality. The modern day Irish are descended from the Celts. The Celts had a large influence and control in Europe through the period of 1000 BC – 300 BC, after which they were scattered by the Greeks, the Romans and the Germans. The Celts were thought to have migrated from the Danube River region where they spread throughout parts of Turkey and Europe, eventually arriving in England, Scotland and Ireland. It is also believed that their history can be traced back farther to include links to ancient India. They first appeared in Ireland between 600 BC – 500 BC. The Celts which remained in Ireland were relatively isolated from the rest of the world, they even avoided the control of the Roman Empire. The Romans reached England around 50 BC and eventually conquered much of Britain. Their official control of Britain ended at Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England, though they influenced areas to the north of it. In Ireland, the Romans never gained any control. Able to remain apart from the Roman influence, the Celts were able to evolve in relative isolation from the rest of Europe. By about 200 BC, Ireland was divided up into many individual Kingdoms called a “tuath”. Society was very agrarian with no major towns or cities. By about the 5th Century, the Celts were becoming identified as Irish as they had developed their own unique culture and language. The first Roman Catholic Church was established by St. Patrick who arrived in Ireland in 432 A.D.

The Vikings:

Ireland was first attacked by Viking Norsemen, on Lambay Island, off Dublin around 800 A.D. In the early 900’s Vikings began settling Ireland in Waterford, Dublin and Limerick. In 940, Brian Boru was born. Brian was responsible for defeating the Vikings and eventually became King of Ireland.

The Normans:

In 1167, the Normans first arrived in Ireland from England, and marked the beginning of English involvement in the affairs of Ireland. The reign of Rory O'Connor, ended in 1175 as the last native King of Ireland. From the first arrival of the Normans, English influence spread throughout Ireland. In the 1200’s to early 1300’s the Scottish unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Norman rule in Ireland.

In the late 1400’s Henry VII put all of Ireland under English law. In 1534 Henry VIII took even greater control of Ireland. Power was stripped from the Norman-Irish Earls of Kildare. In 1541 Henry had the Irish parliament declare him as King of Ireland. During his reign he also tried to introduce Protestantism into Ireland as he did in England. There were a series of rebellions in Ireland that even included an alliance with Spain. In December of 1601, the English defeated a nine year rebellion aided by the arrival of 3,800 Spanish troops at the Battle of Kinsale.

In the early 1600’s the English began settling areas of Ireland with Protestants. Areas such as Londonderry and Ulster grew in Protestant population at an incredible rate, eventually far outnumbering the Catholic population. This settling effort led to the “flight of the earls”, signaling dramatic changes within Ireland. The Irish later rebelled again against England, this time the response was decisive. Between 1649 and 1650 Oliver Cromwell iron-handedly took control of Ireland. Estimates of between half and two-thirds of the Irish population were said to have died through war, disease and starvation. In the 1640’s roughly 80% of the land was in the hands of the Catholics. By the end of 1665 only 20% remained in the hands of Catholics. Many anti-Catholic laws were passed, barring Catholics from holding public office, joining the army, attending schools or religious services.

Over the next few hundred years, anti-Catholic laws were relaxed. There continued to be conflicts between the English and Irish with many minor conflicts and a few major conflicts over the years, none of which were on the scale of Cromwell’s action in Ireland.

In the 1800’s Ireland faced a failed insurrection in which the leaders were sent to Australia. They later experienced the “Great Hunger” (Potato Famine) spanning 1845 to 1852 which saw the death of over 1 million Irish and the emigration of a further 2 million from a population of just over 8 million. Throughout the remainder of the 1800’s, this emigration continued until Ireland’s population had dropped to about 4.5 million by the beginning of the 20th Century.

The Twentieth Century:

On Easter Monday 1916, Irish rebels took over several key Dublin buildings including the General Post Office, sparking a brief outbreak of violence throughout Dublin. The English quickly crushed the rebellion but unfortunately caused many civilian casualties in the process. The act that caused the most grief in Ireland was not the rebellion itself, as most did not agree with those responsible; it was the execution of their leaders without a fair trial. England incorrectly blamed the Sinn Fein for the uprising, a political party within Ireland. This event fueled the desire for more autonomy from England and eventually led to the Home Rule treaty dividing Ireland into North and South with the North further subdivided into six counties. The North through referendum declared the new region known today as Northern Ireland. This partitioning of Ireland is still an unresolved issue in Irish politics today.