Ireland is occupied by two political entities:
The Republic of Ireland (officially Ireland), a sovereign state that covers five-sixths of the island. Its capital is Dublin.
Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom that the remaining sixth. Its capital is Belfast.
Traditionally, Ireland is subdivided into four provinces: Connacht (west), Leinster (east), Munster (south), and Ulster (north). In a system that developed between the 13th and 17th centuries, Ireland has thirty-two traditional counties.[10] Twenty-six of the counties are in the Republic of Ireland, and six counties are in Northern Ireland.
The six of Ulster's nine counties that constitute Northern Ireland are all in the province of Ulster (which has nine counties in total). As such, "Ulster" is often used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, although Ulster and Northern Ireland are neither synonymous nor co-terminous. Counties Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Tipperary have been broken up into smaller administrative areas. However, they are still considered by the Ordnance Survey Ireland to be official counties. The counties in Northern Ireland are no longer used for local governmental purposes, though their traditional boundaries are still used for informal purposes such as sports leagues, etc.[11] and in some other cultural, ceremonial or tourism contexts.
The area of Ireland is 84,421 km2 (32,595 sq mi).[2] A ring of coastal mountains surround low plains at the centre of the island. The highest of these is Carrauntoohil (Irish: Corrán Tuathail) in County Kerry, which rises to 1,038 m (3,406 ft) above sea level.[18][19] The least arable land lies in the south-western and western counties.[citation needed] These areas are largely mountainous and rocky, with green panoramic vistas. The River Shannon, at 386 km (240 mi), the island's longest river, rises in County Cavan in the north west and flows 113 kilometres (70 mi) to Limerick city in the mid west.[20][21]
The island's lush vegetation, a product of its mild climate and frequent rainfall, earns it the sobriquet the Emerald Isle. Overall, Ireland has a mild but changeable oceanic climate with few extremes. The climate is typically insular and is temperate avoiding the extremes in temperature of many other areas in the world at similar latitudes.[22] This is a result of the moderating moist winds which ordinarily prevail from the South-Western Atlantic.
Precipitation falls throughout the year, but is light overall, particularly in the east. The west tends to be wetter on average and prone to Atlantic storms, especially in the late autumn and winter months. These occasionally bring destructive winds and higher total rainfall to these areas, as well as sometimes snow and hail. The regions of north County Galway and east County Mayo have the highest incidents of recorded lightning annually for the island, with lightening occurring approximately five to ten days per year in these areas.[23] Munster, in the south, records the least snow whereas Ulster, in the north, records the most.
Inland areas are warmer in summer and colder in winter. Usually around 40 days of the year are below freezing (0 °C/32 °F) at inland weather stations, compared to 10 days at coastal stations. Ireland is sometimes affected by heat waves, most recently in 1995, 2003 and 2006. In 2009, temperatures fell below −7 °C (19.4 °F), which is unusually cold for Ireland, and caused up to 1⁄2 m (1.64 ft) of snow in mountain areas. In Dublin, there was 10 cm (3.9 in) of snow in places.
The warmest recorded air temperature was 33.3 °C (91.9 °F) (Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny, June 1887) and the lowest was −19.1 °C (−2.4 °F) (Markree Castle, County Sligo, January 1881).[24] The greatest recorded annual rainfall was 3,964.9 mm (156.1 in) (Ballaghbeama Gap, County Kerry, 1960). The driest year was 1887, with only 356.6 mm (14.0 in) of rain recorded at Glasnevin. The longest period of absolute drought was in Limerick where there was no recorded rainfall over 38 days during April and May 1938
Most of Ireland was covered with ice until the end of the last glacial period over 9,000 years ago. Sea-levels were lower and Ireland, as with its neighbour Britain, were part of continental Europe rather than being islands. Mesolithic stone age inhabitants arrived some time after 8,000 BC.
Stone age passage tombs at Carrowmore, County Sligo
Agriculture arrived with the Neolithic around 4,500 to 4,000 BC when sheep, goats, cattle and cereals were imported from southwest continental Europe. An extensive Neolithic field system, arguably the oldest in the world,[39] dating from a little after this period has been preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day County Mayo at the Céide Fields. Consisting of small fields separated from one another by dry-stone walls, the fields were farmed for several centuries between 3,500 and 3,000 BC. Wheat and barley were the principal crops.[40] The Bronze Age, which began around 2,500 BC, saw the production of elaborate gold and bronze ornaments, weapons and tools. The Iron Age in Ireland was supposedly associated with people known as Celts. They are traditionally thought to have colonised Ireland in a series of waves between the 8th and 1st centuries BC. The Gaels, the last wave of Celts, are said to have divided the island into five or more kingdoms after conquering it. Many scientists and academic scholars now favour a view that emphasises cultural diffusion from overseas as opposed to colonisation such as what Clonycavan Man was reported to represent.[41][42]
The Romans referred to Ireland as Hibernia[43] or Scotia[44][45] and the Romano-Greek geographer Ptolemy[46] in 100 AD recorded Ireland's geography and tribes.[47] The exact relationship between the Roman Empire and the tribes of ancient Ireland is unclear. The only references are from a few Roman writings whereas native accounts are confined to Irish poetry, myth, and archaeology.
A failure of the ubiquitous potato crop resulted in the Irish Famine of 1740–41 resulted in the death of about 400,000 people from the ensuing pestilance and disease. The Irish government provided significant relief and contained the damage as much as possible and the economy and population of Ireland boomed in the latter part of this century. In 1782, Poynings Law was repealled giving making Ireland virtual sovereignty from England for the first time (in law at least) since the Norman invasion.
However, the British government retained the ability to nominate the government of Ireland above the choice of the Irish parliament. Against this interference, in 1798, many members of the Protestant dissenter tradition made common cause with Roman Catholics in a rebellion inspired by and led by the Society of United Irishmen. It was staged with the aim of creating a fully independent Ireland as a state with a republican constitution. Despite assistance from France the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was put down by British and Irish governments and yeoman forces. In 1800, the British and Irish Parliaments passed the Act of Union which, effective as of January 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The passage of the Act in the Irish Parliament was ultimately achieved with substantial majorities, having failed on the first attempt in 1799. According to contemporary documents and historical analysis, this was achieved through a considerable degree of bribery, with funding provided by the British Secret Service Office, and a the awarding of peerages, places and honours to secure their affirmative votes.[59] Thus, Ireland became part of an extended United Kingdom, ruled directly by the UK Parliament in London. A Viceregal administration was established and under the government appointed the Chief Secretary at Dublin Castle.
Emigrants Leave Ireland, an engraving by Henry Doyle depicting the emigration to The United States because of the Great Famine in Ireland.
The Great Famine of the 1840s caused the deaths of one million Irish people. Over a million more emigrated to escape it.[60] By the end of the decade, half of all immigration to the United States was from Ireland. Mass emigration became deeply entrenched and the population continued to decline until the mid 20th century. Immediately prior to the famine, the population was recorded as 8.2 million by the 1841 census.[61] The population has never returned to this level since.[62] The population continue to fall until 1961 and it was not until the 2006 census that the last county of Ireland to (County Leitrim) to record a rise in population since 1841 did so.
