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(from 6000 B.C. to 1919)
Historian believe that the first people to live in Ireland came from the European mainland about 6000 B.C. They settled on the north-east coast, what is now Northern Ireland, and then moved inland along the rivers.
They lived by hunting and fishing. These first settlers were followed by people who grew corps and raised animals. Later, people who made gold ornaments, pottery, and tools settled in the country.
. About 400 B.C., Celtic tribes from Great Britain and the European mainland invaded Ireland. The Celts gained control of the island and divided it into small kingdoms. The rulers of the kingdoms often thought over their territories and boundaries.
brought Christianity to Ireland in the A.D. 400's. Saint Patrick was born in Britain and was taken to Ireland as a slave in the early 400's. After six years of slavery, he escaped to France, where he studied for the priesthood. He returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. The Irish accepted Christianity and came to regard Patrick as their Patron (guardian) saint.
Today, his feast day, March 17, is celebrated as a national holiday.
Saint Patrick also introduced the Roman alphabet and the Latin literature into Ireland. After his death Irish monasteries flourished
as a centers of learning.
. About 800, Vikings began raiding the east and south coasts of Ireland. They settled near harbours and established Ireland's firsts towns, including what are now Cork, Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford. They also raided the countryside, robbing and destroying monasteries. At first, the Irish people could little do to defend themselves against the well-armed Vikings. But in 1014, the Irish high king, Brian Boru, organized the princes of the several kingdoms and defeated the Vikings at Clontarf. The Vikings were allowed to remain in their seaport towns and, in time, were absorbed by the Irish people.
.In 1170 the Normans from England , led by a Welsh Earl Strongbow, invaded Ireland. They soon had control of Dublin and Strongbow became King of Leinster. The next year King Henry II of
England came to Ireland to establish his power over Strongbows Kingdom. King Henry had been asked by the Pope to reform the Church in Ireland. The Pope ordered the Irish to accept King Henry as their ruler.
By the 15th Century, the Normans held nearly all of Ireland. But the Normans' loyality to England weakend as they intermarried with the Irish and adoped their language and customs. By the early 1400's, England actually controlled only a small area around Dublin called the Pale.
. In the 1600 century Henry VIII tried to regain England's influence in Ireland. He took all power away the Earls and Norman noblemen who had long controlled English interests in Ireland, and set up more direct control. Then Henry forced Ireland's parliament to declare him king of Ireland. He established English laws in Ireland and tried, with little success, to introduce Protestantism in the country.
After Henry's death, his children continued his policies over the century. His daughter Elizabeth, tried to strengthen English rule by beginning
what is known as the plantation of Ireland, which means that she
gave Irish counties English settlers. Elizabeth attempted to establish Protestantism in Ireland, like her father. She outlawed Roman Catholic services and executed a number of bishops and priests. But as a result, the Irish Catholics became more and more united.
In the late 1500's, a series of revolts against English broke out in Ulster, a large province in Northern Ireland. The revolts were lead by Shane O'Neill. But the revolts were put down.
By the start of the 17th Century James I, who followed Elizabeth, tried to prevent further revolts by continuing the plantation of Ireland. He seized land in Ulster and gave it to English and Scottish Protestants, creating the Protestants majority that still exists in Northern Ireland. Many native Irish became employees of the settlers.
After James II, a Catholic, became king of England , he abolished many of the anti-Catholic laws established earlier. But in 1688, the England people, most of them whom were Protestants, forced James to give up the throne. William III, a Protestant, then became king. James went to Ireland and organised an army to fight the English. But Protestants in Ulster supported William and helped the English. defeat James in the Battle of the Boyne.
Following William's victory, more land was taken from Irish Catholics. They held only about seventh of the land and were forbidden to purchase or inherit land. They were excluded from the Irish parliament and the
army, and were restricted in the rights to practise Catholicism.
. During the 1700's, the British kept tight control over Ireland and limited the powers of the Irish Parliament. Many Irish Protestants objected the restrictions, and the parliament demanded legislative freedom. Great Britain met the demands and the all-Protestant Irish Parliament ruled the country for the next 20 years. Parliament restored to Catholics their rights to hold land and lifted the
restrictions on their religious rights. But it refused to give them any political rights.
Some Protestants in Parliament tried to gain more rights for the
Catholics. After their attempts failed, they formed a group called the "United Irishmen". At first this group sought equal rights for all Irish people. Later it demanded complete independence for Ireland from British rule. In 1798, the "United Irishmen" staged an unsuccessful rebellion. After the rebellion the British prime minister persuaded the British and Irish Parliaments to pass the Act of Union. Under the act, which went into effect in 1801, Ireland officially became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish Parliament was then ended, and zhr Irish sent representatives to the British Parliament. Daniel O'Connell, an Irish Catholic leader, helped Catholic men win the right to serve in the British Parliament and to hold most other Public offices.
. During the early 1800's, Ireland's population grew rapidly. About half the people lived on small farms that produced little income. Others leased land on estates and had to pay high rents to landlords.
Because of the poverty, most of the Irish people depended on potatoes for food. But in 2 years, Ireland's potato crop failed because of the plant disease.
About 800.000 people died of starvation or disease, and hundreds of thousands more left the country and moved especially to the United States.
The British government, under high pressure from various Irish groups, gradually passed laws to help the Irish. These laws protected tenants' rights and established fair rents. Later laws provided financial help so that tenants could buy land from their landlords.
In the 19th century, some Irish people began to demand home rule for their country. Under home rule, Ireland would
have remained part of Great Britain but would have had its own parliament for domestic affairs. The British Liberal Party favoured the plan and the prime minister introduced the First Home Rule Bill in order to try and end the Problems in Ireland. But Protestants in Ulster opposed it because they feared a Catholic parliament. They became known as Irish Unionists.
In 1905, an Irish journalist named Arthur Griffith founded a political organisation called Sinn Féin, meaning We Ourselves. The organisation
insisted that the Irish should be allowed to govern themselves and it
didn't support home rule. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a secret organisation that wanted a completely independent Irish Republic, also was active in the early 1900's. Members of the IRB became known as republicans.
The Unionists set up their own military force in Ulster called UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) to establish to make sure that home rule didn't come to Ulster. In the same year Irish Nationalists set up the IVF (Irish Volunteer Force).
In 1914 World War I broke out and prevented the home rule from taking effect. Most of the Irish people supported Great Britain during the war. But the republicans believed that the war gave Ireland a chance to gain independence. They began a rebellion in Dublin which took over key buildings, on Easter Monday 1916. Fighting raged for a week before English troops defeated the rebels. The British executed 15 republican leaders after the uprising.
At first the Easter Rebellion received little support from Ireland's people. But the executions created great sympathy for the republican movement. In 1918, the republicans gained control of Sinn Féin and won 75 per cent of the seats in the British Parliament. But instead of going to London to take their seats in Parliament, the new members met in Dublin. They called themselves the House of Representatives and declared all Ireland an independent republic an January 21th, 1919. Following the declaration, fighting broke out between the Irish rebels and British forces.
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