Ireland Destinations Travel Guide
Language: Irish, English
Currency: Euro
Calling code: +353
Ireland is a state in Western Europe that occupies
most of the island of Ireland. In the north it borders with Northern
Ireland (part of Great Britain). Area - 70.2 thousand km². The name
of the country comes from the Irish Éire "state".
The capital
is the city of Dublin, which is home to about a quarter of the
country's population (1.4 million people).
Member of
organizations: Council of Europe (since 1949), UN (since 1955), OECD
(since 1960), European Union (since 1973), Euratom (since 1973),
European Monetary System (since 1979).
Dublin |
East Coast and Midland
Dublin County (Ireland) |
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Ardgillan Castle | Clontarf Castle | Drimnagh Castle | |
Howth Castle | Malahide Castle | Monkstown Castle |
Kildare County (Ireland) |
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Barberstown Castle | Castletown House | Kilkea Castle |
Laois County (Ireland) |
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Longford County (Ireland) |
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Louth County (Ireland) |
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Castle Roche |
Meath County (Ireland) |
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Dunsany Castle | Newgrange | Trim Castle |
Offaly County (Ireland) |
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Birr Castle | Clonony Castle | Kinnitty Castle | Leap Castle |
Westmeath County (Ireland) |
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Wicklow County (Ireland) |
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Shannon Region
Limerick County (Ireland) |
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King John's Castle | Castle Oliver | Springfield Castle |
Tipperary County (Ireland) |
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Athassel Priory | Ardfinnan Castle | Cahir Castle | Holy Cross Abbey |
Ormonde Castle | Powerscourt Estate | Rock of Cashel |
Southwest Ireland
Cork County (Ireland) |
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Bantry House | Barryscourt Castle | Belvelly Castle | Blackrock Castle |
Blarney Castle | Carriganass Castle | Castle Donovan | Drombeg Stone Circle |
Dunasead Castle | Dunboy Castle | Kanturk Castle |
Kerry County (Ireland) |
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Ardfert Cathedral | Carrigafoyle Castle | Dunbeg Promontory Fort | |
Killarney National Park | Lakes of Killarney | Listowel Castle | Mount Brandon |
Ross Castle |
West Ireland
Galway County (Ireland) |
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Aran Islands | Aughnanure Castle | Connemara National Park | Dunguaire Castle |
Fiddaun Castle | Kylemore Abbey | Oranmore Castle | Portumna Castle |
Thoor Ballylee |
Mayo County (Ireland) |
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Ashford Castle | Ballycroy National Park |
Roscommon County (Ireland) |
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Donamon Castle | Roscommon Castle |
Northwest Ireland and Lakelands
Cavan County (Ireland) |
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Cabra Castle |
Donegal County (Ireland) |
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Doe Castle | Donegal Castle | Glenveagh Castle | |
Greencastle |
Leitrim County (Ireland) |
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Monaghan County (Ireland) |
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Sligo County (Ireland) |
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Ballymote Castle | Markree Castle | Parke's Castle |
Southeast Ireland
Carlow County (Ireland) |
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Ballymoon Castle | Carlow Castle | Huntington Castle aka Clonegal | |
Wicklow Mountains |
Kilkenny County (Ireland) |
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Burnchurch Castle | Dunmore Cave | Foulksrath Castle | Jerpoint Abbey |
Kilkenny Castle | Shankill Castle |
Waterford County (Ireland) |
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Lismore Castle |
Waterford County (Ireland) |
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Lismore Castle |
Ancient time
The first people settled Ireland during the Mesolithic, in
the IX millennium BC. e .; The oldest traces of life are Dauth, Nauth and
Newgrange (now included in the list of cultural heritage of Ireland). According
to genetic research, the Irish are the descendants of farmers from the
Mediterranean, who destroyed the ancient population of the Emerald Isle, as well
as pastoralists from the Black Sea. Black Sea immigrants are Indo-Europeans who
brought their tongue and hemochromatosis genes, as well as genes that allow them
to absorb lactose and drink milk. The similarity of the genomes of the people of
the Bronze Age and modern Irish, Scots and Welsh suggests that already by 2000
BC the main characteristics of the “island”, different from the Gallic, Celtic
genome, the descendants of which the Irish people can be considered, have
developed. One of the first mentions of the civilization of Ireland is the
mention of Pythaeus (end of the 4th century BC). In the Irish language there are
many borrowings from the pre-Celtic population of the territory.
The name
of the island in Irish is "Eriu" (Dr. Irl. Ériu, Irl. Éire). The ancient Irish
lived as separate tribes - clans under the control of hereditary leaders,
jointly owned land and were engaged almost exclusively in cattle breeding.
Ireland was not part of the Roman Empire, but Roman historians mention it
(Ptolemy, Tacitus, Juvenal). The ancient capital of Ireland (until the XII
century) is Tara.
Adoption of christianity
The first Christian burial
places of Ireland date back to the end of the 4th century; archaeological finds
indicate that the Christianization of Ireland began more likely from the south
rather than from the north, where St. Patrick acted, who is usually credited
with the Christianization of Ireland; the first bishop of Ireland, according to
the "Chronicle" of Prosper of Aquitaine, was the Gallo-Roman St. Palladium, who
was ordained by Pope Celestine in 431. According to legend, his mission was
unsuccessful - he fell ill and died when he returned to Britain.
In his
Confession, Saint Patrick himself mentions thousands of baptisms he performed;
he confesses that he presented gifts to kings and judges in the lands where he
visited especially often, but says that he himself refused bribes and gifts. He
mentions that once with his companions he was in prison for two weeks in
shackles. The initial flock of Patrick, judging by the people mentioned in the
Confession, consisted mainly of young people, women and slaves, that is, from
fairly marginalized sections of society. The annals of the four masters mention
that he founded 600 churches (according to other sources - there were 300
churches), and more than 120,000 who received the baptism of the Irish from him.
In 1991, S. V. Shkunaev, referring to “The Life of St. Patrick” by Murkhu Mokka
Mahteni (moccu Machtheni), suggested that the Christianization of Ireland was
supported by St. Patrick by the local landowner aristocrats according to the
Indian "Kshatriya Revolt" model, which contradicts the "marginal" theory of
Christianization. It is difficult to judge the whole process of the early
Christianization of Ireland, since the next literary monument of Irish church
law, following the works of Patrick, is “The First Synod of St. Patrick’s, was
composed only in the middle of the VII century.
Ireland was not affected
by the civil wars and invasions of the Germans that accompanied the collapse of
the Roman Empire, which contributed to the development of written culture and
education in the early Middle Ages. Soon after the country's baptism, the first
works in Latin appear; from the beginning of the 7th century, literature in Old
Irish appears. Already in the VI century, Ireland became the center of Western
scholarship; preachers of Christianity on the mainland came out of her monastery
schools. One of the main cultural centers was the monastery on the island of
Iona. Irish monks made a significant contribution to the preservation of Latin
culture during the early Middle Ages. Ireland of this period was famous for its
arts - illustrations for handwritten books, metalwork and sculpture.
Significant damage to the Irish culture, economic and political stability of the
island as a whole, was caused by the Vikings raids. Soon they began to establish
settlements on the shores of the island (in particular, Dublin, Limerick,
Waterford). Only at the beginning of the XI century, the Irish, led by the
Munster king Briand Bohr, defeated the Vikings. Brian Boru died in the decisive
battle of Klontarf in 1014.
Lordship of Ireland under the rule of England
At the end of the XII century, part of the territory of Ireland
was conquered by the British under King Henry II. The English barons
took possession of the lands of the Irish clans and introduced
English laws and a system of government. The conquered area was
called the outskirts (English the Pale) and both in management and
in its further development was very different from the still not
conquered, the so-called Wild Ireland, in which the British
constantly sought to make new conquests.
When Robert Bruce
took possession of the Scottish crown and successfully waged a war
with England, the Irish leaders turned to him for help against a
common enemy. His brother Edward arrived with the army in 1315 and
was proclaimed king by the Irish, but after a three-year war that
terribly devastated the island, he died in battle with the British.
However, in 1348, the “Black Death” came to Ireland, exterminating
almost all the British who lived in cities where mortality was
particularly high. After the plague, British power extended no
further than Dublin.
Kingdom of Ireland
During the English
Reformation, the Irish remained Catholics, which created a surviving
split between the two islands. In 1536, Henry VIII crushed the
rebellion of Silk Thomas Fitzgerald, an English protege in Ireland,
and decided to re-conquer the island. In 1541, Henry declared
Ireland a kingdom, and himself king of it. Over the next hundred
years, under Elizabeth and Jacob I, the British strengthened control
over Ireland, although they could not make the Irish Protestants,
but the entire English administration consisted only of Anglican
Protestants.
During the civil war in England, English control
over the island was greatly weakened, and the Irish Catholics
rebelled against the Protestants, temporarily creating Confederate
Ireland, but already in 1649 Oliver Cromwell arrived in Ireland with
a large and experienced army, taking the city of Droeda by attack
near Dublin and Wexford . In Drode, Cromwell ordered the entire
garrison and the Catholic priests to be killed, while in Wexford the
army massacred without permission. For nine months, Cromwell
conquered almost the entire island, and then transferred the command
to his son-in-law Ayrton, who continued the work that had begun.
Cromwell's goal was to put an end to the unrest on the island by
ousting Irish Catholics, who were forced to either leave the country
or move west to Connaught, while their lands were distributed to the
English colonists, most of them to Cromwell’s soldiers. In 1641,
more than 1.5 million people lived in Ireland, and in 1652 only 850
thousand remained (of which 150 thousand were English and Scottish
new settlers).
In 1689, during the Glorious Revolution, the
Irish supported the English king Jacob II, deposed by William of
Orange, for which they paid again.
As a result of English
colonization, the native Irish almost completely lost their land
holdings; a new ruling stratum was formed, consisting of
Protestants, immigrants from England and Scotland.
As part of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
In 1798, with the
support of France, an Irish uprising unfolded: despite the initial
success, it ended in the defeat of the rebels.
In 1801,
Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland. Irish began to be superseded by English.
At the
beginning of the XIX century, about 86% of the population of Ireland
was engaged in agriculture, in which dominated by bonded forms of
exploitation. Ireland served as one of the sources of the
accumulation of English capital and the development of industry in
England.
The Great Hunger
In the mid-1840s, an agrarian
coup began. The fall in bread prices (after the repeal of the "grain
laws" in England in 1846) prompted landowners to begin an intensive
transition from a small peasant lease system to a large pasture
farm. The process of driving small tenants off the ground has
intensified (the so-called cleaning of estates).
The
abolition of the "bread laws" and the disease of potato, which was
the main crop among the small-land Irish peasants, led to a terrible
famine of 1845-1849. As a result of hunger, about 1 million people
died.
Emigration increased significantly (from 1846 to 1851
1.5 million people left), which became a constant feature of the
historical development of Ireland.
As a result, in 1841-1851,
the population of Ireland decreased by 30%.
And in the
future, Ireland was rapidly losing population: if in 1841 the
population was 8 million 178 thousand people, then in 1901 - only 4
million 459 thousand
Irish Independence
In 1919, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched active
hostilities against the British troops and police. April 15-27, 1919
on the territory of the county of the same name there is the
Republic of Limerick Council. In December 1921, a peace treaty was
signed between Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland gained dominion
status (the so-called Irish Free State), with the exception of the
six most industrially developed northeastern counties (Northern
Ireland) with a predominance of Protestants who remained part of the
United Kingdom. However, Britain retained military bases on the
territory of Ireland, the right to receive “redemption” payments for
the former possessions of English landlords. In 1937, the country
adopted the official name Éire.
In 1949, Ireland was
proclaimed an independent republic. The republic was announced to
withdraw from the British Commonwealth. Only in the 1960s did
emigration from Ireland cease and population growth was noted. In
1973, Ireland became a member of the European Economic Community.
In the 1990s, Ireland entered a period of rapid economic growth,
which continued until 2007. With the onset of the global financial
crisis of 2008, the Irish economy is experiencing a sharp recession
associated with declining exports, problems in the construction
industry and the banking sector. According to the IMF, in 2008 the
country's economy experienced a decline of 3.5%, in 2009 - by 7.6%,
which was the largest decline in the history of the country.
As a result of a referendum held on May 22, 2015, Ireland became the
first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage by popular
vote.