Geography and Climate

Ireland is located between 5º and 10º west in longitude, and 51º to 55º north in latitude. Its geography can often be compared to that of a saucer; the large low-lying plains in the middle are surrounded by many low coastal mountains, most of them not more than 1,000 metres high (3,000 feet). The island is also home to many freshwater lakes, the biggest of which is Lough Neagh, in Northern Ireland.
The island is divided into 32 counties, six of these are in Northern Ireland, and 26 are in the Republic. There are also 4 provinces; Ulster (North), Leinster (East), Connaught (West), and Munster (South).
The climate in Ireland is very temperate, and often influenced by the North Atlantic Drift. This current makes the island much warmer than other places of its latitude, like Newfoundland. The temperatures in summer rarely rise above 22º Celsius (72º Fahrenheit) and below -3º Celsius (27º Fahrenheit) in winter. The island has a particularily wet climate, but long spells of sun are not unheard of. In winter, snow can fall at any time between October or April, but these are usually restricted to a few days at a time, and most will not lie on the warmer south and west coasts. This makes the island's weather pleasant and not too extreme. The only extreme threat that arises is wind, and gales around wintertime often become commonplace during wet weather.

A Short History

The island has been occupied for just about 10,000 years. The first people who arrived who share the first resemblances to the modern Irish were called the Gaels. They arrived around 6000 years ago and brought the Bronze Age with them. The island was then finally brought into the Iron Age when the Celts arrived from Europe. Ireland was never part of the Roman Empire, but through contact with it, and the famous Saint Patrick, the island adopted Christianity, as had Rome. The island settled into peace and prosperity for the next 400 years or so until the Vikings arrived and plundered the coast. The Irish fought back, and by 1014, the had driven the Vikings out of Ireland. However, in 1169, the Normans arrived in Ireland, and controlled much of the island, at least nominally, by 1300 AD. Their power in Ireland soon began to wane until Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I conquered the island's and ended the old Gaelic powers. They brought in a program of plantation, or colonization, which had a huge affect on Ulster in the North. The island fought against the new Protestant religion throughout the 1600s, but were virtually subdued by 1701. After a brief rebellion in 1798, Ireland joined the United Kingdom in 1801. The island suffered under a famine in the 1840s, where over a million died. By the end of the century, nationalism sprang up and under Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish called for home rule. Their opponents were descendants of the former in Planters of Ulster, and they wanted to uphold the Union. This developed into conflict when the 1916 Rising broke out in Dublin, and although a failure, it brought Ireland into a bitter war of independence. By 1921, the island was divided into the modern states we see today, with six counties in the North forming Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. Throughout the early 20th century, the new Irish state gained increasing autonomy from the British Empire, and finally left the Commonwealth in 1948. In the north, the Catholics, in a minority of one to two in the province, protested for civil rights in the 1960s, but only served to alienate them more from the Protestants, and so bitter violence broke out. Northern Ireland was ravaged by this until 1998, when an agreement was set up for a power-sharing assembly for both Unionists and Nationalists, and so peace returned to the province. In the south, an economic boom resulted in the modernization of the Republic into a forward-looking European power, with a strong tourist industry.

Hang on, where is Ireland?

Before we get started, it's probably best that we go through everything first. Ireland is located on the north-west fringe of Europe, just to the west of Britain. Its home to about 6-7 million people, most of whom live in the cities. There are, if you like, two Irelands; the Republic of Ireland (Éire), which occupies 26 of the traditional counties of Ireland, and Northern Ireland, which occupies the other six. Northern Ireland is a constituent country of the United Kingdom, with its capital in Belfast, while the Republic of Ireland is an independent state, with its capital in Dublin. Of course, the landscape doesn't change by the political boundary, and the two states share a common landscape, and in many places, culture.

Céad Míle Fáilte

Welcome to Ireland! This site will give you all the necessary info on the island of Ireland, whether it be the culture, the cuisine, the language, the places of interest, or just the island in general. This site is the definite site for tourists coming to the island, and what it may lack in size, it certainly makes up in character! This blog will cover the following:

• Culture
• Language
• History
• People
• Geography and Climate
  
• Landmarks
• Getting around

Are your ready? Let's begin...