According to a2zgov, Ireland is stunningly beautiful when the sun is shining! During my more than 2,000-kilometer drive on the island, I visited several of Ireland’s historic sites, beautiful natural landscapes, adorable towns and met many nice Irish people. For several evenings I listened to the emotionally charged Irish folk music and got to see samples of spontaneous dances. In Dublin’s entertainment district, Temple Bar, I got a taste of the hectic entertainment scene in the capital. The visit to Ireland gave more flavor and I would love to return to “The Green Island”.
Ireland history in brief
Ireland history, before Christ
about 7,500 Live the first inhabitants of Ireland, who are hunters and gatherers
about 6,000 permanent residents live in huts at Mount Sandel
3,700 Stone Age farmers come to Ireland, the forest is cut down for cultivation
2,500 The large tomb in Newgrange is erected
2,050 Bägarfolket come to the island in the early Bronze Age
600 The first wave of Celtic immigrants reaches Ireland
Ireland history, after Christ
150 The Greek geographer Ptolemy draws the first map of Ireland
367 Roman Britain is attacked by Irish picts and Saxons
430 The first Christian missionary is sent out by the pope
432 St Patrick’s mission to Ireland begins
563 St Columba, the first Irish missionary founds a monastery on the island of Iona (Hebrides)
795 The first Viking attacks on Ireland’s monastery
841 A large Viking fleet winters in Dublin
967 Irish warriors plunder the Viking city of Limerick. Opposition to the Vikings is gaining momentum
999 Sitric Silkenbeard, Dublin’s Viking king defeated by Brian Boru
1014 Brian Boru of Munster defeats the Vikings and King of Leinster’s forces
1142 Ireland’s first Cistercian order is founded in Mellifont
1169 Strongbow’s Anglo-Normans arrive at the invitation of exiled King Dermot McMurrough
1172 The Pope confirms that Henry II of England is lord of Ireland
1297 The first Irish Parliament meets in Dublin
1315 The Scots invade Ireland
1348 A third of the country’s population dies during the ravages of the plague
1366 The Kilkenny Charter prohibits marriages between Englishmen and Irishmen
1494 Governor Poynings forbids the Irish Parliament to meet without the King’s permission
1541 Henry VIII is proclaimed King of Ireland
1585 Ireland is mapped and divided into 32 counties
1592 Trinity College Dublin is founded
1641 Armed uprising in Ulster against colonization
1649 Cromwell disembarks in Dublin. The cities of Drogheda and Wexford are destroyed
1688 The deposed Catholic King of England, James II, flees to Ireland and sets up an army´
1690 William of Orange defeats James II at the Battle of Boyne
1731 The first issue of the Belfast Newsletter is published, which is now the world’s oldest published newspaper
1759 Arthur Guiness buys St James’s Gate in Dublin
1793 Restricts limited freedom for Irish Catholics
1795 The Orangists are formed by Ulster’s Protestants
1800 The Treaty of Union, Ireland officially becomes part of England
1815 Diligenstrafiken begins
1828 A limited number of Catholics get the right to vote after Daniel O’Connell’s five-year campaign
1845 Begins the great famine, which lasts for four years. Many Irish people die
1877 Charles Stuart Parnell becomes leader of the new Homerule party
1879 – 82 M Davitt leads the “Earth War” to reform the tenancy laws
Ireland history, modern 1900 – 1999
1905 The Sinn Fein party is formed
1912 The Belfast-built ship Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage outside the city of Cobh
1913 General strike in Dublin
1916 The Easter uprising is put down
1918 Sinn Fein wins 73 seats in parliament
1919 An unofficial parliament is formed, which fights against the “occupying” British forces
1920 It is proposed to divide the island
1921 Civil War in Southern Ireland. The island is divided into two parts. Northern Ireland remains British
1922 The Irish Free State is proclaimed. Freedom hero Michael Collins is shot in ambush
1926 The political party Fianna Fail is formed
1927 The political party Fianna Fail is formed and Eamon de Valera becomes its leader
1932
In the election, Fianna Fail Fail gained power with the support of Labor and immediately begins the struggle for independence. The struggle for independence was to be waged politically and not militarily. de Valera launched a five-year trade war, in which Ireland imposed import duties on British goods and unilaterally abolished the land tax paid by Catholic landowners to the British
1933 The Fine Gael opposition party is formed
1936 The IRA is banned from operating in Ireland and deported
1937 A new constitution is introduced declaring independence from Britain and the country will be called Eire
1949 The country changes its name to the Republic of Ireland. A new government is formed. Withdrawal from the British Commonwealth
1955 Ireland joins the UN
1963 John F Kennedy, the first American president of Irish Catholic descent, visits Ireland
1970
Two Fianna Fáil ministers, one of whom was Finance Minister Charles Haughey, were forced to resign after it was revealed that weapons had been sent from the republic to the IRA. However, none of the accused ministers could be linked to arms smuggling.
1973 Ireland joins the European Community, now the European Union (EU)
1974 About thirty people were killed in Dublin and the city of Monaghan in bombings by Protestant groups from Northern Ireland
1977
Fianna Fáil came back to power with the help of promises of lower taxes and the creation of 80,000 new jobs. The expansion of the social welfare system resulted in a gigantic government debt, but few new jobs were created.
In 1979 Charles Haughey was appointed Prime Minister, which was his political comeback
1983 – 87
Reigned Fine Gael and Labor together. Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald campaigned vigorously for reform of the outdated constitution, which met with strong opposition
1985
Ireland and the United Kingdom concluded an agreement that gave Ireland some influence over developments in Northern Ireland
1987 – 94
Fianna Fáil ruled the country with the support of various coalition partners. The government was led until 1992 by Charles Haughey, who was then forced to resign following revelations about involvement in a wiretapping scandal in the 1980s.
1988 Dublin celebrates its millennium anniversary
1990 Mary Robinson, lawyer and former Labor politician, was elected President, Ireland’s first female
1992
Mary Robinson traveled as the first Irish head of state to Northern Ireland on an official visit
Parliamentary elections were a success for Labor, while both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael went back
1993
Ireland and the United Kingdom agreed on guidelines for a future peace agreement. Ireland said it was prepared to remove the clause in the constitution claiming Northern Ireland
1994
Fine Gael formed a government with Labor and the Democratic Left, which began abolishing state monopolies and planned to privatize a number of state-owned enterprises. At the same time, the economy continued to improve. Throughout the 1990s, the Irish economy was one of the fastest growing in the EU
. IRA declared a ceasefire and several Protestant groups followed suit
1997
The election in June again led to a change of regime. Fianna Fáil this time formed a government with the right-wing Progressive Democrats (PD). New Prime Minister became Bertie Ahern
During the year, the peace process in Northern Ireland gained momentum, driven by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern
1998
In April, the historic peace agreement in Northern Ireland was concluded and on 22 May, over 94 per cent of Irish people voted in favor of the agreement in a referendum.
1999 Ireland joins the EU’s Monetary Union
