Ireland

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outline Geography History Politics Economy Culture Advice for conversation

Geography Ireland is a small island off the northwest cost of Great Britain, divided from Scotland by a narrow strait of water.

The Republic of Ireland is in total 70,282 square kilometers Population : 4,203,200 ( July,2009 ) A ring of coastal mountains surround low plains at the centre of the island. Ireland has a mild but changeable oceanic climate with few extremes. The climate is perfect for many domestic animals (such as cows and horses) and for growing grass.

History Pre-history The earliest settlers arrived around 7000 BC in the middle stone age period. Rival colonialists of the new stone age period reached around 3000 BC. These were farmers who raised animals and cultivated the soil. Within about another thousand years, around 2000 BC, prospectors and metal workers arrived. It is thought that a second wave of people reached Ireland around 1200 BC. They are still nameless, but built on the achievements of the present inhabitants.

The Celts The Celts were commonly thought to have come to Ireland as early as the 6th century BC, with subsequent groups arriving up to the time of Christ. The Celts had deep influence on Ireland. Among all the legacies of the Celts, it is their language that has proved the most lasting. Along with the language, the Celts also brought an instrument of social and cultural unity and a legal system to the island.

The coming of Christianity Christianity was introduced into Ireland some time in the 5th century. Traditionally, it was said to have been brought by Saint Patrick. Although there were some Christians in Ireland before Patrick's arrival, by the time of his death in 461 AD, the whole island was effectively Christian.

The Middle Ages From around 800 onwards Vikings marauders attacked Ireland, as well as England. The Vikings were great traders and did much to develop commerce in medieval Ireland. The 11th and 12th centuries are often regarded as a period of progress in Ireland. Cultural activity in the arts prospered. It was a great era of religious reform and a powerful effort was made to bring the church more fully into line with Roman Catholic orthodoxy. The Normans arrived in 1167—1169. In 1171, the Normans’ overlord, Henry Ⅱ, the king of England, managed to establish himself as overlord of the Ireland.

Early Modern Period In 1541, Henry Ⅷ declared himself king of Ireland---the first English monarch to do so. Queen ElizabethⅠcontinued and amplified her father’s Irish campaigns. When her army defeated the Irish at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, the native political system was overthrown and, for the first time, the entire island was controlled by a strong English central government. Because of the repressive policies of the English administration, the English Protestantism was resisted in Ireland. When the new English republic was established under Oliver Cromwell, he took such drastic measures to crush the rebellion on Irish soil that the massacres of his parliamentary army are still recalled today.

The 18th Century In 1782 the Irish parliament was granted independence. Ireland was a separate kingdom sharing a monarch with England, although the Dublin administration was still appointed by the king. The French revolution of 1789 had a profound impact on Ireland. Following the slogans of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” the Society of the Union Irishmen was founded in 1791 to press for radical reform. A famous revolt was initiated in 1798 by the United Irishmen, but was easily suppressed. Then the Irish parliament, regarded as an unrepresentative assembly, was induced to vote itself out of existence in 1800.

Modern Ireland The great famine took place in 1845—1848. By 1851,the population had been reduced by at least 2 million due to starvation, disease, and emigration to Britain and North America. The shadow of the famine and the English indifference or even cruelty led to campaigns for national independence and land reform in the latter half of the 19th century. In December 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, with the result that 26 counties gained independence as the new Irish free state. Six counties in Ulster, however, refused to become part of the new nation. The republic of Ireland officially formed on the 6 December 1922.

Politics Ireland is a representative democracy, that is to say, most of its offices are filled through election, either direct or indirect, by the Irish people. The Irish republic has a prime minister and a deputy prime minister who appoints a cabinet to execute the daily business of government. The president is only a symbolic head of state and does not have executive power. The president’s term of office is seven years.

The Parliament or Dail enacts all legislation for the country The Parliament or Dail enacts all legislation for the country. This legislation is interpreted by a hierarchy of courts. At the bottom of this ladder is the District Court. The next rung is represented by the Circuit Court, which tries more serious cases. The next rung on the ladder is called the High Court. The High Court has full jurisdiction and determining power in all matters of law or fact. The Supreme Court is the court of final appeal.

Economy In recent decades, the Irish economy has been transformed from being agrarian and having a traditional manufacturing base to one increasingly based on the hi-tech and internationally traded services. In 2002, the services sector accounted for 65% of employment, industry for 28%, and agriculture for only 7%. In the 1990s, Ireland became a rich country for the first time in his history. Mimicking the boom in Asia, the media called Ireland's sudden wealth “the Celtic tiger” economy. The Ireland entered the EU in 1971 and benefited disproportionately from EU funding. One of the most obvious markers of the way EU membership has changed Ireland is the status of women.

Culture Language Legally, Irish is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland. By order of the government, the language of Irish must be learned by all Irish children up to the age of sixteen. Despite such official pressures, the language that is spoken universally in the Republic of Ireland is a version of standard English known as Hiberno-English.

Literature Ireland rightly has a reputation for being a culture in which writers flourish. In modern times alone, the territory that has become the republic of Ireland has been the home of four winners of the Nobel Prize for literature: The Poets, W.B.Yeats (1865--1929) and Seamus Heaney (1939--); and the playwrights, George Bernard Shaw (1856—1950) and Samuel Beckett (1906—1989).

Art Although Ireland is renown for its fine traditional music culture, it now can boast of classical composers of considerable merit. In dance, Ireland is known throughout the world for the intricacy and fervor of its folk dances, rearranged and modernized in the current stage production of Riverdance. The Irish pipe is famous and distinctive.

Sports Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland in terms of match attendance and community involvement, and represents 34% of total sports attendances at events in Ireland and abroad, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at 16% and rugby at 8% and the All-Ireland Football Final is the most watched event in Ireland's sporting calendar. Swimming, golf, aerobics, soccer, cycling, Gaelic football and billiards/snooker are the sporting activities with the highest levels of playing participation.

Advice for conversation The Ireland has an oral culture. The Irish value good talk and they love a good story, so if you are a businessman and want to do business with the Irish, just talk with them, from personal stories to jokes. The game that is most natively Irish is called hurling. It has a reputation of being one of the oldest field sports in the world, as well as one of the fastest. If you talk about hurling with an Irish man, he must think you know a lot about Ireland and want to talk with you.

The Irish have an complicated attitude toward the English, so in a conversation, one should be careful of the words about English. The Irish developed the habit of laying claim to all writers who have been born or have written within their national boundaries. Of course, most of these, in historical terms, were in fact English. But the Irish see no reason why history should prevent them from appropriating these writers as Irish in order to boost national pride in Ireland as a land of literary giants. So don’t say Oscar Wilde or James Joyce are British writers in front of an Irish person.

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