Another tragedy was that this period (along with other factors) contributed to English largely replacing the Irish language. Understandably, relations between the Irish people and the British got worse, as the government had many means to stop the severity of the famine. From 1845 - 49, Ireland suffered the Great Famine, which saw over a million people die from starvation and disease, and a million or more emigrate. The Irish Rebellion of 1798, led by the republican United Irishmen (who wanted to overthrow British rule and have a non-sectarian republic) was brutally quelled and Irish self-government was abolished. Remaining Catholics were subject to persecution, with their rights becoming less and less as time went on. In the 1600s, land was confiscated from Catholics and given to Protestant settlers (known as the Plantations), triggering the first wave of mass Irish emigration. This opened up a brutal few centuries, where the endeavor for Protestant rule over Ireland led to many atrocities and battles. This was met with fierce resistance, especially when he tried to convert the Irish Catholics to Protestants. Now it was not only Irish lords that were battling for control of the country, but Norman and English ones as well.įast forward to 1536 and Henry VIII, who tried to conquer Ireland and extend English law over the country. This worried Henry II so much he invaded in person in 1172. This event established Norman lords in Ireland, who soon ruled big tracts of Iand. When an exiled Irish king sought help from (English) King Henry II, he sent Norman forces to (successfully) recapture the Irish King’s counties. (Ireland was then made up of many small kingdoms, who fought each other for dominance of other counties and the entire island.) Then came the Normans. They set up settlements (most notably Dublin), but were eventually pushed out of Ireland by the Irish king Muirecán. In the 800s, the Vikings started invading and regularly raided and plundered the island for upwards of two centuries. Christianity came to the island in the 5th century, replacing the old tribal and Druid societies, though many of the Celtic traditions were preserved. Ireland’s history dates back to 8000 BC, and progressed from a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural one. Tumultuous is a good word to describe Ireland’s often troubled and sorrowful history, which is filled with invasion, repression, deadly conflict, religious discrimination and emigration.
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