A Brief History of Ireland
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Ireland is estimated to be first settled in 6000BC by hunters and fishers along the Irish Coast. Between 600BC and 150AD the Gales, Celtic Speaking people from western Europe, migrated to the Island and took over the Island. By 400AD Ireland was separated into five kingdoms known as the Five Fifths of Ireland. These kingdoms would often times join forces to raid the neighboring island at the time Roman England and in one of these rids they took a young man and sold him into slavery. He escaped six years later to then study theology. He returned to Ireland to fulfill his lifelong goal to convert the Ireland to Catholicism. We know this boy as Saint Patrick, the nation’s patron saint.
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In the 9th and 10th century Ireland suffered Viking assaults where the Vikings committed atrocities to monasteries and the population. After the Vikings came Danish settlers who assimilated to the Irish culture adopting there language and religion. In 1495 Henry VIII extended British law to Ireland and this began the down fall of Celtic power in the British isles. Ireland gained its independence in 1948.
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Irish Culture
Interior of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin
Courtesy of Eusedublin2013.com |
Both English and Irish are national languages of Ireland but most people speak English exclusively. Other languages that are spoken include French, German, and Spanish. Almost 85% of Irish people follow Catholicism making it the most followed religion in the country. The second highest appeared in the 2011 census was the no religion category at about 7%.
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