'Ulster' (,
Ulster Scots: ''Ulstèr'', ) was one of the four
Provinces of Ireland, in addition to
Connacht,
Munster and
Leinster, prior to the 1920
Government of Ireland Act.
Geography and demographics
Ulster has a
population of just under 2 million people and an area of 24,481
square kilometres (8,952
square miles). Its biggest
city,
Belfast has an urban area of over half a
million inhabitants.
Six of Ulster's nine
counties,
Antrim (''Aontroim''),
Armagh (''Ard Mhacha''),
Down (''An Dún''),
Fermanagh (''Fear Manach''),
Londonderry (''Doire'') (formerly known as
County Coleraine before being renamed and expanded during the
Plantation of Ulster) and
Tyrone (''Tír Eoghain''), form
Northern Ireland, and remained part of the
United Kingdom after
the partition of Ireland in 1921. Three Ulster counties,
Cavan (''An Cabhán''),
Donegal (''Dún na nGall'') and
Monaghan (''Muineachán'') form part of the
Republic of Ireland. About half of Ulster's population lives in Counties Antrim and Down. Many inhabitants (especially
unionists) refer to the six-county
Northern Ireland as "Ulster".
Most people in Ulster speak
Hiberno English,
Mid-Ulster English,
Irish or
Ulster Scots as their primary language.
Irish probably comes second by number of fluent speakers.
Cantonese forms the third most common language, mostly due to the considerable
Chinese community of
Belfast, the province's largest city. Belfast has more Chinese restaurants per capita than any other
European city. Large parts of County Donegal are in the ''Gaeltacht'' (an Irish-speaking district) and many people in West Belfast also speak Irish. The dialect of ''Gaeilge'' (the Irish language) most commonly spoken in Ulster (especially throughout Northern Ireland and County Donegal) is ''Gaeilge Tír Chonaill'' or Donegal Irish, also known as ''Gaeilge Uladh'' or Ulster Irish. Donegal Irish has many similarities to Scots Gaelic.
Some sources refer to the inhabitants of Ulster as 'Ultonians' - from the traditional
Latin form of the name of the province: ''Ultonia''. In the past however, the word Ullish has also been used as an adjective to describe people and things from Ulster.
The biggest lake in
Ireland, and in the
UK,
Lough Neagh, lies in eastern Ulster. The province's highest point, Slieve Donard (848 metres), stands in County Down. The most northerly point of Ireland,
Malin Head, and the highest (601 metres) sea
cliffs in
Europe, at
Slieve League, both form part of County Donegal. The longest river in
Ireland, the
Shannon, rises in County Cavan.
Volcanic activity in eastern Ulster led to the formation of the
Antrim Plateau and the
Giant's Causeway, one of Ireland's three
UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The geographical centre of Ulster lies between the villages of
Pomeroy and
Carrickmore in County Tyrone. In terms of area, County Donegal is the largest county in all of Ulster. The two largest cities in the province are the City of Belfast and the City of Derry (also known as the City of Londonderry). Belfast is Ireland's second largest city.
Ulster can be sub-divided up into the following unofficial "regions". ''West Ulster'' covers Counties Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone, together with the City of Derry. ''East Ulster'' covers Counties Antrim, Armagh (especially North Armagh) and Down, together with the City of Armagh, City of Belfast, City of Lisburn and the City of Newry. ''South Ulster'' covers Counties Cavan and Monaghan. Sometimes South Armagh, which is part of County Armagh, is included in South Ulster as oppossed to East Ulster.
Ulster's main airport is Belfast International Airport (popularly called Aldergrove Airport), which is located at Aldergrove near Antrim Town in County Antrim. George Best Belfast City Airport (sometimes referred to as "the Harbour Airport") is the other, smaller airport in that city. It is located at Sydenham in East Belfast. The City of Derry Airport is located at Eglinton on the eastern outskirts of the City of Derry and is a major airport for the city, West Tyrone and County Donegal.
History and politics
Early history
Ulster is one of the
four Irish provinces. Its
name derives from the
Irish language ''Cúige Uladh'' (pronounced "Kooi-gah UH-lah"), meaning "Province (literally 'fifth') of the
Ulaidh", named for the ancient inhabitants of the region. The
Irish ''Ulaidh'' with the addition of the
Old Norse ''stadr'' (meaning "place" or "territory") yields "Ulaidh Stadr" or, in English, "Ulster."
The province's early story extends further back than written records and survives mainly in legends such as the
Ulster Cycle. In early medieval Ireland, the
Uí Néill (O'Neill) dynasty dominated Ulster from their base in Tír Eóghain (''Eoghan's Country'') - modern County Tyrone. The Ó Domhnaill (O'Donnell) dynasty were Ulster's second most powerful clan from the early thirteenth-century through to the beginning of the seventeenth-century. The O'Donnell's ruled over Tír Chonaill (modern County Donegal) in West Ulster. After the
Norman invasion of Ireland in the twelfth century, the east of the province fell by conquest to Norman barons, first
De Courcy (died 1219), then
Hugh de Lacy (1176-1243), who founded the
Earldom of Ulster - based around the modern counties of Antrim and Down. However, by the end of the 15th century the Earldom had collapsed and Ulster had become the only Irish province completely outside of
English control.
In the 1600s Ulster was the last redoubt of the traditional
Gaelic way of life, and following the defeat of the Irish forces in the
Nine Years War (1594-1603) at the
battle of Kinsale (1601),
Elizabeth I's English forces succeeded in subjugating Ulster and all of Ireland. The Gaelic leaders of Ulster, the
O'Neills and
O'Donnells, finding their power under English
suzerainty limited, decamped ''en masse'' in 1607 (the
Flight of the Earls) to Roman Catholic Europe. This allowed the
Crown to settle Ulster with more loyal English and
Scottish planters, a process which began in earnest in 1610.
Plantations and civil wars
The
Plantation of Ulster, run by the government, settled only the counties confiscated from those Irish families that had taken part in the Nine Years War. The Crown dispossessed thousands of the native Irish, who were forced to move to poorer land. Counties
Donegal,
Tyrone,
Armagh,
Cavan,
Londonderry and
Fermanagh comprised the official plantation. However, the most extensive settlement in Ulster of English, Scots and Welsh — as well as
Protestants from throughout the European continent — occurred in
Antrim and
Down. These counties, though not officially planted, had suffered de-populatation during the war and proved attractive to settlers from nearby Scotland. This unofficial settlement continued well into the 18th century, interrupted only by the
Catholic uprising of 1641.
This rebellion, initially led by
Phelim O'Neill, was intended to seize power rapidly, but quickly degenerated into attacks on Protestant settlers. Dispossessed
Catholics slaughtered thousands of
Protestants, an event which remains strong in Ulster Protestant
folk-memory. In the ensuing
wars (1641 - 1653, fought against the background of
civil war in England, Scotland and Ireland), Ulster became a battleground between the Protestant settlers and the native Irish Catholics. In 1646, the Irish Catholic army under
Owen Roe O'Neill inflicted a bloody defeat on a Scottish
Covenanter army at
Benburb in County Tyrone, but the Catholic forces failed to follow up their victory and the war lapsed into stalemate. The war in Ulster ended with the defeat of the Irish Catholic army at the
Battle of Scarrifholis on the western outskirts of Letterkenny, County Donegal, in 1650 and the occupation of the province by the
Cromwellian New Model Army. The atrocities committed by all sides in the war poisoned the relationships between Ulster's ethno-religious communities for generations afterwards.
Forty years later, in 1688-1691, the former warring parties re-fought the conflict in the
Williamite war in Ireland, when Irish Catholics ("
Jacobites") supported
James II (deposed in the
Glorious Revolution) and Ulster Protestants (
Williamites) backed
William of Orange. At the start of the war, Irish Catholic Jacobites controlled all of Ireland for James, with the exception of the Protestant strongholds at
Derry and at
Enniskillen in Ulster. The Jacobites
besieged Derry from December 1688 to July 1689, when a Williamite army from Britain relieved the city. The Protestant Williamite fighters based in Enniskillen defeated another Jacobite army at the
battle of Newtownbutler on
July 28,
1689. Thereafter, Ulster remained firmly under Williamite control and William's forces completed their conquest of the rest of Ireland in the next two years. Ulster Protestant irregulars known as "Enniskilleners" served with the Williamite forces. The war provided Protestant
loyalists with the iconic victories of the
Siege of Derry, the
Battle of the Boyne (
1 July 1690)and the
Battle of Aughrim (
12 July 1691), all of which their descendants still commemorate today. See also:
Twelfth of July. An interesting side note is that the Pope's image is traditionally burnt at these commemorations however the Pope at the time of the Williamite war actually supported William of Orange.
The Williamites' victory in this war ensured British and Protestant supremacy in Ireland for over 100 years. The
Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland excluded most of Ulster's population from
power on religious grounds.
Roman Catholics (descended from the indigenous Irish) and
Presbyterians (mainly descended from Scottish planters, but also from indigenous Irishmen who converted to Presbyterianism) both suffered discrimination under the
Penal Laws, which gave full political rights only to
Anglican Protestants (mostly descended from English settlers). In the 1690s, Scottish Presbyterians became a majority in Ulster, tens of thousands of them having emigrated there to escape a famine in Scotland.
Emigration
Considerable numbers of Ulster-Scots just a few generations after arriving in Ulster migrated to the
North American colonies throughout the 18th century (250,000 settled in what would become the
United States between 1717 and 1770 alone). According to Kerby Miller, ''Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America'' (1988), Protestants were one-third of the population of Ireland, but three-quarters of all emigrants from 1700 to 1776; 70% of these Protestants were
Presbyterians.
Disdaining (or forced out of) the heavily
English regions on the Atlantic coast, most groups of Ulster-Scots settlers crossed into the "western mountains", where their descendants populated the
Appalachian regions and the
Ohio Valley. Here they lived on the frontiers of America, carving their own world out of the wilderness. The Scotch-Irish soon became the dominant culture of the Appalachians from
Pennsylvania to
Georgia. Author (and U.S. Senator)
Jim Webb puts forth a thesis in his book ''Born Fighting'' to suggest that the character traits he ascribes to the Scots-Irish such as loyalty to kin, mistrust of governmental authority, and a propensity to bear arms, helped shape the American identity.
In the
United States Census, 2000, 4.3 million Americans claimed Scots-Irish ancestry, though James Webb suggests estimates that the true number of Scotch-Irish in the USA is more in the region of 27 million.
[1] Interestingly, the areas where the most Americans reported themselves in the 2000 Census only as "American" with no further qualification (e.g.
Kentucky, north-central
Texas, and many other areas in the
Southern US) are largely the areas where many Scots-Irish settled, and are in complementary distribution with the areas which most heavily report Scots-Irish ancestry.
Republicanism, rebellion, and communal strife
Most of the eighteenth century saw a calming of sectarian tensions in Ulster. The economy of the province improved, as small producers exported linen and other goods. Belfast developed from a village into a bustling provincial town. However, this did not stop many thousands of Ulster people from emigrating to
British North America in this period, where they became known as "
Scots Irish" or "
Scotch Irish".
Political tensions resurfaced, albeit in a new form, towards the end of the 18th century. In the 1790s many Catholics and Presbyterians, in opposition to
Anglican domination and inspired by the
American and
French revolutions joined together in the
United Irishmen movement. This group (founded in Belfast) dedicated itself to founding a non-
sectarian and independent Irish republic. The United Irishmen had particular strength in
Belfast,
Antrim and
Down. Paradoxically however, this period also saw much sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants, principally members of the
Church of Ireland (Anglicans, who practised the state religion and had rights denied to both Presbyterians and Catholics), notably the "
battle of the Diamond" in 1795, a faction fight between the rival "
Defenders" (Catholic) and "
Peep O'Day Boys" (Anglican), which led to over 100 deaths and to the founding of the
Orange Order. This event, and many others like it, came about with the relaxation of the
Penal Laws and as Catholics began to purchase land and involve themselves in the linen trade (activities which previously had involved many onerous restrictions). Protestants, including Presbyterians, who in some parts of the province had come to identify with the Catholic community, used violence to intimidate Catholics who tried to enter the linen trade. Estimates suggest that up to 7000 Catholics suffered expulsion from Ulster during this violence. Many of them settled in northern
Connacht. These refugees' linguistic influence still survives in the dialects of Irish spoken in
Mayo, which have many similarities to
Ulster Irish not found elsewhere in Connacht.
Loyalist militias, primarily
Anglicans, also used violence against the
United Irishmen and against Catholic and Protestant
republicans throughout the province.
In 1798 the United Irishmen, led by
Henry Joy McCracken, launched a rebellion in Ulster, mostly supported by Presbyterians. But the British authorities swiftly put down the insurgents and employed severe repression after the fighting had ended. In the wake of the failure of this
rebellion, and following the gradual abolition of official religious discrimination after the
Act of Union in 1800,
Presbyterians came to identify more with the State and with their Anglican neighbours, who perceived them as the lesser of two evils.
Industrialisation, Home Rule, and partition
In the 19th century, Ulster became the most prosperous province in Ireland, with the only large-scale industrialisation in the country. In the latter part of the century,
Belfast overtook
Dublin as the largest city on the island. Belfast became famous in this period for its huge dockyards and shipbuilding - and notably for the construction of the
RMS ''Titanic''. In the 19th century,
sectarian divisions in Ulster became hardened into the political categories of ''
unionist'' (supporters of the Union with Britain, mostly (but not exclusively) Protestant) and ''
nationalist'' (advocates of an Irish self-government, usually (though not exclusively) Catholic). The origins of Northern Ireland's current politics lie in these late 19th century disputes over
Home Rule for Ireland, which Ulster Protestants usually opposed - fearing for their status in an autonomous Catholic-dominated Ireland and also not trusting politicians from the agrarian south and west to support the more industrial economy of Ulster. To resist Home Rule, thousands of unionists, led by the Dublin-born barrister
Sir Edward Carson and
James Craig, signed the "
Ulster Covenant" of 1912, pledging to resist Irish independence. This movement also saw the setting up of the
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the first Irish paramilitary group, in order to resist British attempts to enforce Home Rule. In response, Irish nationalists created the
Irish Volunteers - forerunners of the
Irish Republican Army (IRA) - to ensure the passing of the
Home Rule Act 1914.
The outbreak of the
Great War in 1914, in which thousands of Ulstermen and Irishmen of all religions and sects volunteered and died, interrupted this armed stand-off. In particular, the heavy casualties of the 36th Ulster Division (largely composed of volunteers from the UVF) became a source both of mourning and of pride for the
loyalist community, and remains so to the present day.
In the aftermath of the War, Ireland saw several years of political violence, with
Irish nationalists launching a guerrilla campaign against British rule as part of the
Anglo-Irish War (January 1919 - July 1921). In Ulster, the fighting generally took the form of street battles between Protestants and Catholics in the city of Belfast. Estimates suggest that about 600 civilians died in this communal violence, the majority of them (58%)Catholics. The I.R.A. remained relatively quiescent in Ulster, with the exception of the south
Armagh area, where
Frank Aiken led it. Alot of I.R.A. activity also took place at this time in County Donegal and the City of Derry, where one of the main Republican leaders was Peadar O'Donnell. Hugh O'Doherty, a Sinn Féin politician, was elected Mayor of Derry at this time. In the First Dáil, which was elected in late 1918, Prof. Eoin Mac Néill served as the Sinn Féin T.D. for Derry City.
Partition of Ireland, first mooted in 1912, was introduced with the enactment of the
Government of Ireland Act, 1920, which gave self-government to six of Ulster's northeastern counties within the UK. This was confirmed by the
Anglo-Irish Treaty (
6 December 1921) which ended in the partition of Ireland between the
Irish Free State (now the
Republic of Ireland) and
Northern Ireland. Hostilities formally ceased on
July 11,
1921. However, low-level violence, often involving the
B-Specials, continued in Ulster, causing
Michael Collins to order a boycott on northern produce in protest at the attacks on the Catholic/Nationalist community. In 1922, six of Ulster's nine counties became collectively
Northern Ireland and remained in the United Kingdom, whilst the rest became part of the
Irish Free State. For the subsequent general history of Ulster see
History of Northern Ireland and
History of the Republic of Ireland.
Current politics
Main articles: Demographics and politics of Northern Ireland,
Politics of Ireland
Electorally, voting in the six Northern Ireland counties of Ulster tends to follow religious or sectarian lines; noticeable religious demarcation does not exist in the South Ulster counties of Cavan and Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. Some religious tensions remain in the east of County Donegal (Ulster's largest county), especially in the Laggan Valley and Finn Valley. Culturally, religiously and - to a certain extent - politically, County Donegal has much more in common with Northern Ireland than it does with the rest of the Republic of Ireland, a state of which it forms a part. County Donegal is largely a Catholic county, but with a large Protestant minority. Generally, Protestants in County Donegal vote for
Fine Gael. All political parties in the Republic welcome members of all religious persuasions. Indeed
Erskine H. Childers, a
Church of Ireland member and
Teachta Dála (TD, a member of the lower house of the National Parliament) who had represented Monaghan, won election as
President of Ireland after having served as a long-term minister under
Fianna Fáil Taoisigh Éamon de Valera,
Seán Lemass and
Jack Lynch. However, upon the Partition of Ireland in the very early 1920's, many Protestants from throughout the new Irish Free State (later called the Republic of Ireland) moved to the new statlet called Northern Ireland.
In the North of Ireland many - but not all - Catholics and Protestants lead separate lives from one another, especially amongst the working class and especially in the cities and large towns. In the Republic, the Protestant community of Counties Cavan and Monaghan in South Ulster are well integrated. Sectarian politics in both these counties has long been a thing of the past. In County Donegal, over in West Ulster, things are somewhat different from the rest of the Republic, of which it is a part. Religion can still play a part in the politics of this large, scenic county, chiefly in the Laggan Valley and Finn Valley in the east and in parts of Inishowen, a large peninsula in the north of the county. As already stated above, the Protestant "bloc vote" continues to exist in County Donegal, with most Protestants voting in elections (both local and national) for Fine Gael. This is especially true in the east of the county, where the Orange Order is particularly strong amongst the Protestant community there. However, especially since the Good Friday Agreement (G.F.A.) in April 1998, sectarian politics and sectarian feeling in County Donegal has begun to decline.
The Orange Order freely organises in Counties Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, with several Orange parades taking place throughout County Donegal each year. The largest Orange march in the Republic of Ireland takes place every July in the tiny village of Rossnowlagh, near Ballyshannon, in the very south of County Donegal. This march - like the other such marches in the county - takes place with the co-operation of An Garda Síochána (the national police force of the Republic) and a rather ambivalent local Catholic community. The Catholic community of Rossnowlagh is often commended for the dignified way in which it deals with this annual "Orange invasion". In the recent past, however, violence has erupted at Orange marches elsewhere in County Donegal, almost exclusively at such events in the east of the county, most notably in the town of Raphoe and in the village of St. Johnston (both in the Laggan Valley).
As of 2006, Northern Ireland has eight Catholic
Members of Parliaments (of a total of 18 from the whole of Northern Ireland) in the
British House of Commons at
Westminster; and the other three counties have one Protestant T.D. of the ten it has elected to
Dáil Éireann, the Lower House of the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland. At present (August 2007) County Donegal sends six T.D.'s to Dáil Éireann. The county is divided into two constituencies: Donegal North-East and Donegal South-West, each with three T.D.'s. County Cavan and County Monaghan form the one constituency called Cavan-Monaghan, which sends four T.D.'s to the Dáil (one of whom is a Protestant). The Republic's parties have long ceased to base their selection of candidates purely on any religious criteria. For most of the twentieth century they chose at least one candidate from a Protestant background to attract the Protestant vote, but the disappearance of a block ''Protestant vote'' (except in County Donegal) voting exclusively for a candidate on the basis of religion (with Protestant voters instead voting primarily for local candidates irrespective of religion) means that selection now depends largely on considerations of geography when electing TDs to
Dáil Éireann under its
Proportional Representation system. Again, County Donegal differs here in that a Protestant "block vote" continues, especially in the east of the county.
The historic
Flag of Ulster served as the basis for the
Ulster Banner (more correctly called the Flag of Northern Ireland), which was the official
flag of Northern Ireland until the proroguing of the
Stormont parliament in 1973.
Sport
In
Rugby union, the
Ulster branch of the
Irish Rugby Football Union (I.R.F.U.) plays as a professional club in the
Magners League formerly the
Celtic League, along with clubs from
Wales,
Scotland and the professional clubs from the other Irish Provinces (
Leinster,
Munster. Notable Ulster rugby players include Willy John McBride, Jack Kyle and Mike Gibson. The Former is the most capped British and Irish Lion of all time, having completed 4 tours with the British and Irish Lions in the sixties and seventies.
Cricket is also popular throughout Ulster, especially in Northern Ireland and in the east of County Donegal. The game is mainly played and followed by members of the Protestant community.
In
Gaelic Games,
Ulster counties compete with the other Irish counties in the
All-Ireland Championships and National Leagues, as well as in the All-Ireland inter-club championships. The whole province fields a team to play the other provinces in the
Railway Cup.
Gaelic football is by far the most popular of the
GAA sports in Ulster but has counties
Antrim,
Armagh,
Derry, and
Down existing as both
hurling and Gaelic football counties.
The border has divided
Association football (soccer) teams since
1921[2]: there exists a Northern Ireland (international) team, but not an Ulster team; separate football championships take place: (
Irish League in Northern Ireland,
League of Ireland in the rest of Ulster). Anomalously,
Derry City F.C. has played in the League of Ireland since 1985. There have, however, been cup competitions between teams from both sides of the border such as the recently formed
Setanta Sports Cup. In the League of Ireland, the two main Ulster teams are both based in West Ulster. They are Derry City F.C. (based at the Brandywell in the City of Derry) and Finn Harps (based at Finn Park in Ballybofey, a town in the Finn Valley of County Donegal).
The Irish Football Association (I.F.A.), based in South Belfast, oversees association football (or "soccer") in Northern Ireland. The Football Association of Ireland (F.A.I.), based in Merrion Square in central Dublin, oversees football in the Republic of Ireland. As Derry City ("The Candystripes") play in the League of Ireland they are "overseen" by the F.A.I. instead of the I.F.A..
General references
''The Ulster Countryside.'' Deane, C.Douglas. 1983. Century Books. ISBN 0 903152 17 7
Further reading
★ Morton, O. 1994. ''Marine Algae of Northern Ireland.'' Ulster Museum, Belfast. ISBN 0900761 28 8
★ ''Stewart and Corry's Flora of the North-east of Ireland.'' Third edition. Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast
See also
★
Ulster nationalism
★
Northern Ireland
★
Kings of Ulster
★
Provinces of Ireland
★
Ulster-Scots (people)
★
Ulster Scots language
★
Mid Ulster English
★
Ulster Irish
★
Plantation of Ulster
★
Plantations of Ireland
★
Ulster Covenant
★
Culture of Ulster
★
Ulster GAA
★
Ulster Rugby
External links
★
BBC Nations History of Ireland
★ The cases of “Protestant Ulster” and Cornwall, by Professor Philip Payton
★
Mercator Atlas of Europe Map of Ireland ("Irlandia") circa 1564
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