· Irish Literature, the oral and written literature of the people of Ireland, an island that today comprises the independent Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is politically part of the United Kingdom. In recent years the definition of Irish literature has been broadened to encompass literature produced by Irish writers living outside Ireland and writers of Irish descent whose work reflects the Irish or Irish emigrant experience. b4v3vz
Irish literature is composed in the Irish and the English languages.
Irish, also known as Gaelic, is the traditional tongue of Ireland. The oldest Irish literature consists of stories and poems about ancient kings and heroes, which were transmitted orally in Irish. Written literature in Ireland begins after Christian missionaries arrived in the 5th century AD and introduced the Roman alphabet, which was then adapted to the Irish language. Christianity coexisted with traditional Irish ways, rather than supplanting them, and has continued to do so to the present day. Both traditions figure strongly in Irish literature.
The second major influence on Irish literature, after Christianity, was colonization from England, which began in the 12th century. By the 17th and 18th centuries, the English had consolidated their power in Ireland, and Anglo-Irish writers-Irish-born writers of English descent-dominated Ireland's literary culture. English was the language of the rulers; literature in Irish survived largely in oral tradition. Anglo-Irish literary movements of the 19th century sought to revive Gaelic culture and the Irish language. These movements linked literature with the cause of Irish political and cultural independence from Britain. The revival gained strength when Irish became an official language in 1922. At that time the island was divided politically into the Irish Free State, which became Ireland in 1949, and Northern Ireland. Today writers in Irish and English continue to find themes in the Irish landscape and in Irish history.
Irish literature reflects the bravado of Celtic heroes as well as the suffering and hardships the Irish people have experienced over the course of their history. Despite these hardships, wit and humor-often in the form of satire or irony-have characterized much of Irish literature. Another defining feature has been an exploration of the riches of language and an enjoyment of wordplay. A love of language is evident in Irish literature, from the early sagas to the 20th-century experiments of James Joyce.
Northern Ireland, administrative division of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, situated in the northeastern portion of the island of Ireland. The remaining portion of the island is part of the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland constitutes about 17 percent of the land area of Ireland and has 31 percent of the island's population. The capital of Northern Ireland is Belfast. Northern Ireland's population is deeply divided along religious and political lines. The schism between the Protestant majority and the Catholic minority extends deep into Northern Ireland's past and has strongly influenced the region's culture, settlement patterns, and politics.
By the 17th century, Protestant British settlers had subjugated the region's Catholic, Gaelic inhabitants.
The whole of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom until 1920, when the island was divided. Of the original 32 counties of Ireland, the 6 northeasterly counties became a British province officially known as Northern Ireland. The remaining 26 counties became independent in 1922 as the Irish Free State (later Eire, and subsequently the Republic of Ireland). Since then, most of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland has identified with independent Ireland, and most of the Protestant majority with Britain. Catholics seeking integration with Ireland are often referred to as republicans or nationalists, while Protestants who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom are often called unionists or loyalists.
From 1921 to 1972 Northern Ireland had its own regional parliament that exercised considerable authority over local affairs. The Protestant, unionist majority dominated the parliament, which made the government unpopular with the Catholic, nationalist minority. Northern Ireland experienced a nearly continuous period of violent conflict between these two groups from the late 1960s through the mid-1990s. The violence extended beyond Ireland, as republican paramilitary groups-in particular the Irish Republican Army (IRA)-also struck targets in London and elsewhere in England. The clashes, bombings, and assassinations in this period were often referred to as “the troubles.” In 1972 the British government shut down Northern Ireland's regional parliament and governed the region directly from London. A 1998 accord known as the Good Friday Agreement restored some powers to a new provincial government.
The Protestant community often refers to Northern Ireland as Ulster. Catholics seldom use this name. For most Catholics the term Ulster is used only to refer to the historic Irish province of Ulster, which consisted of the current six counties and three other counties that are now in the Republic of Ireland. Catholics tend to refer to the territory as “the north of Ireland,” and those of strongly nationalist views also use the term “the six counties.”
II. Land and Resources
The total area of Northern Ireland is 14,160 sq km (5,467 sq mi), of which 628 sq km (242 sq mi) is inland water.
The maximum distance from north to south is 137 km (85 mi); from east to west it is 177 km (110 mi). Northern Ireland is bounded on the north and northeast by the North Channel, on the southeast by the Irish Sea, and on the south and west by Ireland. The border with Ireland is 360 km (220 mi) long. The region's coastline consists of wide, sandy beaches, broken by steep cliffs in the north, northeast, and southeast. Near the northernmost point of Northern Ireland is Giant's Causeway, an unusual formation of basalt columns created by the cooling of an ancient lava flow. Rathlin Island and several smaller islands lie off the northern coast.
The different regions of Northern Ireland are frequently referred to by the names of the province's six traditional Irish counties, even though they are no longer the units of local government. These are-clockwise from the northeast-Antrim, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Londonderry (Derry).
The region's topography is often described as saucer-shaped: A low-lying central area is surrounded by the Antrim Mountains and Glens of Antrim to the north and northeast, the Mourne Mountains to the southeast, the uplands of south Armagh to the south, and the Sperrin Mountains to the northwest. A number of broad river valleys run from the central region to the sea. The highest mountain is Slieve Donard (852 m/2,795 ft), located at the eastern end of the Mourne Mountains in County Down.
A. Rivers and Lakes
Lough Neagh, in the center of Northern Ireland, is the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles, with an area of 396 sq km (153 sq mi). All the region's counties border it except Fermanagh. Upper and Lower Lough Erne, in County Fermanagh, are the only other major freshwater lakes. Belfast Lough, Carlingford Lough, Strangford Lough, and Lough Foyle are the largest sea inlets. The major river of Northern Ireland is the Bann, which rises in the Mourne Mountains and flows northward through Lough Neagh to become a wide and navigable waterway to the sea. The Foyle flows north to the sea at the port city of Londonderry (Derry), forming the border with Ireland for part of its length. The Lagan flows northeast to the sea at Belfast.
B. Plant and Animal Life
Wild plant and animal life is similar to that found in the northern and western parts of Britain. Sedges, rushes, ferns, and grasses are the principal plants, and rhododendrons flourish in many areas. Winters are mild and there are no regular sharp frosts, so it is also possible to grow decorative shrubs such as fuchsia and exotic imports such as those of the genus Escallonia. Wild mammals are limited to small rodents of the woods and fields, such as rabbits and stoats. There are many species of small birds. Salmon and trout thrive in Northern Ireland's rivers and lakes, and the province is also known for a distinctive type of whitefish called the pollan, found in Lough Neagh and Upper and Lower Lough Erne.
C. Natural Resources
Ireland is not rich in minerals. Small-scale coal mining has been pursued sporadically at Coalisland, in central Northern Ireland, and at Ballycastle in the north. Farmers and other rural people harvest peat for fuel, but very few deposits are broad or deep enough to justify commercial exploitation. Limestone and gravel are extensively quarried. Some 6 percent of Northern Ireland's land area is forested, much of it planted in recent times.
D. Climate
Northern Ireland's climate is temperate, with warm winters and cool summers. In January the average daily temperature is around 4°C (39°F), and in July it is about 15°C (59°F). Annual precipitation is about 1,100 mm (42 in), spread fairly evenly throughout the year. Spring is normally the driest season. Overcast skies are the norm: Average daily hours of clear skies range from less than two from November to January to around six in May and June. Northern Ireland tends to be breezy, and gales are common in spring and fall.
III. PopulationPrint section
The total population of Northern Ireland is 1,691,800 (1999). The overall population density is 119 persons per sq km (309 persons per sq mi). The area that is now Northern Ireland was thinly populated before 1700, but the population grew rapidly from about 1750, doubling in the period from 1750 to 1790. By 1821, when the first census was taken, it had risen to 1.38 million, and the population reached 1.64 million in 1841. The region was affected to a lesser extent than other parts of Ireland by the island's widespread potato blight and subsequent famine of 1845 to 1850. Nonetheless, the population fell sharply to 1.43 million by 1851 and continued to decline steadily as a result of emigration, dropping to a low of 1.25 million in 1911. During the 20th century the population increased slowly but steadily as a result of lower death rates, continuing high birth rates, and a decline in the rate of emigration.
Belfast is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland.
Almost half of the province's population lives in the greater Belfast area. Founded on the sandy mouth of the Lagan River in 1613 by settlers from Britain, Belfast took its name from Beal Feirsde (Irish for “the mouth of the sandbank”). Belfast remained a small trading port until about 1800. It subsequently became a major industrial city, growing from about 20,000 people at the beginning of the 1800s to a peak of 443,671 in 1951. Northern Ireland's second largest city, Londonderry (Derry), is much smaller. Derry (Irish Doire, for “place of the oaks”), a small community centered around a 6th-century abbey, was rebuilt by British settlers in 1613. Soon thereafter the town granted charters to several London merchant companies to develop the area, and the official name of the city became Londonderry. This name was never fully accepted or used by Catholics, who in general still refer to the city as Derry. The city is therefore often referred to in print as Londonderry/Derry or Derry/Londonderry. The only other urban center designated as a city is Armagh, which is actually a small town. Armagh owes its prominence to its historic role as the center of Christianity in Ireland and the home of both the Catholic and Anglican primates of all Ireland. Major towns include the market centers of Coleraine (headquarters of the University of Ulster), Dungannon, Enniskillen, Omagh, and Strabane; the ports of Larne and Newry; and the historic linen manufacturing towns of Ballymena, Lurgan, and Portadown.
A. Ethnicity and Religion
The main defining components of ethnicity in Northern Ireland are religious and political affiliation. In general, Catholics/nationalists regard themselves as Irish, and Protestants/unionists regard themselves as British.
The 1991 census recorded Catholics as 38 percent of the population. However, 7 percent of the population declined to identify a religious affiliation. Therefore, most demographers agree that Catholics actually represent about 41 percent of the population. The largest Protestant groups are Presbyterians (21 percent of the total population), followed by the Anglican members of the Church of Ireland (18 percent), and Methodists (4 percent). Of the remaining 16 percent of the population, about half belong to other Protestant denominations, often of a fundamentalist and strongly political character influenced by American evangelicalism. Several of these denominations have grown in membership since the 1960s. The remaining 8 percent of the people are either members of non-Christian religions or claim no religious affiliation.
B. Language
Almost all residents of Northern Ireland speak English.
Only a tiny percentage speak Irish, a Gaelic language, except in remote upland areas in the Glens of Antrim, the Mourne Mountains, and the Sperrin Mountains, where Irish is more widely spoken. The Catholic and nationalist community has tended to become more enthusiastic about learning Irish as a second language during periods of heightened political activity-for example, from 1900 to 1920 and from 1970 to the present day. Recent government policies and the expansion of university education have encouraged mutual respect for the two cultural traditions in the province. This has boosted the current Irish language movement, as well as the late-1990s rise in popularity of Ulster-Scots, or Ullans, among the Protestant community.
C. Education
Education is compulsory in Northern Ireland for all children aged 5 to 16. The great majority of students attend either state schools, which are in effect Protestant, or schools operated by the Catholic Church. The state did not fully fund Catholic schools until the 1970s. Since the 1980s the government has also funded so-called integrated schools, which endeavor to offer a curriculum equally appropriate for children of a Catholic or Protestant tradition. In 2000 only about 3.2 percent of children were attending such schools.
The main urban centers of Northern Ireland have colleges of higher education that offer full-time and part-time study to students aged 16 to 18, as well as to adults. The province also has two universities: the Queen's University of Belfast (founded in 1845) and the University of Ulster (founded in 1968, restructured in 1984), which has campuses at Coleraine, Londonderry, Jordanstown, and Belfast. The Catholic-Protestant balance in both institutions is now about even.
D. Way of Life and Social Issues
Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities are both predominantly conservative in their social and religious outlook. Church attendance remains high, although it has been falling in recent years. Catholic and Protestant attitudes on matters of sexual morality and abortion are notably similar, although the Catholic Church's opposition to contraception and divorce is not shared by Protestants. Divorce levels are low in comparison to those in the rest of the United Kingdom. The proportion of mixed Catholic-Protestant marriages has risen recently but is still estimated at only 5 percent of all marriages. Protestant family sizes, as elsewhere in the United Kingdom, contracted during the 20th century, but Catholic family sizes tended to remain larger. Social attitudes in rural and small-town areas are more conservative than those in the cities-urban-rural differences are probably greater than Catholic-Protestant differences in this regard.
Likewise, gender roles verge toward the conservative end of the spectrum, but there is a strong women's movement, most visible in the province's main urban centers. Many people believe that the decades of political violence strengthened the women's movement in Northern Ireland. Women often came to the forefront of political life to demand peace and an end to terrorism. Two Belfast women jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for working to reconcile Northern Ireland's religious communities.
Sports are popular in Northern Ireland. In the Catholic community Gaelic football and hurling are popular among men, and camogie (a sport similar to hurling) is popular among women. Among Protestants popular games are rugby union football (see Rugby Football), cricket, and field hockey. Association football (soccer) and golf are popular games in both Catholic and Protestant communities.
The Catholic-Protestant segregation extends to Northern Irish society in general. Urban residential neighborhoods are highly segregated. Relative social status is less skewed, but Protestants hold higher-status jobs more frequently and Catholics are somewhat more likely to be unskilled or unemployed. Since 1976 the Fair Employment Commission (originally the Fair Employment Agency) has had growing statutory powers to investigate cases of alleged discrimination and patterns of ethnic imbalance in all but the very smallest companies. The Fair Employment Commission reported a 3.2 percent increase in Catholic representation in the workforce in the period from 1990 to 1997.
IV. Culture
Originally very similar to the rest of Ireland in terms of culture, Northern Ireland developed a distinctive cultural identity with the influx of Protestant English and Scottish people starting in the 17th century. The Catholic-Protestant schism and the associated troubles are recurrent themes in Northern Irish arts.
A. Literature and Performing Arts
Northern Ireland has experienced a literary renaissance since the early 1970s that has drawn energy and public attention both from the protracted troubles and from the worldwide distinction achieved by the region's most distinguished writer, Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney. Northern Irish poets, dramatists, and writers have achieved distinction in Dublin and London, as well as internationally. Belfast, a provincial center of heavy industry, lacked serious standing in the arts in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the Ulster Literary Theatre (founded in 1902) drew both Catholic and Protestant writers into the Irish revival movement that was originally inspired by Irish poet and dramatist William Butler Yeats and Dublin's Abbey Theatre. The annual Belfast Festival, begun in the early 1960s, is now a major cultural event. The more recent West Belfast Festival has a strongly Irish and nationalist flavor. The Grand Opera House (1895), designed by architect Frank Matcham, and Waterfront Hall (1997) are major arts venues in the center of Belfast. Londonderry is home to the influential Field Day Theatre Company, founded in 1980 by a group of internationally known artists that included Heaney, dramatist Brian Friel, novelist Seamus Deane, and actor Stephen Rea.
Noted early-20th-century composer and conductor Hamilton Harty was born and educated in Northern Ireland, and many of his compositions reflect Irish themes. The most distinguished Northern Ireland instrumentalist is the Belfast-born flutist James Galway. Traditional Irish folk-singing is popular, and the best-known Northern Ireland folk singers were the three generations of The McPeake Family.
B. Libraries and MuseumsPrint section
The Ulster Museum (1892) in Belfast has a large collection of local and international art and antiquities. Also in Belfast are the Belfast Central Library (1888), the Queen's University Library (1849), and the Linen Hall Library (1788), a private institution with important collections of books, political materials, and newspapers. The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum (1958), just east of Belfast at Cultra, is one of the oldest and most authentic cultural heritage parks in the United Kingdom. The Ulster-American Folk Park (1976) at Omagh is another major heritage center; it focuses on the experience of Irish emigrants to the United States.
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