Ireland

Ireland, Irish Éire,  country of western Europe occupying five-sixths of the westernmost island of the British Isles.

The magnificent scenery of Ireland’s Atlantic coastline faces a 2,000-mile- (3,200-km-) wide expanse of ocean, and its geographic isolation has helped it to develop a rich heritage of culture and tradition that was linked initially to the Gaelic language. Washed by abundant rain, the country’s pervasive grasslands create a green-hued landscape that is responsible for the popular sobriquet Emerald Isle. Ireland is also renowned for its wealth of folklore, from tales of tiny leprechauns with hidden pots of gold to that of the patron saint, Patrick, with his legendary ridding the island of snakes and his reputed use of the three-leaved shamrock as a symbol for the Christian Trinity. But while many may think of Ireland as an enchanted land, the republic has been beset with perennial concerns—emigration, cultural and political identity, and relations with Northern Ireland (comprising the 6 of Ireland’s 32 counties within the province of Ulster that remain part of the United Kingdom). At the beginning of the 21st century, however, Ireland’s long-standing economic problems were abating, owing to its diverse export-driven economy; however, calamity struck again in 2008 when a new financial and economic crisis befell the country, culminating in a very costly bailout of the Irish economy by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The emergence of Ireland as an independent country is a fairly recent phenomenon. Until the 17th century, political power was widely shared among a rather loosely constructed network of small earldoms in often-shifting alliances. Following the so-called “Flight of the Earls” after an unsuccessful uprising in the early 17th century, Ireland effectively became an English colony. The island was an integral part of the United Kingdom from 1800 to 1922, when, by virtue of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, the Irish Free State was established as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. Independence came in 1937, but Ireland remained a member of the British Commonwealth until 1948. Since then, Ireland has become integrated with the rest of western Europe, joining the European Union in 1987, though the country generally retained a neutral role in international affairs. In 2008 Ireland became an impediment to the enactment of the Lisbon Treaty—an agreement aimed at streamlining the EU’s processes and giving it a higher international profile—when the Irish voted against the passage of the treaty in a national referendum. The treaty, however, was approved by Irish voters in a second referendum, held the following year.

Dependent on agriculture and subject to extremes of climate, Ireland was long among Europe’s poorest regions, a principal cause of mass migration from Ireland, especially during the cycle of famine in the 19th century. Some 40 million Americans trace their ancestry to Ireland as a result of that traumatic exodus, as do millions of others throughout the world. Every year members of this diaspora visit their ancestral homeland and forge connections with long-lost family.

Ireland’s capital is Dublin, a populous and affluent city whose metropolitan area is home to more than one-fourth of the country’s total population. The city’s old dockside neighbourhoods have given way to new residential and commercial development. Cork, Ireland’s second largest city, is a handsome cathedral city and port in the southwest. Other principal centres include Waterford, Wexford, and Drogheda on the east coast, Sligo in the northwest, and Limerick and Galway in the west.

Although Ireland is now both urbanized and Europeanized, its culture retains many unique characteristics, and its people prize folkloric and social traditions that largely derive from and celebrate the country’s rural past. In Meditations in Time of Civil War William Butler Yeats, perhaps Ireland’s best-known poet, evokes the idyllic and idealized countryside, a place central to the memories of the country’s millions of expatriates and their descendants:

Aspects of the topic Ireland are discussed in the following places at Britannica.

Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Ireland - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)

Known as the Emerald Isle, Ireland is famous for its green countryside. Throughout much of its history, Ireland fought against rule by Great Britain. Most of the island gained independence in the1920s. However, Britain continued to control a section called Northern Ireland. In the 1990s the independent republic of Ireland became a successful member of the European Union. The capital is Dublin.

Ireland - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

The Republic of Ireland occupies most of the island of Ireland, which lies across the Irish Sea from the island of Great Britain. The British controlled the area for about 750 years, until 1921, when they made southern Ireland a dominion. The link with the United Kingdom ended when Ireland became a republic in 1949. However, Northern Ireland, which occupies the rest of the island, has remained a part of the United Kingdom. Area 27,133 square miles (70,273 square kilometers). Population (2013 est.) 4,594,000.