IRELANDIRELANDThe Emerald The Emerald

IslandIsland

PEOPLE: AN PEOPLE: AN ISLAND, TWO ISLAND, TWO COUNTRIES.COUNTRIES.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irelandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland

POPULATION IN IRELAND

• POPULATION: 6.4 million inhabitants (Catalonia: 7.5 million inhabitants ).

• DENSITY: 73.4 inhabitants / sq Km

(Catalonia: 240 inhabitants / sq Km)

THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

• Area: 70,280 sq km

• Capital city: Dublin

• Independence from the British Empire: 1922.

• Parlamentary republic. Member of the European Union since 1973.

• Population: 4,588,252 inhabitants.

• Density: 65 inhabitants / sq km.

• Currency: Euro

• Languages: English, Irish (Gaelic)

• Main religion: Catholics (87%)

(EIRE)

NORTHERN IRELAND• Area: 13,843 sq km

• Capital city: Belfast

• Established as part of the United Kindom:1923. Member of the European Union since 1973.

• Population: 1,760,000 inhabitants

• Density: 125 inhabitants / sq km.

• Currency: Sterling Pound

• Languages: English, Irish, Ulster Scots.

• Main religion: Protestants (60%)

MOST POPULATED IRISH CITIESREPUBLIC OF IRELAND:

1 Dublin (1,111,000 inhabitants)

2 Cork (200,000 inhabitants)

3 Limerick (92,000 inhabitants)

4 Galway (77,000 inhabitants)

5 Waterford (52,000 inhabitants)

NORTHERN IRELAND:

1 Belfast (485,000 inhabitants)

2 Londonderry (95,000 inhabitants)

IRISH PEOPLE ALONG HISTORY• 500 BC: Celts come from Europe.

Ireland has a Celtic culture.

• 450 AD: Saint Patrick: the country becomes Christian. Irish monasteries are the richest in Europe.

• 1100 AD: Norman invasion (first castles).

• 1350: The Black Death (the Pest) kills half the population.

• 1600 AD: English colonisation.

• 1750-1921: Irish rebellions against the English.

• 1850: Great Potato Famine. One million people die of starvation. One million and a half people emigrate to the USA and Australia.

• 1922: Independence.

Celtic Cahergal Stone Ring Fort (Kerry, 900 AD)

Celtic Cross (Kells monastery, Meath, 800 AD)

Trim Castle (Norman period, Meath, 1170 AD)

Great Potato Famine,1850

FAMOUS IRISH WRITERS• Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Gulliver’s Travels

• William Butler Yeats (1835-1939): poems

• Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): The Picture of Dorian Gray

• George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950): Pygmalion

• James Joyce (1882 – 1941): Ulysses

• Samuel Becket (1906 – 1989): Waiting for Godot

FAMOUS IRISH MUSICIANSU2 (Bono)

Enya

Sinead O’Connor

Westlife

The Cranberries

Boyzone

The Script

The Corrs

FAMOUS IRISH ACTORS Liam Neeson

Pierce Brosnan

Colin Farrell Richard Harris

Johnathan Peter Rhyss Meyers O’Toole